Saturday, 4th February, 2012 Comments Off
Browse the shelves at your local bookshop and look for books on Muslim women and chances are you’ll find many titles on the subject. You will also find that most if not all of the books have one recurring theme: the victimisation of women in Islam. Disgusted with this stereotype, two American Muslim women invited other American Muslim women, many of them writers themselves, to tell the world about their experiences finding love that is totally different from the preconceived notion that most westerners have and in fact is just the same as everyone else. The result is “Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women“.
There are stories of arranged marriages like Aisha Saeed’s “Leap of Faith” who was so adamant against the idea that when the boy’s family asked for a photo, she did her best to pose with an annoyed look. Far from driving him away with the look, it intrigued him. “Love In The Time Of Biohazards” is an endearing and humorous story about a spouse taking care of his wife, Melody Meozzi, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer and “A Prayer Answered” is about a Muslimah looking for love from another Muslimah. Gay love. I’m half expecting this book to be included in Malaysia’s 2012 list of banned books. Or maybe it won’t be sold here at all. I bought mine from Amazon.
Most of the stories are by women of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent and a few converts to Islam but there’s one from Malaysian-American Aida Rahim whose journey to find her one true love prompted her husband to say, “we plan and God laughs”. True that.
I’m not the target audience of this book but I was intrigued by the subject. Some Muslims may take offense at it what with its frank portrayal of lesbian love and stories of Muslim women having sex before marriage (gasp! shock! horror!) but to do that is to miss the point. Love, InshAllah is not here to preach. It just wants to tell the (western) world that Muslim women have the same foibles and needs as any other woman. Be they Sunni, Shia’, orthodox Muslim, lapsed Muslim, reverts to Islam, straight or gay Muslims, the stories collected in this book all revolve around the same thing: the search and discovery of that thing called ‘Love’.
Thursday, 19th January, 2012 § 3 Comments
This won’t happen in Malaysia. We don’t call people to prayer in churches. We just burn churches. Shame on us.
Friday, 30th September, 2011 § 2 Comments
Well, they finally got him. According to Al-Jazeera, Anwar Al-Awlaki was killed in a Friday morning airstrike in Yemen. I mentioned him briefly in this blog last year when they were looking for him. I didn’t care about his politics but I loved his religious sermons. And now he’s dead, dammit. Who’s next, America? Fred Phelps?
Cahaya-Cahaya Wuduk (Al Hidayah Publishers, 2011): I Was SO Disappointed With This Book That I’m Not Going To Translate My Original Review Into English
Wednesday, 7th September, 2011 § 6 Comments
The following review first appeared in Goodreads.com and as the title of the post suggests, the author pretty much pissed me off with his confusing inconsistency. Pissed me off enough that I’m not going to bother translating my review from Malay to English. This is indeed a historical day here at the Malaysian Reader. Even when another book written in Malay pissed me off I still managed to review it in English (yeah, this book as if you didn’t know if you’ve been following this blog long enough). But if you’re still curious but not fluent in Malay the book is basically about the Islamic practise of ablution (wuduk) which all Muslims are recommended to perform in our daily lives and is in fact obligatory when we want to perform our prayers or touch the Quran. This book is very good at explaining the reasons for ablution and answering the myriad of questions involving ablution but one small inconsistency by the author almost made me want to throw this book across the room. A non-Muslim may think it an overreaction but Islam has to be practised to the letter according to the Quran and the example of the Prophet that even a small inconsistency in a book that proposes to teach Muslims on how to practise their faith correctly is enough to relegate that book to the trash can.
So here’s the review in Malay:
Apabila saya membaca buku-buku ilmiah khususnya buku-buku Islam, saya menjadi lebih kritikal berbanding apabila membaca buku-buku pop. Ini satu kewajiban setiap Muslim. Tidak boleh menerima bulat-bulat apa yang dibaca. Mesti dibandingkan dengan buku lain, pendapat lain. Wajib bertanya dengan yang arif untuk mendapat kepastian dan kefahaman. Silap faham, rosak akidah. Bak kata orang zaman sekarang, “Don’t play play“. Jangan main-main hal agama.
Karya Muhammad Muhyidin ini secara ringkasnya memberi penjelasan soal wuduk dan mengapa ia penting bagi setiap manusia yang bergelar ‘Muslim’. Penjelasan diberi dengan teliti, disertai dengan ayat-ayat Quran dan juga hadis sahih. Namun, saya keliru dengan tulisan beliau bila menyentuh soal berapa kali patut anggota wuduk diusap air wuduk.
