Marina Mahathir Rantings on "ALLAH"

Confident people do not get confused — Marina Mahathir

JAN 4 — I found by chance this article the other day: “Prophet Muhammad’s Promise to Christians”.
The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 AD it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person, says Muqtedar Khan.
Muslims and Christians together constitute over 50 per cent of the world and if they lived in peace, we will be half way to world peace. One small step that we can take towards fostering Muslim-Christian harmony is to tell and retell positive stories and abstain from mutual demonisation.

In this article I propose to remind both Muslims and Christians about a promise that Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) made to Christians. The knowledge of this promise can have enormous impact on Muslim conduct towards Christians. Muslims generally respect the precedent of their Prophet and try to practise it in their lives.
In 628 AD, a delegation from St Catherine’s Monastery came to Prophet Muhammed and requested his protection. He responded by granting them a charter of rights, which I reproduce below in its entirety. St Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Mt Sinai and is the world’s oldest monastery. It possesses a huge collection of Christian manuscripts, second only to the Vatican, and is a world heritage site. It also boasts the oldest collection of Christian icons. It is a treasure house of Christian history that has remained safe for 1,400 years under Muslim protection.

The Promise to St Catherine:

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
“Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
“No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
“Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

“No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. (Wow this is interesting)
“No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

The first and the final sentence of the charter are critical. They make the promise eternal and universal. Muhammed asserts that Muslims are with Christians near and far, straight away rejecting any future attempts to limit the promise to St Catherine alone. By ordering Muslims to obey it until the Day of Judgment the charter again undermines any future attempts to revoke the privileges. These rights are inalienable. Muhammed declared Christians, all of them, as his allies and he equated ill treatment of Christians with violating God’s covenant.

A remarkable aspect of the charter is that it imposes no conditions on Christians for enjoying its privileges. It is enough that they are Christians. They are not required to alter their beliefs, they do not have to make any payments and they do not have any obligations. This is a charter of rights without any duties!
The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 AD it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person.

I know most readers must be thinking so what? Well the answer is simple. Those who seek to foster discord among Muslims and Christians focus on issues that divide and emphasise areas of conflict. But when resources such as Muhammad’s promise to Christians are invoked and highlighted it builds bridges. It inspires Muslims to rise above communal intolerance and engenders goodwill in Christians who might be nursing fear of Islam or Muslims.
When I look at Islamic sources, I find in them unprecedented examples of religious tolerance and inclusiveness. They make me want to become a better person. I think the capacity to seek good and do good inheres in all of us. When we subdue this predisposition towards the good, we deny our fundamental humanity. In this holiday season, I hope all of us can find time to look for something positive and worthy of appreciation in the values, cultures and histories of other peoples.
Dr Muqtedar Khan is director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

Now, when that delegation from St Catherine's monastery came to meet with Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), I suppose it's fair to assume that they spoke Arabic to one another. And when they were conversing, surely the word “God” must have come up. As in "May God Be With You" and such like. What word did the Prophet (pbuh) use for “God” I wonder? And what did the St Catherinians use in return? For monotheists like them, was there a “your God” and “my God” type of situation, or did they understand that they were both talking about the same One?
While some idiots are mourning over the “loss” of the word “Allah” and therefore basically telling the world that they are people easily confused by nomenclature, and others are predicting riots over what is basically a “copyright” issue, let me define what I think a confident Muslim should be:
1. A confident Muslim is unfazed by the issue of God's name. God speaks to all of humankind in the Quran and never said that only Muslims could call him by the name Allah.
2. A confident Muslim has 99 names to choose from to describe that One God. My favourites are Ar-Rahman (The All-Compassionate) and Ar-Rahim (The All-Merciful).
3. A confident Muslim never gets confused over which is his/her religion and which is other people's. For instance, a confident Muslim knows exactly what the first chapter of the Quran is. And it's not the Lord's Prayer.
4. A confident Muslim will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word “Allah” and then think that he or she is in a mosque. A confident Muslim knows the difference.
5. A confident Muslim is generous, inclusive and doesn't think that his or her brethren is made exclusive through the use of a single language. The confident Muslim is well aware that in the Middle East, all services of ANY religion are in Arabic because that's what they all speak.
6. A confident Muslim knows the basis of his/her faith are the five pillars of Islam and will not be shaken just because other people call God by the same name.
7. A Muslim believes in only One God. Therefore it makes sense that other people should call God by the same name because there is no other God.
ART THOU NOT aware that it is God whose limitless glory all [creatures] that are in the heavens and on earth extol, even the birds as they spread out their wings? Each [of them] knows indeed how to pray unto Him and to glorify Him; and God has full knowledge of all that they do: (Surah Nour, Verse 41) (Asad).
So I would ask those people demonstrating against the court decision, have you no pride? Are you saying you're easily confused?
And before anyone says I have no qualifications to say these things, read what Dr Asri Zainal Abidin (who does have qualifications no matter what JAIS says) has written about this very subject here.
And here's something interesting. In 2007, the Majlis Agama Negeri Perlis, which is a large majlis filled with people very learned in Islamic religious knowledge, discussed the question of the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims. Their unanimous decision? They issued a fatwa to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with non-Muslims using the word at all. (This was told to me by Asri but I cannot find the fatwa anywhere online because all the religious departments' websites are so useless.)
Are we now going to excommunicate the whole of Perlis?

