Nik Aziz Hassan
nikaziz1948@gmail.com
Shauqi Kassim
shauqi_kassim@yahoo.com
Rosli Dahlan
rd@lh-ag.com
Rahman Shaari
rahmanshaari@gmail.com
Aida Kassim
michaidanais@yahoo.fr
Din Merican
dmerican2@gmail.com
Mahathir Mohamad
badariah@perdana.org.my
Syed Akbar Ali
syedakbarali@yahoo.com
Soraya Kassim
sorayakassim@hotmail.com
Shaqira Adnan
myra_90@hotmail.com
Chandra Muzaffar
muzachandra@gmail.com
Bakri Musa
bakrimusa@juno.com
Hamid Merican
md.hamid.merican@gmail.com
A. Halim Ali
aha750@gmail.com
Md Hasri
hasri91@gmail.com
Zaid Ibrahim
carbofree@gmail.com
Baharuddin Zainal
bahazain@gmail.com
Ab D. Kadir Shailk Othman
kgrc@tm.net.my
ISLAM -- BETWEEN NATIONAL IDENTITY AND ARABISATION
By: Kassim Ahmad
19 April, 2017
darul_hikmah333@yahoo.com.my
Recenly an old friend, an imam (prayer leader) in a rural area visited
me. I was amazed that he was attired in Arab dress. Normally only during
Muslim festival after the fasting month of Ramadan do I put on my full
Malay dress. When I attended the recent Cultural Congress, I wore my
batik shirt.
In the evening I had another function where I had to give a talk and
recite my poetry. I had my batik shirt on over which I wore my coat. I
delivered my talk, a sarmary of my life' journey to find the truth.
Another poet also recited his poems.
I told the audience they can ask me any questions. In the cultural
congress, I raised my hands three times to speak. The moderator
continued to allow other people to speak on particular subjects. So I
left the hall, because I had another function to attend that afternoon.
Most Malays seem to think of Islam as an Arab phenomenon. Prophet
Abrahan was not an Arab, nor was Noah and many others. God informs us in
the Quran that He sent a messenger to every community. We can see this
Arabisation in the language we use, like salat when before we use the word sembahyang. The Sultan of Johore was among the first to point to this phenomenon of Arabisation.
I am not sure about the women's tudung. My mother and her contemporaries never it wore it. They wore the selendang, an eligent head cover. Nowadays, the women say the must cover their 'aurat.
The word 'aurat is from Arabic, meanig 'nakedness'. Nakedness should
mean the chest down to below the kness for both men and women. For the
men, it was stipulated olny from the navel down to below the kness! You
can be sure that they are male chauvinists. Most men are so protective
of their women they want hide their womens's beauty from the gaze of
other men!
The wife of famous Indonesia religious scholar, Hamka, never wore it.
Some Malay women are even proud of wearing the tudung.
The argue that they are God-fearing people! Since it is not prescribed
in the Quran, wearing it can in stead bring harm to a woman's hair. A
male chauvinist once argued that even then a woman's hair should
logically be covered since it attracts other men and encourage adultery!
This surely is an animal arguing from for freedom of sex!
As for beauty of form, no one is more handsome that Prophet Joseph whom
even the wife of the governor of old Egypt, Zulaikah, could not
resist. .
____________________
KASSIM AHMAD is a Malaysia author. His website is
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