Malays, Islam and the bible

The subject of this article may be too provocative for some. Therefore, I have decided that I will not allow any comments to be published for this post. For this post the smart elects and the loud mouth readers can keep their views to themselves.

Religion is something that is close to one’s heart. The strength of one’s religion depends very much on his/her knowledge of the subject matter. Today, there are limitless access to information related to Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and any other religion in the world on net. For the record it has been a long time since I read the Quran as part of one bound book.

Now days, I read and understand most of its interpretation online. Occasionally I print a few pages of the English and Malay translation and used it to read when on a long travel. Fact is the Quran, the Bible and many other holy books are available in many language and translation online and are accessible at the tip of a finger.

Sometime in the early 90′s I asked a learned man what would be the greatest gift a parent can give to a child. He told me that it is the ability to read, analyze and to think logically (..boleh baca, boleh fikir,.. boleh pakai otak). He is an elderly Indian man of Hindu faith in an estate in Sungai Siput.

It took me a long time for me to appreciate what he meant and till today, I dare not say that I fully comprehend what he meant. I am probably half way to fully understand what he said. It is not just the words but the manner and circumstances on how he had said it. I am not sure whether our authorities have reached the level of ability as mentioned by the Hindu priest.

This brings me back to the issue of the Bible in Bahasa Indonesia that is being held by the authorities as it uses the word “Allah” in the book. What are the Muslims in this country are scared off that we prevent others from reading their own holy book in language that they understand. Many Muslims in this country should be ashamed as they continue reading the Quran without understanding the meaning of it. The Christians as I see it just wants their followers to understand the bible in the local language.

We should not fear the bible of the Christians. We should teach our children the need to appreciate Islam and the other religion. We should engage them with the aim of making them understand our religion and we understand theirs. Holding 35,000 copies of bible helps no one other than making people despising the Muslims who are the power brokers of the country.

After all it is available online and with IPad 2 and 3G’s, there is no stopping anyone from reading anything on the internet. What is the point of having the rights of practicing religion is written nicely in Article 3 and Article 11 in the Federal constitution when one doesn’t follow it? I hope the authorities will not ban the use of IPad 2 as I have ordered mine through a friend.

courtesy of Rights2Write