I used to think that It's all about haramWhen as a litle girl, I heard my Malay friends say,
"Eating pork is haram."
"Lying is haram."
"Stealing is haram."
And they said,"God will punish us if we do all these,
and God is All Seeing."
I used to believe that It's all about haram,
When as a teenager, I heard my Malay neighbours say,
"Drinking alcohol is haram."
"Gambling is haram."
"Adultery is haram"
And they said," You will enter hell if you do those acts, and God is All Knowing."
But when I grew up and learnt,
and my did I learnt,
I realise that It's not all about haram,
as is being emphasised by some folks.
This religion is not a religion of "don'ts"
It's actually one of "do's"
Unfortunately the learned ones and common people don't seem to portray It so.
It teaches,
Do be respectful to one's parents,
Do be kind, responsible and trustworthy even to one's enemies,
Do keep one's promises and settle one's debts,
Do treat one's women kindly and responsibly,
Do guard one's lips and actions at all times.
Do eat all the good and clean food available except a few which God says not to,
Do drink all the good and clean water and beverages except those that God says will harm you,
Do sit only with women who are allowed for you through family ties, and marriages so that you'd not fall into temptations,
Do guard your honour by doing what God asks of you and stay away from what God forbids,
Do know that God gives us all choices and the wise will choose wisely.
It's so simple,
It's so direct,
It's so easy,
Islam is Its name.
Yet why do they like to project It as a religion of more haram than halal?
I really don't know.
I think its all down to mixing culture with religion. I used to hear that men can't have piercing on their bodies because they can't be wali for the daugthers, from Malays. But then that is just not true. It is not one of the syarat to be a wali. An ustaz once mentioned in a talk that SOME Malays are not practising Muslim life as they have mixed it all up with culture way of living. If we all think about it , every religion will have a group of people who will always put culture beliefs first before religion. It is just the way life and people are for we are imperfect in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteWhy we have more HARAM than HALAL. Because the peoples with power are power hunger. They needs to be in control.
ReplyDeleteLet's focus on more HALAL than HARAM.So that we could progress.
My fellow countryman irregardless of your belief.Lets work together and do more HALAL thing . And earth will be a better pace to stay
Dear Rambler and Iqqhuan,
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm fortunate because as a revert, I'm not bound to Malay culture (though husband is Malay)and beliefs. To me, what's halal is halal found in the al-Quran and authentic hadith and what's haram is also haram found in both scriptures. My life now is a mixture of good qualities found in Chinese-Malay cultures. Islam is the centre of everything that goes on in my life. Of course at times I hit walls built by cultural and community sentiments, but to me, it's just a small matter. My motto -Ikut hati binasa, ikut Islam bahagia. Takut manusia, hidup merana; takut Allah balasannya syurga.