Muslims and the trumpet of faith

 

There is a mosque not too far from my home in Petaling Jaya. The mosque is located on one of the floors in a flat, surrounded by a multi-racial, multi-religion neighbourhood.

In the past, the mosque had a habit of turning up the volume of its speakers during religious talks and sermons. The worst was when it happened late at night, at a time people were trying to get some rest.

During one of these occasions, I heard the preacher at the mosque freely speaking about the attire of the non-Muslims, comparing it with Muslims and their Islamic-friendly attire.

“Kalau kita tengok kat luar sana, Cina-Cina pakai macam-macam. Ada yang pendek, ada yang sendat dan ada yang macam tak cukup kain. Bahagian tubuh badan yang sepatutnya di jaga rapi, dijadikan tontonan umum. Anak-anak kita pula terikut-ikut dengan fesyen mereka tu. Ini haram, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan.

“Kalau mereka yang bukan Islam nak pakai macam mana pun, suka hati mereka lah. Lagipun apa mereka peduli pasal halal haram. Tapi kita ni yang Islam, bukan macam mereka. Kita mesti jaga aurat, jangan dijadikan tontonan umum.”

(If you look at people out there, you’d see the Chinese wearing all sorts of attire. Some are short, some are tight and some don't have enough fabric. Parts of the body that should be covered are exposed. And our children follow their fashion sense. This is forbidden, ladies and gentlemen.

Whatever the non-Muslims want to wear, it’s their choice to make. After all, what do they care about halal and haram? But we are Muslims, we are not like them. We must take care of our aurat, and not expose ourselves for public viewing.)

Despite being a Muslim myself, when I heard those words blasting out from the speakers in the middle of an afternoon, on a weekend where people of different religions were out and about in the neighbourhood, I felt embarrassed. I took a deep breath and shook my head.

If I could hear the loudspeaker, definitely the non-Muslim residents living around the same neighbourhood would be able to hear it too. I wondered what their reactions would be. Would they be offended? Or would they just ignore it?

Most probably, like me, they also ended up shaking their heads at the insensitivity of our Muslim preachers.

After all, we Malaysians are so accustomed to Muslims criticising non-Muslims and getting away with it, aren’t we? Besides brushing it off and shaking our heads, what else can we do?

Bashing, mocking and belittling

Last April, two Hindu groups in the country sought court orders to have an independent Muslim preacher who (allegedly) had insulted Hinduism in his sermons, arrested and investigated.

A few months later, the preacher’s lawyers filed a striking-out application on grounds that the suit did not disclose a reasonable cause of action and was an abuse of the court process.

On Monday, it was announced that the Muslim preacher succeeded in his bid to strike out the lawsuit.

No disrespect intended, but the decision by the court came as no surprise to me. Like I said, Muslims disparaging non-Muslims is almost a Malaysian culture - how can one find sufficient grounds for a lawsuit when one is merely following a culture, right?

There are many talks and sermons made in our country where Muslim speakers share their insights, ‘knowledge’ and personal experiences. While many of us are made to believe that these talks take place to strengthen the aqidah (faith) of Muslims, the truth is, instead of preaching, what takes place is a lot of bashing, mocking and belittling.

My parents have been to many of these so-called religious talks before calling it quits. They did not see a point in having to disrespect the faiths of others in order to strengthen one’s own belief.

But sadly, many still do.

I suppose it is customary for many Muslims to validate their particular brand of Islam by distinguishing their beliefs and practices from even the slightest variance in the beliefs and practices of others.

In other words, making a mockery and speaking ill of other religions makes them love Islam more.

As long as Muslims accept oppression, condemnation and intolerance in practising their religion while rejecting the kinder and gentler version of Islam, one which promotes fairness and compassion, we can expect more abuse coming from the lips of Muslim preachers and domes of mosques.

No matter how many lawsuits are filed to stop these kinds of verbal abuse and insults, we can expect to be continuously disappointed.

After all, we live in a country where leaders who publicly warn Muslims that they will end up in hell if led by non-Muslims are given special roles in the government instead of being punished and condemned for their actions. - Mkini

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FA ABDUL is a multi-award winning playwright and director in the local performing arts scene, a published author, a television scriptwriter, a media trainer and a mother. Her ultimate mission in life is to live out of a small suitcase.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.