All these petty non-issues are so confusing
If Jakim has no other work than to nick-pick on non-issues and churn them into confusing matters, perhaps it’s time to retire the department.
By Ravinder Singh
I’m writing this to seek enlightenment. I’m also confused, no offence is meant to anyone.
During the days before Jakim came about, were Muslims never confused as they seem to be now, with Jakim busy pronouncing this and that to be confusing to Muslims of today?
How do Jakim officials imagine that today’s Muslims are so easily confused by the very things that never confused earlier generations of Muslims, even their own forefathers? Are they sure that all the Muslims in Malaysia are as confused as they appear to be?
Logically, Jakim’s own officials must first be confused before they can state with conviction that other Muslims must also be confused by the same confusing sights, names, images, words, dresses, etc.
Then the next question is why are Jakim officials so weak of faith that they get confused and worked up so easily as compared to their own elders? Did they fail their religious study exams?
Shouldn’t they be looking at the cause of that weakness? Is it because people have not been allowed to develop thinking skills, to rise above pettiness?
Could Jakim officials please be honest and answer a few simple questions:
Didn’t any of their older relations (if not any of them also) attend mission schools? Even children of the royalty had attended mission schools. Did any of them convert?
Didn’t any of them know anything about “hot dogs” in the four decades or so that this food has been sold in Malaysia? Didn’t any of them or their family members ever order or eat “hot dogs”? What about “barbecue” which might sound like “babi-Q”?
A local humanitarian, Kuan Chee Heng, who went out of his way to help the less privileged for the past 14 years, was criticised for wearing shorts when delivering aid to a poor Muslim family. He was reportedly condemned for “not respecting Islamic traditions and customs.”
This leaves me very confused about Muslims who wear neckties and jackets, the attire of the Westerners who are mostly Christians. Could Jakim or anyone else enlighten us? I am also confused when I see people wearing white robes. These were also worn by the Christian brothers in the mission schools that a lot of Malay children and I attended.
Are Muslims not confused by the animal badges on certain makes of cars, a cross on another brand, and other images on various other makes? The logo on our Proton is a stylised tiger head. Is that not confusing or un-Islamic compared to the furor about the eagle statute in Langkawi, or the National Monument?
If Jakim has no other work than to nick-pick on hitherto non-issues and churn them into confusing matters or matters not respecting Islamic traditions and customs, then it is perhaps time to retire it – for idle minds are the devil’s workshop.
Ravinder Singh is an FMT reader.
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