Intellectually stimulating article!

The "Allah" Controversy

There been lot of commotion and outcry recently on the use of the word 'Allah' by The Herald to use in their publication. All hell broke loose as there were public protest staged by various UMNO branches throughout the nation and some calling for the Council of Sultan to interfere to save Islam being demonized by non-muslims!
The worst is to hear from people like Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Defence Minister who can’t even answer the missing jet engines speaking on behalf of the Muslims in Malaysia. He was quoted by Malaysiakini that this may be used for their own agenda and to confuse the Muslims, the decision by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to allow Herald -The Catholic weekly, to use the word 'Allah' in their publication, had offended Muslims. Are the Muslims easily confused? I talked to some of my Muslim friends and they are not even offended by the ruling and yet they welcome such a decree.
He went on to say that Muslims in the country observe a very high respect for other religions and do not want others to interfere in matters pertaining to Islam. Hello! How do explain the body snatching and forced conversion even while they are still kid that has been happening in Malaysia. Is this your definition of how the Muslims respect the non-muslim?
Zahid said National Fatwa Council had clearly stated that 'Allah' was exclusively for Islam because 'Tuhan' (God) was a general reference. "Even in the Federal Constitution it is stated that Islam is the official religion but other religions can be observed but cannot preach their religion to those who are Muslims," I wonder how the Jews and Christians in the Arabic world would say about his comments as they have been using Allah, Insyallah and many other Arabic words in their daily lives. I wonder whether this fatwa applies to them as well? Over to you Zahid.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wishing all Malaysians MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Hope a new dawn will shine upon all of us showering Love,Joy and Happiness!

Hindraf -another joke of Indian leaders

Recently there have been spat among the Hindraf leaders, who were once respected and even adored by the entire Indian community but now they are as if fallen heroes or angels. Each and every one of them is calling each other to declare their assets either in their personal capacity or in bank account!
A bunch of idiots who call themselves professional yet behave like scavengers going at each other’s neck. It is true what UMNO and Mahathir said that the Indians will never come under one umbrella as each and everyone wanted to start a political party.
Just listen to what Vasanthakumar said: "I'm the sole owner of Hindraf Enterprise with a single bank account in RHB bank in my name. Ganabatirao said: "Waythamoorthy is playing a Tom and Jerry game and demanded Waythamoorthy to disclose the full details of the money collected on behalf of the Hindraf 5's families after their ISA arrest. On the other hand Waythamoorthy recently also sent another letter of demand to Ganabatirao's brother Papparaidu demanding that Papparaidu return RM50,000 belonging to Hindraf.
Vasanthakumar said Hindraf coordinators made massive collections through fund raising dinners and the sale of Hindraf paraphernalia in the name of the families but not a single cent was given to them and now they claim it is in Hindraf's accounts," he said. In addition, he also wants Waythamoorthy, who is currently in London, to return the RM110,000 that was collected by Papparaidu and banked into the account of Kumar Hashimah & Co on Dec 18, 2007. Sivanesan, I think the Perak guy asked for proof as to when Waythamoorthy was appointed or elected as Hindraf chairperson.
I now believe that the Indian community in this country is doomed forever as this proofs that they can’t work together and every Indian wanted to form a political party or wanted to lead the community. They a bunch of selfish individuals or shall I say bastards! @#$&@ the stupid Indians who always fall prey to such scams.