Pada awalnya, pengarang mengajak kita supaya berwuduk mengikut mazhab fiqh yang dianuti; samada Shafi’e atau Malik atau Hambal atau Hanafi mahupun Ja’fari (mazhab Syiah). Beberapa halaman kemudian (halaman 44-46 di dalam edisi ini), ustaz Muhammad menyelitkan beberapa hadis sahih yang menyentuh soal usapan air di anggota badan ketika berwuduk. Ada yang kata Nabi Muhammad s.a.w mengusap hanya sekali, ada yang kata dua kali, ada juga yang kata tiga kali. Ini semua sahih. Terpulanglah nak ikut yang mana satu.
Si ustaz ada juga memberi dua pendapat Syiah, di mana pendapat pertama mengatakan bilangan wajib mengusap anggota wuduk hanya sekali, sunat dua kali manakala pendapat kedua pula menegaskan cukup sekali sahaja, kalau buat dua kali tiada pahala dan kalau tiga kali sudah bida’ah yakni sesat!
Namun, memandangkan awal-awal lagi Ustaz Muhammad tidak menyalahkan mana-mana pendapat mazhab asalkan pengikut mazhab itu yakin dengan ajaran mazhab berikut, maka terpulanglah pembaca nak ikut mazhab mana satu.
Yang mengejutkan dan membuat saya tawar hati dengan buku ini ialah apabila di halaman 115, Ustaz Muhammad mengkritik seorang ustaz lain (yang tidak diberi nama) apabila ustaz tiada nama itu menggalakan umat Islam menyapu air wuduk tiga kali di anggota wuduk. Ustaz Muhammad dengan selambanya menulis “sebagaimana yang telah kita ketahui bersama, membasuh atau mengusap anggota wuduk diwajibkan hanya sekali, dimubahkan dua kali (‘mubah’ bermaksud tidak digalak dan tidak dialarang), dan hukumnya bidaah jika dilakukan tiga kali.“
Aik?! Di bahagian awal si ustaz kata terpulanglah nak ikut mazhab mana (termasuk yang Syiah) kerana semua mazhab yang masyhur ini mengikut Quran dan Sunnah. Tetapi selepas itu si ustaz mengkritik pula pendapat yang mengatakan mengusap anggota wuduk tiga kali adalah bidaah! Tiba-tiba pula si ustaz ni ikut pendapat Syiah. Apa jadi pada “terpulanglah nak ikut mazhab mana satu asalkan yakin”?
Semua hujah-hujahnya yang lain serta merta menjadi ghaib dari pandangan saya walaupun hujah-hujahnya agak mantap. Semua kerana sifat tidak konsisten beliau ini. Seperti saya tulis di atas, dalam soal agama kita tidak boleh main-main. Tidak boleh buat silap. Buku ini telah diterjemah (tidak dijelaskan dari bahasa apa tapi saya rasa dari Bahasa Indonesia) dan juga telah disemak oleh seorang berpangkat Doktor. Jadi di mana silapnya? Si penterjemah buat silap? Atau tukang semak sebenarnya tak semak? Atau memang pengarang asal, Muhammad Muhyidin terkeliru dan mengelirukan?
Oleh kerana kekeliruan yang nampak kecil tetapi berpotensi memberi impak yang besar pada akidah umat Islam, saya tidak syorkan buku ini dibaca apatah lagi dibeli.
Islam’s Quantum Question (I.B Tauris, 2011) May Be A Bit Over My Head But It’s Still A Freaking Excellent Book
Sunday, 21st August, 2011 Comments Off
It is perhaps my lack of scientific knowledge that I found this book just a bit on the side of ‘heavy reading’ even though Nidhal Guessoum writes in a clear and detailed manner that even a science dunce like me can understand.
In his book, he argues that Muslims today have regressed when confronted with science, preferring instead to interpret the Quran almost literally, something that was not practised by Muslim scholars during Islam’s Golden Age. He argues that Muslim scholars in the past had no problems accepting evolutionary theory as long as it did not contradict God. For example, our wisdom tooth, the appendix and a tail bone at the end of our spines are all useless parts of our bodies and yet there they are. If Man was created as is, why are there then these appendages that do nothing and go nowhere? Did God create an imperfect species on purpose? Or did ancient man have a need for these now useless organs? If so, doesn’t that support an evolutionary argument (not necessarily a Darwinian one since that would reject the existence of an Intelligent Designer).
