|Wednesday, September 20, 2006
t
he past few days have got me thinking. sometimes , there will come a point in our lives when we will question our own beliefs and whether we are living our lives the right way.and of course. there will forever be tensions between living our lives full of traditions and also having to compromise our traditions to suit our religion. and here, i wanna comment on the struggles of living my life as a Malay and as a Muslim.I have always loved myself being a Malay. Being born a Malay. As a race/ethnicity, i believe that being a Malay embraces the all-good values. The gotong-royong spirit...the fact that one looks out for each other, the fact that we always look out for other Malays wherever we go because we are born with the Malay identity, we are born with the Malay sentiment. Being Malay means being able to be polite yet stern, being able to detest but loving, being able to attack yet defend. Traditionally, we have costumes/clothes that are proper. Look at our baju kurungs and kebayas. We live life the simplest way possible. Look at how we first begin as fishermen and the people in the padi fields. we are close to nature. we love and embrace foreigners. we treat people with respect. we make people feel at home. we are easily contented. we take life as it comes.i dare say, that even now, our 'all-good' values still exist. look at how the Malays receive their guests. look at how we take pride in having gatherings to foster intimate filial relationships. look at how our children, no matter how HOOLIGAN they are, they would still feel for their parents. for old people. i know that i may be biased, such that i may have been a little bit more positive than usual. but hey. isnt this what we lack? *lets not talk about the 'all-bad' values and the known stereotypes. lets, FOR ONCE, look at the good and bright side of being a Malay.*of course. i am a believer of traditions. at the same time, i m a Muslim. and i am sure thankful that i am born into a religion that help me orientate my beliefs in a rational path. a religion that encourages me to do good and avoid bad. but these two entities are never SEPARATE. if you are born a MALAY MUSLIM, you are a MALAY MUSLIM. you have to take these TWO entities as PART OF THE OTHER. we can NEVER live our lives in a vacuum. playing hari raya songs during bulan Ramadan is not wrong. if hari raya is taken to be a period of time when HUMAN relationships can be better fostered and maintained....then Hari raya is much needed. if it takes us to wait till Hari Raya, just to visit our parents, relatives and friends and visit to children and old folk's homes and do fund raising...then hari raya is not wrong. we need to take into factor that globalisation and modernisation are fast becoming THE way of life. isnt having festivities a way of ensuring that we still remember we have relationships to look out for? doesnt Islam encourage us to build good relationships with our brothers and sisters, Muslim or not? of course. Ramadan is a holy month. it is a month that we all should memperbanyakkan Ibadah, and cleanse our minds and souls of sins we have been committing all these while. Ramadan, bulan yang suci...bulan khas untuk Kaum Muhammad s.a.w. untuk meraih kemanfaatan daripada Allah s.w.t...i believe that in this life...there are binaries that we should look out for. the RIGHT AND WRONG. and the GOOD AND BAD. doing the RIGHT and WRONG is the relationship between Humans and God. doing the GOOD and BAD encompasses our relationship between Humans and Other Humans. for the former...only God knows our REAL intentions. whatever we do, whether it is right or wrong, is between us and Him. what we need to look out for is our relationship with other humans. God is merciful. He forgives. Humans. We are flawed.... and i will leave it as that. i always believe that everything begins with the Niat...PBM or NUSMS...what is the difference...if both seek to help the ummah in their own ways.
just my humble point of view.
* spoken&willspeakagain*
10:46 AM