State of schools in Malaysia

Recently there was a write up about how refugee children are suffering from inadequate school facilities. I sympathise with these children but how is it any different from our own Malaysian children.
After 52 years of Independence there are still schools in Malaysia which are not fully aided and worst still there are some schools in empty tanker and abundant estate houses or best still in a rented shop lot! Ironic isn’t it, after 52 years or independence and with the new 1 Malaysia slogan there are children in our home soil who do not have a proper schools and facilities to study.
The Likut Tamil School rental for the shop lot is paid via donations collected by the Parent-Teachers Association from the community and well-wishers. There are Tamil Schools without water supply and even without field to play and yet they have a Physical Exercise (PE) Class? The poor state of the minority in this country and I wonder would it happen to a Sekolah Kebangsaan?
How about the schools in Sabah and Sarawak, what conditions are these children gaining knowledge? I just came to understand that if you are an Indian government servant who is transferred to Sabah, their children were not eligible for free text books and for the Health Department forms, they are placed under the 'Lain-lain' category along with the children of the illegal immigrants. This is our 1 Malaysia in the making!

SPM Decision Making

The flip-flop decision by the government and the cabinet on the SPM total number of subjects allowed depicts how the present government and its ministers make decision on issues pertaining national interest. First our DPM said that they have decided to allow only 10 subjects for SPM examination and this caused a furor among certain fraction of the society questioning the reason behind the decision as it seems to be a subtle move by the government to see vernacular languages to lose its official recognition at the SPM level thus both Mandarin and Tamil language to have a natural death.

After the outcry by the public the Deputy Education Minister said that the cabinet decision is final but the schools can have their own language classes and exam and mind you this is coming from a deputy education minister? The objections continued as some NGO’s were planning for a protest walk on the 12th Dec 09 and MIC was involved in a democratic discussion to resolve this issue with PM according to MIC President Datuk Samy Velu. What democratic discussion we don’t know, any way Muhyiddin Yassin took a U turn in saying that students now can include Chinese or Tamil and Chinese or Tamil literature subjects among the 10, but they will not be counted as "officially recognized" subjects. He further explain with an example that students can take 11 or 12 subjects but only 10 subjects would be counted for purposes of scholarships and other matters and additional subjects might be useful if someone wants to be a Tamil teacher and wants to show qualifications.

This is how our Cabinet and Ministers make decision no wonder our FDI has been declining for the last century and we the Rakyat have entrusted our nation and our future in the hands of these clowns! God Save Malaysia.

Malaysian Migration Issue

Recently the Deputy Foreign Minister Kohilan Pillay said that the number of Malaysians who have decided to emigrate abroad has almost doubled this year to 304,358 from Mac 2008 to August 2009. A total of 3,800 Malaysians have given up their citizenship and simply opted to leave the country of their birth. Furthermore it has been noted that almost 50 % who left are professionals who have chosen to seek greener pastures abroad, citing better pay and working opportunities as well as marriage as the most common reasons given. I guess this possibly could be due to commentaries by our polished politicians “ if you don’ like it, leave it’!
Five of my university friends have migrated to the US,UK and Australia with an addition of one leaving end of Dec 09. I asked him why after all this years is he leaving. He answered “ I’ve lost faith in this country. I have struggled on my own for too long and have experienced discrimination all along yet hang on all this years to see if things would improve but I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel after witnessing the turnaround of events under the current government. I’m done with Malaysia”. He has been a dear friend of mine for the last 40 years and now he is leaving to Australia!This is the political maturity of this government for not looking at themselves and asking what has Malaysia done so wrong for this entire people to leave. I doubt they neither have the intelligence nor intellect to reflect upon this issue!I am one of them who went abroad but came back as I love Malaysia, so I thought! I wonder at times why I ever returned.

Let me quote what Farish Noor said in his article” Malaysia is most in danger not when it is invaded, but when Malaysians themselves have lost faith in it”.