Islam and evolution isn’t the only topic argued in this book (he presents Islam’s argument for a God, the cosmos and the universe) but the chapter on evolution is the one I paid extra attention to as it is the most controversial. Conservatives would probably brand him a heretic which proves his point: that Muslims today ignore science at their peril. We should emulate scholars like Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Miskawayh, al-Farabi and Ikhwan as-Safa who not only did not reject totally the theory of evolution but in fact accepted it as a given.
He also confirms something that I myself have suspected all along and that is Harun Yahya is a hack who writes about subjects he knows nothing about. That itself is worth the price of the book as far as I’m concerned.
It’s an excellent book, the second one this year that I gave a 5-star rating to over at Goodreads.com (the first one was Tamim Ansary’s book I reviewed here). A bit academic in parts, a bit dry in others (but that may be due to my minuscule knowledge of science) but overall Islam’s Quantum Question is a must read for any intelligent Muslim.
Sunday, 19th June, 2011 § 1 Comment
From a book about Singapore’s porn star yesterday to a biography on the person who wrote the most widely used English translation of the Quran today. That’s just how I roll, folks.
There are two books that were brought to my attention by the late Muslim evangelist, Ahmed Deedat, through his taped lectures. One is the Izhar Ul Haq (which I should really review one of these days) and the other is the English translation of the Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. His translation was not the first time the holy book of the Muslims appeared in English but it is the only one that is still popular today. There have been other good ones, most notably Marmaduke Pickthall’s translation, but I love Yusuf Ali’s mainly for its comprehensive index. Very important to Muslim and non-Muslims alike. After all, how else can you go straight to the chapter discussing say, Noah, if you don’t know the book by heart or never opened it before in the first place? The Quran isn’t like the Bible, for example, where the progression is linear. It doesn’t begin with the story of Adam and ends with Muhammad (peace be upon them both). So an index is very much appreciated and that is why I absolutely love Yusuf Ali’s English translation of the Quran.
But Searching for Solace isn’t exclusively about Yusuf Ali’s work on the Quran. It is divided into two parts. The first is a “chronological account of his life and the second draws out the themes most prominent in his activities and speeches”.
Here’s a brief lowdown on the book: it is as dry as the Sahara at noon in the middle of summer.
It was informative enough but M A Sherif’s chronicling of Yusuf Ali’s life felt like a bland account. This happened, this was how Yusuf Ali reacted, then this was the result. Next chapter. Seventy pages in and I found myself skimming the words, not really savouring the story of one of the greatest minds in Islam in modern times. I know that Yusuf Ali was a pro-British, pro-Empire man who thought Pakistan was just a silly dream of some of his peers, in contrast to his contemporary, Muhammad Iqbal, who was all for the British quitting India and setting up separate states for the Muslims in the west and east of the sub-continent. I know that he was married twice and divorced twice. He was estranged from his children from his first marriage and that Yusuf Ali loved politics. Oh, and somewhere in there I got to know his slow but steady progress of writing an English translation and commentary of the Quran.
I can’t help but feel that this could have been such a better book. It is not a bad book but there was so much potential to be a better one. Seeing as this is the only biography of Abdullah Yusuf Ali so far, we have no other choice but to peruse its pages to find out what made the man tick but don’t be surprised if like me, you too start to glaze over the pages around the fifty to seventy page mark.
Wednesday, 1st June, 2011 § 9 Comments
My review of Ann Wang Seng’s latest book yesterday prompted blogger Min Min to shoot me an email. At first I wanted to reply directly to her but then decided to share it here because she raised some interesting points. Here’s what she wrote:
I’m a Chinese Malaysian. I took a minor in theology during undergrad and studied a bit about Islam. Personally I’m not against the religion. In fact, I enjoy learning about it.
Many Chinese Malaysians are “afraid” of becoming a Muslim because of the law which makes it a no-turning-back religion – once you are converted, you can’t quit. And your children have to be Muslims, even if they don’t want to.
It’s hard for Chinese women to accept the concept of “tutup aurat” – why must women cover themselves from head-to-toe? Why can’t men learn to control their desire? In addition, Malaysia is such a hot and humid country, wearing a tudung is very uncomfortable.
Just recently I read a news about a Chinese mother who has converted to Islam and took her daughter forcefully from the father with the help of the religious body in Malaysia. The little girl wanted to stay with the father but she was forced to stay with the mother and convert to Islam. This kind of news certainly marred the image of the religion.
