Muslim Orientations and Malay Identity

Agreeing with Syed Farid Alatas that there may be many orientations among Muslims during his recent talk at NUS, I wondered was it even necessary to question as to what constitutes a progressive orientation of Islam to define the Malay Identity.

There is a problem in assuming that all Malays are Muslims although we in Singapore see that the majority are. Lest we forget that some Malays embrace other religions such as Christianity and Buddhism, let me remind you that Muslim and Malay are separate entities which should not be intertwined in any discussions. Associating both is a big mistake which the Muslim scholars in Singapore overlooked most of the time. Moreover, Muslim culture and Malay culture is not the same.

I often get the curious nudge from my friends of other religions on the tattoos done on some Malays. Doesn’t Islam prohibit tattooing or even altering part of their body for aesthetic purposes? The answer is my friends; those are the atheists who have long forgone the teachings of Islam and non-practising ones who indicated “Islam” as a religion in whatever forms they filled up. They are the ones that bring the ill reputation to Islam.

It’s very disheartening to see the Muslim youth of today, I repeat Muslim & not Malay, forgetting their religious background and indulging in whatever Haraam activities they could participate in. It’s even more disheartening to see Muslims scholars, the ones who are supposed to guide and uphold the correct views of Islam, getting tight-lipped whenever someone bashes the Muslim community in Singapore.

In an area where there’s rampant globalisation and inter-racial marriages, pushing the Malays into a scholarly defined mould is no longer acceptable. It has been proven that the Malays are of largely mixed descent ranging from Javanese to Indians. Well, to keep my point short, if anyone were to discuss on Malay issues just keep to the track on the racial part and not interlinked it with Islam.

Digressing, I was blog-hopping and came across an entry on Syed Farid Alatas’s comments that “Muslims in Singapore don’t take a critical approach to their holy texts and history”. I was wondering where on earth the blog writer got the story that “the Prophet visited and had sex with all his wives in a few hours”. In fact this is my first time coming across such allegations and my dear friends, yes we Muslims do discuss the hadis and whatever holy texts available to study the past and present context. Reading that blog entry, I wasn’t sure if that idea came from the blog writer or Syed Farid Alatas. If it’s from the blog writer and knowing that he’s from different religion make up for all his dubiousness. I would suggest he attend any talks provided by the Darul Arqam to witness the lively discussions on hadis and sunnah.