The Malay Muslims were up in arms today thanks to the Rayaadvertisement by TV3. Admittedly I was not free from shock myself but it was a good kind of shock. The shock that said ‘Aha, these guys understand that the spirit of Raya goes beyond traditional Malay elements’. Of course, my good shock didn’t live very long when a friend passed along a link showing TV3’s apology and retraction of the said advertisement.
Of course this would happen in contemporary Malaysia. Of course it would because we are a superficial people. Years ago, Ning Baizura was given hell when her album cover (not music mind you butalbum cover) resembled a Christmas card! I don’t think her career recovered after that.
What emotes the Malay-Muslims is the presence of elements which they feel are alien to Islam. What are those elements? Perhaps the carriage in which the children ride in? Well to be fair, there were no reindeers pulling the carriage. Even the old man lacked facial hair and more glaringly presents so he couldn’t have been Santa Claus. Maybe the flight itself is the issue. God only knows with these people.
What is obvious to me is, Malays have really confused religion with culture. Think about it for a minute. What is Islamic about Raya? The Quran doesn’t even mention Raya but understandably, Muslims wish to mark the end of Ramadhan by having a celebration. Fine but where do the elements come from which go to make the celebration what it is? Obviously, from surrounding cultures of the time and place.
I guarantee that if you celebrated Raya in Saudi Arabia, you will not be understood if you said ‘selamat hari raya’. You will be hard pressed to find a host who serves you ketupat and rending and please do not try blow any meriam buluhs either! The Saudis may not look too kindly upon that. My point is, these are culturalelements. Culture is dynamic. Was it Malay culture to put money in ang pow packets before? No, we took it from our Chinese countrymen, coloured the packets green and voila! We have a new packaging for duit raya. I didn’t hear any imams or ulamaks complain (particularly when they received some).
So what is the problem with this advertisement? Two kids in a rather dilapidated home are called by a friendly looking man who takes them by a flying beca to an illuminated land where the kids are happy with other kids and are reunited with their parents. Is this unIslamic? What do we pay the Zakat Fitrah for then? That goes for the orphans and the poor.. We pay it so that they may have a better Raya. Isn’t this what the old man in the advertisement was doing, albeit metaphorically? He was shining his magic on those kids lives so that they have some happiness on an auspicious day. How unIslamic is that?
Our Malay-Muslims need to understand the difference between religion and culture. If they were Christianised instead of Islamised centuries ago, we’d be wearing our baju melayus, having our ketupats and rendangs and blowing up our meriams for Christmas instead! No, the religion part of Raya is the spirit of giving to the poor. It has nothing to do with these external cultural elements at all.
courtesy of Farouk's Being Malaysia
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