I always believe that religion must be based on freedom of choice. The government shouldn’t be interfering with our beliefs. When law is imposed on a religion, there is no more freedom of choice. This is really what scares the Chinese away from Islam.
I hope this comment doesn’t offend you. I enjoy reading your blog and have gained lots of insight from your articles.
Thanks for your thoughts and for reading this blog, Min Min and please don’t apologise. I’m a bit of a jerk myself (HAH!) so it takes quite a lot to really offend me.
Islam is not just a religion. It is a way of life. It is not something you claim to be when you want to, for example on religious holidays, and then forget about it when you’re bored it with it. Islam is not a piece of clothing that you wear when it’s in fashion and discard when you’re bored with it. Now, when you wrote that Islam is a “no-turning-back” religion you are implying that a Muslim who decides to leave Islam may face a severe punishment for apostasy. There are many opinions regarding the punishment for apostasy in Islam and I’m just going to link a Wikipedia article on it. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s Wikipedia but for a brief overview on the issue, the article is good enough: Apostasy in Islam. Furthermore, one of the most important principles in Islam is that “there is no compulsion in religion” (Quran 2:256)
As for children following the religion of their parents, in Islam it is the obligation of the Muslim parents to instil a knowledge of Islam and Islamic principles to their children. A Christian parent teaches Christianity to his/her children. Buddhists parents teach Buddhism to their children and the same goes for Hindu parents, so why not Muslim parents? This is in the case of people who are already Muslims and not reverts. As for the mother forcing her daughter to embrace Islam, she may have done it out of a misunderstanding of Islam. I refer to the the Quranic verse above, there is no compulsion in religion. Why is this a big deal in Islam? Because a conversion achieved by force is worthless. The person does not do it willingly and instead of gaining a new Muslim, we may have instead accepted someone who resents Muslims and Islam. I did not know about this case until you wrote about it so I cannot comment much.
As for the aurat, Islam pays great attention on modesty for both men and women. It is true when you write that men should be able to control their desires. Men (and women) are taught in Islam to control their eyes by lowering their gaze when they are amongst people who are not family members. We are not permitted to ogle and stare at other people. At the same time however, both men and women are also not permitted to reveal parts of their bodies to people who are forbidden for them (woman who is not his wife, a man who is not her husband) and that is why both must cover their aurats. For men it is everything between their navels and the knees. As for women, every part of their body is an aurat except their faces and their hands up to the wrists (some opinions say that even the face is forbidden). Well, I’m not a woman so I don’t know how it feels like under the tudung in this humid country so maybe a Muslim woman reading this could write something about it in the comments.
Anyway, that’s my reply to Min Min’s email. It hardly explains everything about Islam and I’m sure it raises more questions but I think it’s a good start. This is the kind of frank discussion that I hoped for in my review of Ann Wan Seng’s book and I would like to thank Min Min for writing.
Tuesday, 31st May, 2011 Comments Off
Here I go again, reviewing in English a book written in Malay. I just don’t give a damn, do I? Anyway, prominent Muslim evangelist Haji Ann Wan Seng’s latest book is a treatise on why most Chinese, particularly those in Malaysia, would really have no problems accepting Islam. So why aren’t they? Haji Ann argues that the British practise of ‘divide and rule’ during the colonial era where the various racial communities were separated economically and professionally played a major part in instilling a sense of mistrust. It was made worst when Malaysia achieved independence, the policy was incorporated by the ruling party because they saw that it served their purposes. It became official policy that Islam is Malay and Malay is Islam and a non-Malay who embraces Islam in Malaysia is seen as becoming Malay. May God forgive these ignorant politicians.
The Chinese are not anti religion and not anti Islam despite what some local demagogues would have you think. However, Islam in Malaysia is so closely linked with the Malays to the point that becoming Muslim is synonymous with becoming Malay makes it difficult for the Chinese to accept Islam. The Chinese are a proud race. They have a long history with its own proud identity and they are concerned if their kith and kin embrace Islam and thus ‘becoming Malay’, the Chinese identity would gradually erode. That is why Chinese parents have no problems if their children announce they are becoming Christians or even atheists but if they say they are interested in Islam? Whoa! That’s just asking for trouble. There are many misconceptions of Islam that the Chinese-Malaysian may have such as:
- the insistence of changing your name to a more Muslim or Semitic sounding name (not necessarily. Prophet Muhammad did not change the names of new Muslims during his time if their names did not reflect their former pagan past).
