salam, pagi tadi seorg rakan cina panggil saya & dia hulur paper The SUn. suruh baca..dia kata 'Lan you baca la nih' I suka article nih. jadi saya cuba kongsikan di sini.. Muslims are better looked afterBy: (Aug 18, 2009)
Scene: Riverside Café, PWTC. MOHAN: Muslims in Malaysia are so lucky. I wonder whether they realise it. Azman: Why do you say that? Aren’t non-Muslims in this country lucky too? I think we all are.. We have peace and security and we don’t go hungry. Mohan:But Muslims have something extra. Azman: What’s that? Mohan: Security for their soul. Chong: Yes, Azman. Everything that can possibly be done to keep your soul out of harm’s way, Satan’s way, is being done. Even temptation is put out of your way. Mohan: We non-Muslims have to take care of our souls ourselves. It’s tough for us. Chong: Unlike Muslims here those in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, have to take care of their souls themselves. So it is in Egypt, Iraq. Mohan: With so many laws in place to prevent you from sinning, halal food and with so many lectures in mosques, in university lecture halls, on radio and TV to remind you of the fire of hell your soul must be in a pristine state. Chong: So how can you be destined for anywhere else but heaven, Azman. Lucky you. As for Mohan and me, alas, we probably will be elsewhere. Pity though you won’t be with us. Mohan: Easy indeed to be a Muslim here. You can’t even get to be tempted because all those things that can affect your soul have been taken out of your way. Chong: You are discouraged from frequenting pubs and nightclubs. You can go but if there is a raid by the "morality police" you are in for some embarrassing moments. You cannot gamble. Mohan: There is always the threat of being caned. Chong: The Muslim month of Ramadan begins at the end of this week.. You must fast. You can be arrested and punished for not fasting. So how can you not perform your religious duties. Maybe one day they will even mark your attendance at Friday prayers. Mohan: The authorities are attempting to do many more things to protect you from doing things that can get you "demerit points". Azman: They are? Mohan: Yes. For instance there was an attempt to make beer unavailable in convenience stores in Muslim majority areas. Chong: In doing all these things and attempting to do many more to "protect" Muslims it is sad that they have forgotten us, as if we don’t matter or we don’t exist. Mohan: And they are protecting you from deciding to become denizens of hell by making sure you cannot opt out of your religion. Chong: How fortunate and lucky you all are. Still I’d rather stay where I am. Mohan: Amen. Azman: But I don’t want to be protected. I don’t want the enforced protection. I want the freedom to act according to my conscience and according to the guidance my parents and my religious teachers have given me. Mohan: But you can’t. The constitutions are no longer the truly secular constitutions of the early days. The authorities have the power and can act against you. Azman: But they cannot legislate on matters of morality and things like that. And they cannot enforce those rules. Can they Cikgu? Zain: But they can. Under the amal makruf nahi mungkar (enjoining the good and forbidding wrongdoing) injunction of the Quran they assume they can do anything to protect you against temptations. In other words using force to protect you against yourself. Azman: Can they do that? Zain: Well, they are already doing it. But I have heard elsewhere that it is entirely up to the individual to do good like being charitable and to refrain from doing immoral things. Azman: Yes, I heard a foreign expert on Islam once say that there is a reminder in the Quran that in discouraging people from doing immoral things an ulamak should remember that he can only remind and that he is not a dictator. Zain: Yes, I heard something like that too. But with all these laws our ulamak or religious officials actually have very little to do in terms of keeping their flock out of harm’s way. The laws are doing it for them already. And so relax. Why bother visiting families in his area occasionally to see how they are doing, whether they need anything explained or clarified and reminding them of their religious duties and to refrain from immoral activities. They don’t have to do that. And even if some members of his congregation do not like his patronising ways and the way the religion is being administered there is little they can do about it. They can’t leave their religion anyway. So why bother about establishing rapport with them. They cannot stray. They will have to remain in the flock forever. That’s why there are those who stray away quietly. Azman: Careful, Cikgu. You can be accused of insulting Islam. --- end --- --- Article Information --- Article's URL: http://www.sun2surf..com/article.cfm?id=37047
