assalammualaikum dear friends! please be reminded that this post is absolutely not intended to disgrace or degrade or embarrass any specific persons. It is aim to highlight and discuss common situations in which how a Muslim being viewed from a perspective of liberal and open minded Muslim and non-Muslim alike, and myself. Thus, brace yourself! Be prepared to be touched/teared/hurt here and there within those hearts of yours, but let's not forget to review back our life, our identity and the name that we bear daily for the rest of our lives as a Muslim, insya Allah.
Let's begin with a question. Philosophers and scientists love to start an intellectual journey with a question. And how does questions begins? It is when we start to think of something, and what usually makes us start to think before asking? When we observe something. Thus, a good mind always think and ask with relation to what they see. Good mind + good eyes! huhu.. thus my question to you, how do you see the Muslim community these days around you and specifically to my round of colleagues, within our educational society/campus? I'm not sure about your view, but this is how i view my observations.
Situation A
He's an excellent student. Thrive in academics, superb in sports, funny, charismatic leader. Oh but too bad, he's not a Rakan Masjid, or exemplary Muslim. If not can be a husband material already! ^^ Rarely saw him at the masjid. If by ratio, he would be one of the few Muslim that is accepted into the list of excellent student (let's be honest, Malay barely made the list). Solat? Puasa? SubhannAllah, let it be Allah to decide.
Situation B
She's so beautiful. Wears the hijab, and shy and never misses the solat, always recite the al-Quran, soft with her speech, kind etc.etc. Excellent to be made as an exemplary wife. But... her academics, ummm, well.. sports involvement? Nope. Deans list? Never. Intellectual discussion? Well, hard to do that with her.
Situation C
He's a Rakan Masjid (please be noted this is my campus religious student association, it could be any other name according to your place of study), very modest, kind and nice. Would be considered a good Muslim with his level of knowledge of islam. Academic is so so, okay la, but... Heard that sometimes kind of hard to rely when it comes to organizational activities, missing in action, barely reach able. Wouldn't want to judge, probably busy or having health problems etc2.. but what would people think?
These are the most commonest situation that i could think of based on my observation. Yes, nobody is perfect. Yes, I shouldn't judge. Yes, always have good judgement on other people. Yes, i won't deny all those things, sememangnya benar dan benar dan amat digalakkan. But would you deny reality? Would you turn blind to all these situations instead of solving it? Would you consider yourself to be within those 3 groups, and if so, how do you feel when you start to think of what would other people see you as, especially the Muslim community? and finally, do you deny that these things haven't even occur within your eyes? Let's start the discussion with an open heart and try to probe into the issue with the intention of solving it instead of being judgmental.
Situation A: If we doesn't take into account that religion plays the most important criteria to take a person as our spouse, then we can neglect this. If we think that his life is his own, then we can ignore this.If we think that he's perfect enough, do entertain me! Okay. As an image to the outside world involving non-muslims, he's good, in fact, he probably reflected himself as a well achieving Muslim Malay. The problem lies within himself and us (the Muslims).First: Rasullah s.a.w stated that there are 4 criteria in choosing a spouse- his religion, his wealth, his appearance and his heredity. But the best choice is to choose one with religion. You can find this hadith. Second: We all as a Muslim are obligated to preach with hikmah. Yes, it is compulsory. Thus, we cannot let him be in his world, and be selfish that he is not entitled for the good endings in the Hereafter. Please, this is not "jaga tepi kain orang", remember preaching towards good is everyone's job. How would you be in a journey to the Heaven, but forgot to pull your brothers and sisters as well, that would be selfish right? Third: Nobody is perfect. But we have to strive towards that perfectness in term of our Deen. It should be balanced, the worldly and the After. A Muslim is being judged by his deeds to his Creator, and truly, he hasn't gone quite there yet. Thus, what should we do? Show our love to him by leading him towards the journey to meet Allah in the best manner possible. Insya Allah..
Situation B: Please don't misunderstood me that shyness is a problem. The problem is when shyness is exaggerated that it is almost impossible to approach. Please don't misunderstood as well that I'm judging her religious deed. It is in fact alhamdulillah if we could do that too always! What I want to highlight here is that, some girls misunderstood that shyness is a barrier to be outspoken and confident, to do things (sports, public speaking, leadership). Hmm.. Can't a girl be shy but be outspoken and confident as well? You answer that. Next, I know, some of you will say, "itulah dugaan yang diberi Allah pada die, sebab Allah sayang, die diberi ujian sebegitu". emm, saya setuju. Dugaan diberi berbagai-bagai. Thus why do i highlight this one? Because many people thinks that academic result is everything, it reflects a person, but i disagree. It should be balanced. But if she focuses too much on her religious pursue and neglected the academic part, then what do you think? How would you balance it? If we look into the History of Islamic civilization, we come across many religious Muslim figure and yet with an excellent resume of academic achievement, Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Khawarizmi etc2.. Thus achievements is not solely on our dependence to Allah s.w.t, it should also be added with effort, effort, effort. Unless you have put much effort enough and the results is still that way, yes, then we can say, its Allah's will. But it should come with this, it's Allah's will, i bow to it, but I will try harder! Insya Allah!
Situation C
Now in this situation it's a problem with attitude or behavior, or probably lack of judgment/insight towards his decision. We know in many societies, student bodies and activities, men always be the high committee. We need their leadership. Now some would say, fine, we'll do the work without him, some would say in their heart: "kenapa die ni asyik MIA jekk, why why? tak baik la, student lain pun busy jugak, aku pun sakit jugak, tp still datang je meeting".. some would be angry and start kutuk2 (Nauzubillah!).. So how do we see this situation? I see it like this. 1) The impact of his attitude and 2) How we deal with this.
1)The impact of his attitude:
Towards Muslim, it will make them wonder why such religious guy be like that. And they will start to question his transparency, and his stand and how much he understands that islam teaches us to hold to an amanah. I don't know what non Muslim will think of, but probably, they will start to think, "orang Melayu tak boleh harap", "orang Melayu buat kerja tak bersungguh", and bear in mind Melayu is almost 100% bearing Muslim names. I would rather emphasize that his action is a bad refection of a Muslim Malay to the community.
2)How we deal with this
It's hard, because we're dealing with a person. But we can try . and the best would be advice. If he does not take heed, then the best we should prevent him from doing further damage, that is we should tell him to release the post and reflect back. Why is this important? Because if he did it without a good reason, he's wrong. But if he has a reason, he shouldn't take the post in the first place. We should always know our capabilities and limits.
Thus, my friends, after 2 hours of typing, contemplating, thinking; I just would like to conclude that THIS IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU TO ACCEPT my view, or to edit it or to reject it. And i sincerely open further discussion, and i sincerely apologize for any rash words, for any misunderstanding, i just hope we could open up, and realize that Muslims these days are facing so much scrutiny, questionings and judgments. It is our job to fix that, it is our obligations to live as Muslim with the conscience that we are being watched and judged, not by people only but by Allah too, thus we have to be in best form! And above are just simple daily situations, there are more and more situations out there! SubhannAllah.. Insya Allah, next time i will try to insert verses of al-Quran and hadith (well, I'm still learning too, insya Allah), and all the bad comes from me, all the goods is all by Allah's Grace and Kindness..
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