The Malays Who Wish Not To Fast Should Be Allowed To Do So?

Source:
http://www.loyarburok.com/2012/08/01/we-are-entitled-malay-muslim/


Amir

I feel as though the same respect should be given to Malays who wish to eat in public during the day. Since all Malays 'must', by Malaysian law, be Muslims (a fact I find extraordinary), anyone who looks Malay does get a second glance if seen eating in public this month.

Nature call, right to choose, can't be bothered, don't believe in fasting or Islam; whatever the reason is, a Malay (by appearance) shouldn't have to justify it to other holier-than-thou Malays. I know that what I'm proposing is all a bit too idealistic, but really, fasting is a man-and-his-God business, not an act of pressured social conformity.


NIM (Yep, this is me!)

Hm, I can't agree with you because this is not an issue of race or ethnicity at all but rather our religion.

In Islam, we must fast for the whole Ramadhan and NOT LETTING other Muslims to eat in public or break the fast on purpose either unless they have very good reasons for it like being pregnant, sick or so. Non-muslims are free to eat in public and in front of us (as long you're not mocking our religion or provoking us).

If everyone in Malaysia including the Indian, Bidayuh, Chinese, and those of mixed descent like you, are Muslims then make no mistake. WE WILL scold or stop you from eating in public regardless of what you look like or your race/ethnicity. But in Malaysia, only the Malays are totally Muslims so that's why only the Malays got scolded.

I'm sorry that, sometimes, non-Muslims got caught in the middle because they look like Malays but I'm not sorry for us following our God's teaching.

You are free to follow your God's teaching and we're free to follow ours. Just because our values are not the same as yours doesn't mean we're wrong.


YourFellowMalay

1. You are entitled to try and prevent Muslims to eat in public. If you think you have the right to 'scold' me, I will not respond, nor should anyone.

2. You are free to follow your God's teaching and we're free to follow ours". I agree. So who said all Malays are Mus lime? I'm not. Contrary to what you might think, Malays are no different from others in that we are all born naked, with the freedom to choose. It is only the state of affairs in Malaysia which skews the logic of self-righteous people like yourself. Think beyond the norms of this country. God doesn't live in Malaysia.

3. The problem with you, and with the State, is that both of you don't understand that religion is the business of each person's private conscience. In this conscience each person can choose to show faith in a religion without any real belief - all the world could be pretending, but you cannot know for sure.

4. You can be more confident, however, that less people will be pretending when there is no social compulsion to believe in any particular religion. So the next time you're at Friday prayers, look out for me, and the few other atheists and non-Muslims who are there because of compulsion.

5. "Just because our values are not the same as yours, doesn't mean we're wrong". Exactly - but this time, I get to say it to you.


NIM (Me again!)

1. Thanks.

2. You're certainly right about not all Malays are Muslims if you're talking about the Malays worldwide. I'm talking about the Malays according to our country's constitution.

Although I disagree with your accusation of me and other Malay Muslims of being self-righteous and not being able to think beyond the norms of this country, I won't deny the fact that some of us do think like that (just like how there're always fanatics in any group of people).

You're right that everyone was born naked including the Malays but we (Muslims) also know that all babies are born pure without sins and as Muslims (submit to Allah) and therefore, we were born with freedom to choose [whether to submit as His servants or go against Him]. And yes, that includes you (according to Islam).

Although the babies (including us) are born Muslims, they are brought up according to the people surrounding them and that's how they might grew up with different faith or no faith at all. That is also why there's no compulsion to submit to Islam if you've grown as non-Muslims because you don't remember your oath and you don't know the truth yet. But for those who have submitted and learnt of the truth, they're not allowed to pick the wrong side (submitting to other God, other than Allah).

Sometimes though (lots of times actually), the Muslims who are Muslims by birthright, they take these gifts for granted and didn't bother to learn further. So even though they're Muslims, they don't understand Islam, and didn't practice what Islam actually teach them to do. And this is where those self-righteous who thinks Malays are better than others came from. And this is also when some Muslims become to doubt about Islam.

So while it's considered as a very big offence in Islam, people are still allowed to leave Islam PEACEFULLY if they really can't see the light with certain conditions.

One of the conditions is that they CANNOT openly insult and spread hatred to Islam (which is understandable as Muslims are not allowed to do that to other religions either). Depending on how serious it is, this kind of offence could end with a death penalty.

And while I do not encourage Murtad (leave Islam) at all, I agree that our Government should improve our country system in order to allow Muslims to change their belief. If they don't want to allow that, they should at least uphold the death sentence.

But this doesn't mean I disagree with how the constitution define the Malays by their religion. In fact, I am very very grateful for it.

Because the Malays must be Muslims, our Malay leaders will always be Muslims and because of that, Muslims will continue to lead this country the Islamic way :)

Not saying that non-Muslims are bad at managing a country because that is obviously untrue (just look at Japan, Korea and Russia). But without fellow Muslims leading this country, there's no way Islamic education, Islamic banking system, halal food industry, and so on would ever come to exist in Malaysia. We are also free to cover our Aurat, to pray almost anywhere (since the mosque and Surau are almost everywhere), to fast, to go to Mecca for Hajj and practicing other Islamic teaching.

So that's why I am in complete support for it.

P/S 1: I wonder what race are they going to label the non-Muslim Malays if they choose to allow the Malays to change their belief. Maybe by their faith?

P/S 2: I know there are Muslims from other races as well but they're not a lot. Human by nature are strongest when they're together because of their race or their religion or both. So, how do you uphold your view when you're weak (not much support from your own people)? As a person, yes, it's possible. But as a leader? Unlikely.

Besides, by the constitution's definition of Malay itself, these people can be considered as Malays if they fit all the requirement.

3. Again, "just because our values are not the same as yours, didn't mean we're wrong". Even if we're not talking about religion, it's a common event for a person to pretend to be someone he's not. Same goes with how a criminal can pretend to be an innocent in public but a dangerous predator behind the scene.

NO ONE can ever claim to know what other people really thinks unless he's been given special insight by God. Normal human just don't have the ability to read other people mind. That's exactly why religion or the law exists.

So people can act according to certain values and they're punished only if they have break the rules through their actions. People with authority just can't punish other people for what they are really thinking about. That rights only belong to God.

So if a person claims that he's a Muslim, he's to be handled according to Islam's teaching. Simple as that.

4. True.

5. Sure, nothing's wrong with that.