Firdaus Wong reminded of his roots, not every ancestral practice contradicts his newfound faith

 

SUCH is perhaps a constructive criticism levelled at Muslim convert preacher Firdaus Wong Wai Hung who was at odds with the Port Klang Authority’s (PKA) Chinese New Year (CNY) song entitled “Good Fortune is Coming” which lyric he claimed is “clearly syirik” in that it “associates Allah with other creatures”.

Although he welcomes the racial harmony and tolerance displayed, the controversial Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM) founder/president was aghast at the fact that the line “Blessed by God of Wealth” appears several times throughout the TikTok video as the staff dance with joy.

“I’m hopeful that all the Muslims involved in the PKA’s CNY video were not informed about the lyric of this song which is clearly syirik (contains elements of polytheism),” lamented Firdaus who embraced Islam at the age of 22 on his Facebook page.

“My advice to Muslims is to be careful if we want to be both tolerant and harmonious. Don’t abuse the word harmony or dakwah (Islamic outreach) just to justify your act.”

Editor’s Note: Last year, Firdaus has equated the eye-dotting ritual on lions patriating in lion dance to “injecting the soul into the lion’s costume before it performs”, hence describing it as shirk.

This was when one non-Muslim netizen schooled the 43-year-old Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur-raised preacher that participating in a multi-cultural festive video does not automatically mean theological endorsement or worship.

After all, many cultural expressions especially in the Malaysian context are social and symbolic rather than acts of religious devotion.

“I understand your concern about protecting aqidah (Muslim faith) and the issue of syirik. However, context and intention (niat) are very important in Islam,” justified the Johor Bahru lady.

“If we begin to equate every cultural reference with syirik without examining intention and context, we risk narrowing the space for peaceful co-existence in a plural society.”

Added the netizen: “Islam has always co-existed with different cultures throughout history. The strength of our faith should not feel threatened by cultural participation, especially when there is no intention of worship.

‘Perhaps the discussion should focus on clarity and education rather than assumption and condemnation.”

Another non-Muslim commenter shared a FB post by Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corp) in Saudi Arabia as to how religious barrier is broken with “employees from Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and other countries gathered together to experience the unique charm of Spring Festival ”.

“During the event, Chinese colleagues introduced the origins and traditional customs of Spring Festival,” read the post.

“Everyone enjoyed traditional festive delicacies and participated in making lanterns.  Amid happy laughter and cheerful voices, employees gained a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese culture and strengthened camaraderie with each other. ”

This is when some commenters countered that Saudi Arabia should not be made a benchmark given it is governed by the liberal-minded 40-year-old Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud who is now the de facto ruler of the deemed epicentre of Muslim civilisation.

“Arabs don’t represented Islam … they’re just Muslim with Arab culture … Islam is not Arab for Arab is a race and for your information, there’re also Christian Arabs,” rebutted one Muslim netizen.

Muslim Arabs aren’t the most religious or more superior Muslims. They’re just Arabs. Islam is an individual belief no matter what race one is.

And our core beliefs is a total voluntary submission to the will of Allah SWT and the rejection of polytheism (shirk). We Muslim have faith which is we bear witness that there is no God but Allah and we bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” 

- focus malaysia