I woke up earlier this week to the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death; killed, to those in jubilation, murdered, to those in retaliation. I’m not writing another piece on Osama when it will fall short against the likes of Syed Akbar Ali (who always write brilliant things except for when he goes on Anwar-is-the-devil-incarnate mode) and Marina Mahathir (who actually copy-pasted 2 very well written articles). I was actually looking forward to Friday to see if the khutbah will be about him though.
It was not. In fact it was better than that. The khutbah was about peace, and how much love Allah has for His creations. It was a very good sermon and very refreshing to my mind that are used to sleeping over regulated text-reading khutbah back home.
And thus I wondered about the image of a typical Muslim to a typical American. At the office, I’m the only Muslim around. I have no idea how many there are actually aware of this fact since it appears to me that even to my small team, I seem to be known as someone who always ordered seafood. Whether they knew the reason behind is not important to me as long as they pick a place where I can actually order something to eat.
I do not keep long beards as they never seem to grow in the right places to be neat. My crazy bullpen cum lunch partner made some Al-Qaeda jokes over the week and I made fun on Americans and their penchant for violence (they should stay away from Malaysia; we don’t have much oil left). He should be the President of the US and I should be an Al-Qaeda leader so we can be friends and the world can be a happier place. I declined invitations to bars. I do not drink, I do not gamble, and I don’t do drugs. I explicitly look for Halal food. Other than that, I am just like any other ordinary American.
The mainstream image of a typical Muslim is marred with violence associated with just one man, when the entire foundation of Islam is of peace. It is somewhat frustrating that with just one misunderstood label the casual Muslim image transforms into a gun-toting-turban-wearing-suicide-bombing Al-Qaeda jihadist. At the mosque today, only one brother was wearing a turban. The rest looks like any ordinary person, wearing work shirts, t-shirts, one even sporting a chain around his neck. In Malaysia people will look at the chain sideways, but here, he is just another Muslim brother.
Back home, the Malay Muslims are so confused about who and what Muslims are as aptly written by Art Harun, that we arrogantly call ourselves the gold standard of being a Muslim while ironically we have among the worst standard of human rights, corruption and media freedom. There’s only image with very little essence, and no substance.
My wife was asked by one of her non-Muslim friends, whether or not Malaysian Muslims see Osama as a hero. What the hell is that? Do you ask Germans if they think Adolf Hitler was a hero? Do you ask the Chinese if they think Mao Tze Tung was a hero? The question was very insensitive and ignorant coming from a fellow Malaysian, but that’s the image.
Meanwhile, as Osama was unceremoniously put to rest as fish food somewhere in the vast ocean, Obama’s image was proven to be just as another typical American President.
God helps us all.
No comments:
Post a Comment