To my fellow Malaysian of Islamic and Christian faiths
It seems that some of us have resorted to throwing fire bombs at churches now. The government and the more rational of us are calling for everyone to calm down and handle this rationally. The first thought that crossed my mind was that considering we don’t often wear jackets in broad daylight in Malaysia, it may be a little harder for suicide bombers to wear C4 coats.
I also believe that there is a side to this issue that most people are overlooking. It seems that both sides are operating on this basic assumption, “we are good, they are bad”. This of course will lead to bad things. This also means that in the eyes of those on the other side, you are the bad guy. More importantly, both sides are operating on the unwavering assumption that they are doing the right thing.
A few basic things to get out of the way.
1. Do I believe that the Christians in Malaysia should be allowed to use “Allah” to refer to God?
a. I do not. The actual ruling actually states that they are allowed to use the name in their publications to be disseminated to Christians only but this will only be thinly veiled excuse. The real reason; they will then be able to use Christian material written in Malay and even written in Arabic to promote the religion to Malays. The technique is the same one Carnegie uses to teach us to make friends and influence people. Lets face it, most of us Malaysian are really quite easily influenced.
b. The Bible does not actually use the name Allah at all. I’m sure you don’t need me to explain this – google it.
c. The name Allah in Islam is a proper noun, without gender, without prurality. See Al Ikhlas.
2. Do I know that Arab Christians have been using Allah to refer to God for a long time?
a. Yes, I do know but just because they allow it over there, it does not mean that it should be allowed here.
Not the things that I really want to say.
Take away all the complex arguments, the theological trappings, the political rhetoric, the emotional tirades, and all the other nonsense, what are we left with?
Consider a few questions.
1. What exactly are we objecting to?
We are actually objecting to them trying to disseminate information that may influence us and entice us to convert to their religion. We object because we know some of us may be easily influenced by such information. Certainly there are a multitude of other reasons but these lay very close to the foundation of our objections.
2. Don’t they know that we object to them trying to convert us to their religion?
Of course they do. Do we know that they also object to us trying to convert them? I am certain we do. We may not want to entertain it or even air it but certainly we do.
3. Most people would object to people trying to convert them to another religion. Why do we persist? Why do they persist?
This is where Muslims and Christians are exactly the same. They are trying to convert us because they believe that we are on the wrong path. They believe that is we continue on our path, we will probably not make it to heaven. They are trying to convert us because they do not want us to go to hell.
4. If this is so, why would they be so concerned about where, they believe, we are headed?
Are we so dumb that we cannot see that they don’t want us to go to hell for the very same reason we don’t want them to go to hell? They are our friends, our neighbours, our fellow human beings: we care about them / they care about us. So, we are really getting on each other’s nerves because we love each other.
Its ironic, really. We try to convert each other because we care about each other. Consequently we annoy each other, we offend each other, we violate each others’ sensitivities, we may end up hating each other and now, we begin violate each others’ house of worship. So all this is really a labour of love.
Y’know, what amazes me the most? Look at the way we are. We have always been like this. In fact, at times we have been far worse. Can you imagine the patience our Prophets must have had to have been able to move entire nations in the right direction? So, can we try to invoke in ourselves a fraction of that patience?
Then again, forget about it. I am certain we will continue to be our usual pathetic, emotional, unreasonable, and unscrupulous selves.
I also believe that there is a side to this issue that most people are overlooking. It seems that both sides are operating on this basic assumption, “we are good, they are bad”. This of course will lead to bad things. This also means that in the eyes of those on the other side, you are the bad guy. More importantly, both sides are operating on the unwavering assumption that they are doing the right thing.
A few basic things to get out of the way.
1. Do I believe that the Christians in Malaysia should be allowed to use “Allah” to refer to God?
a. I do not. The actual ruling actually states that they are allowed to use the name in their publications to be disseminated to Christians only but this will only be thinly veiled excuse. The real reason; they will then be able to use Christian material written in Malay and even written in Arabic to promote the religion to Malays. The technique is the same one Carnegie uses to teach us to make friends and influence people. Lets face it, most of us Malaysian are really quite easily influenced.
b. The Bible does not actually use the name Allah at all. I’m sure you don’t need me to explain this – google it.
c. The name Allah in Islam is a proper noun, without gender, without prurality. See Al Ikhlas.
2. Do I know that Arab Christians have been using Allah to refer to God for a long time?
a. Yes, I do know but just because they allow it over there, it does not mean that it should be allowed here.
Not the things that I really want to say.
Take away all the complex arguments, the theological trappings, the political rhetoric, the emotional tirades, and all the other nonsense, what are we left with?
Consider a few questions.
1. What exactly are we objecting to?
We are actually objecting to them trying to disseminate information that may influence us and entice us to convert to their religion. We object because we know some of us may be easily influenced by such information. Certainly there are a multitude of other reasons but these lay very close to the foundation of our objections.
2. Don’t they know that we object to them trying to convert us to their religion?
Of course they do. Do we know that they also object to us trying to convert them? I am certain we do. We may not want to entertain it or even air it but certainly we do.
3. Most people would object to people trying to convert them to another religion. Why do we persist? Why do they persist?
This is where Muslims and Christians are exactly the same. They are trying to convert us because they believe that we are on the wrong path. They believe that is we continue on our path, we will probably not make it to heaven. They are trying to convert us because they do not want us to go to hell.
4. If this is so, why would they be so concerned about where, they believe, we are headed?
Are we so dumb that we cannot see that they don’t want us to go to hell for the very same reason we don’t want them to go to hell? They are our friends, our neighbours, our fellow human beings: we care about them / they care about us. So, we are really getting on each other’s nerves because we love each other.
Its ironic, really. We try to convert each other because we care about each other. Consequently we annoy each other, we offend each other, we violate each others’ sensitivities, we may end up hating each other and now, we begin violate each others’ house of worship. So all this is really a labour of love.
Y’know, what amazes me the most? Look at the way we are. We have always been like this. In fact, at times we have been far worse. Can you imagine the patience our Prophets must have had to have been able to move entire nations in the right direction? So, can we try to invoke in ourselves a fraction of that patience?
Then again, forget about it. I am certain we will continue to be our usual pathetic, emotional, unreasonable, and unscrupulous selves.
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