Being ‘bin Abdullahs’ is not enough

Yasmin Ooi, a Chinese Muslim knows that to be Muslim is to declare that there is no God but the One God, and Muhammad is His last messenger, and to live that declaration, to be witness of, and witness to that declaration, al-shahada.

Put simply, it’s to recognise God, which allows one to take the first step towards Him and to submit to Him, which is what the term Islam means.

She discussed in Malaysiakini the obligations of a Muslim and the associated objectives - praying five times a day in order to remember God; to pay zakat, to remember that in our wealth there is a share for people not tested with wealth; to fast during Ramadan to remind one on the excessiveness of desires; and to visit His house on Earth if one is able to, in other words to perform the hajj, so as to remind us that all humanity, women and men, all are equal before God.

She said that to strive to keep all that are acts of worship, ibadat, is not easy, except for the faithful. There can be no ibadat without submission to Him.

She expounded beautifully on faith or iman, sustained with ibadat, to live in a state of islam, and to worship Allah as though you are seeing Him, and while you see Him not, yet truly He sees you. It’s a Muslim continuous strive for excellence, permanent and deep consciousness of God, ihsan.

But she bemoans that within the first months of her becoming Muslim, many Malay Muslims had wondered who her husband, or husband-to-be was, because to those people, for her to be Muslim, is not so much to be faithful to God, but to marry someone who has Malay written in his birth certificate and Islam written in his MyKad.

She lamented: “Thus to be Muslim, in the simplistic views of some Muslims in Malaysia is to be Malay. And then they wonder why their fellow citizens of non-Malay ancestries in Malaysia are suspicious of Islam. They say Islam is for all humanity, as it rightly is, yet they see less a Muslim in a woman not donning a baju kurung.”

“They see less a Muslim in a Chan Mei Li, if she did not formally change her name to the likes of Jamila binti Abdullah Chan, yet a name like Ros Deraman is fine. Having an Arabic name with good meaning is good, but what is this pre-occupation in the overall list of priorities, especially when the ‘original’ names have good meanings in their bearers’ mother tongue and that of their society?”

“Mei Li in a person’s name means the beautiful one. Chan is her family name. In the same way, Ros is a beautiful flower in the Malay language. Deraman is her father’s name in Javanese, a Malay tribe predominant in Jawa, Indonesia. If Ros Deraman does not need to be Warda binti Abdullah, why does Chan Mei Li need to be Jamila binti Abdullah? The message of Islam is much more than an obsession to changing names with good meanings in their original languages.”

Yes, Yasmin, I am truly sorry about your feedback, feelings and frustrations. It’s about 2 points that I believe to be the issues here in Malaysia.

I blogged on one of these 2 points in an earlier posting ‘bin Abdullahs’ celebrating Chinese New Year!, where I noted that many Malay Muslims aren’t aware that there are more Chinese Muslims (in China) than Malay Muslims (not including Indonesians), and that the Islamic vintage of some Chinese Malaysian Muslims actually surpasses by hundreds of years that of any Malay Muslims, including those in Indonesia.

But that’s only an incorrect perception which can still be corrected through education. What is more challenging and perhaps depressing has been the 2nd point, that of the use of Islam as a political tool to confer elitism on, or exclusivity for Malays, namely to shore up the racist concept of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy).

Islam represents one of the tripodal definition for a Malay in Malaysia (and even Singapore). Article 160, Clause 2 of the Malaysian Constitution defines a Malaysian as a Malay who:

(1) is a Muslim
(2) habitually speaks Malay
(3) practises Malay customs

Those Malacca and Penang baba-nyonya (Straits born Chinese), and some Chinese Kelantanese and Tregganuans, who lived in this country for centuries and most certainly qualify for (2) and (3) are still Chinese, while those like some Chinese Malaysian Muslims with the their thousand year old Islamic vintage, who qualifies under (1) continue to be Chinese.

And if anyone believes the above is terrible and unfair, just think of those 'former' Malays who exited Islam. Officially they don't even have a 'race' to belong to. They were Malays but aren't anymore, but can't be Chinese, Indian or any of the several ethnic groups we have in Malaysia. I just wonder what does the government classify them as?

The thrust of the official policy is on Malay-ness.