Thursday, January 7, 2010

Have I Ever Been Confused?

First and foremost, I am a Muslim and a Malay. Although I have my own political views, I am not affiliated to nor associated with any political party. I am not anti-Malay or anti-Islam. Nor am I pro-Christian.

For the past few days, everybody has been busy discussing about the usage of the word Allah - with Muslims and people of other faiths have continued to lock horns over the issue. My opinion on this, is that we should not waste anymore time fighting over a word.

This issue is now being exploited to the utmost by UMNO, PAS and many others. The Government is having its hands full trying to handle it in order to maintain social harmony. For me, there are more important things for them to do than embroil in this controversy. To all the Muslims politicians who seek to grab headlines for all the wrong reasons (sodomy, corruption, illegal second marriage, etc), I think they should be encouraged to strive to quell the multitude of problems our country is facing before its negative influence affected Muslims. As Muslim leaders, I also believe that they must exemplify high morals and behavior amongst the people so as to show the greatness of Islam.

However, I think we are equally responsible for overcoming the social and economic issues that Muslims are facing today rather than worrying on the usage of word Allah by others. Many will agree with me that basically, religious foundation must be instilled at a very young age. The home is of course the best place to start with. What Muslim parents should do is to give their children a foundation of good religious education. Live a life of integrity, truthfulness and moral clarity – that what parents should do. That is the core of a parent's duties and responsibilities in educating their children - by being a good example to them. Children being children are receptive and pure at heart to whatever teachings that cross their bow. Of course the real world is not perfect. But if our children are brought up with good values, they will withstand peer and social influences that may be contrary to their religious and family values.

Muslims with strong foundation will not be confused if a priest uses the word Allah and easily converted to Christianity. Muslims with strong foundation will not allow themselves to be influenced by negative foreign cultures that are clearly inappropriate and against the teachings of Islam. If Muslims at least follow the basic teachings of Islam, I believe that we could be a good and well-balanced person.

Have you ever been unsure of your religious identity? Would you have doubt on your religious faith after reading The Herald? Should we worry on the fate of Muslims because of a magazine which has a circulation of only 13,000 copies, a readership of 50,000 and is not available from the news-stands?

So in all fairness, let us share the word Allah with others and may Allah give us the Muslims all the wisdom.