- breaking all ties with your non-Muslim relatives (false. In fact, Islam forbids the breaking of family ties even if they’re non-Muslims).
- wearing Malay style attire and embracing Malay culture (false. In fact Muslim Chinese in Malaysia continue to celebrate Chinese New Year because it does not involve the worship of idols or anything that contradicts Islamic principles).
It doesn’t help that the state of Islam today is quite low no thanks to a biased international media that exaggerates any fault involving a Muslim and keeping mum whenever Islam is portrayed in a positive light. In Malaysia, the predominantly Muslim Malays are still economically lacking even with a government-backed crutch while the Chinese who are not qualified for the same help are able to surge forward solely based on hard work and determination. So when one of them expresses interest in a religion practised by the Malays, his Chinese brethren will naturally say, “Are you nuts?” But again, their mistake is in linking the religion with the race. Both Chinese and Malays ignore the historical fact that Islam first arrived in the Malay states and the Nusantara (the Indonesian archipelago) in the 13th and 14th century not from Arab or Indian traders but Chinese ones. Admiral Cheng Ho (or Zheng He), who visited Malacca and is believed by some to have discovered America before any European did, was a Muslim. Islam therefore has a longer history with the Chinese than with the Malays.
Haji Ann Wan Seng sees hope in the future. Though he admits that the number of Chinese reverts to Islam in Malaysia is small and some of them embrace Islam merely because they want to marry a Muslim, he also sees that many of the reverts today are from the professional class. Many of these professionals become active in propagating Islam to their family and friends and they present a positive face of Islam among non-Muslims and this is a small step in improving the damage caused (and still being caused) by the damn politicians. Haji Ann admits it will be a long hard struggle but does not discount the possibility that many prominent Muslims could finally come out from the Chinese community, not just in Malaysia but in the South East Asian region in general.
Biar Orang Cina Pimpin Islam (Let the Chinese Lead Islam) is a thought provoking book on how Islam is viewed by the two largest communities in Malaysia and how both see the religion through their own biased glasses. What we need is a more open and honest public platform where all views can be represented without fear of prosecution and persecution. Even if the non-Muslims still reject Islam after that, at least they will (hopefully) understand it better. When will that happen, I wonder?
Sunday, 29th May, 2011 § 12 Comments
Dr. Aidh’s Islamic-based motivational book is very good and that’s coming from me, a person who shuns motivational books. It’s hard not to notice this book if you browse along the Islamic books section in the bookshops. There’s the large hardcover edition, the large softcover and now this, a pocket book edition (although at over 700 pages there’s hardly a pocket that it can fit in). I never bothered to pick it up before because I tend to ignore these self help books, never mind that this one uses an Islamic perspective to get its message across. Finally broke down and bought this edition for no other reason than I was bored and needed something to read and boy, what a read! Originally published in Arabic, this Malay edition brings the book’s message across quite well and kudos to Muhammad Sofwan Amrullah for the job he did translating the text.
Separated into hundreds of bite-sized non-linear chapters means that I’ve been reading this book haphazardly; jumping from page 10 to page 200 then back to page 60 and then on to page 500 and so on. My favourite is the section on books and reading (page 186-190): ‘The best of friends is a book‘ and the 11 reasons he gives why reading is recommended in Islam. “A book is the perfect companion day or night.” Can’t argue with that.
Friday, 22nd April, 2011 § 4 Comments
Today, April 22nd 2011, Christians all around the world will be celebrating Good Friday. They believe that Jesus Christ (peace be upon him)* died today after suffering excruciating pain crucified on a cross , a favourite method of execution in those ancient days. Christians also believe that Christ (peace be upon him) was resurrected the following Sunday and was raised up to Heaven to be in the company God, the Creator of all.
And that is basically the foundation of Christianity. That God sacrificed Christ in order to save mankind. Of the other two monotheistic faiths, Judaism and Islam, only Islam believes in Jesus Christ (along with the other prophets mentioned in the Bible) but with major differences. Many Christians do not know that Muslims believe in Christ. In fact, some believe Muslims are anti-Christ! That is wrong. Islam holds Jesus Christ (or Isa al-Masih in Arabic) as one of the great messengers of God but he himself was not godly nor was he the son of God. The only divine thing about Jesus (peace be upon him) was his message but he himself was a mortal man who needed to eat, drink, bathe, sleep, go to the toilet. You know…he had to do human stuff.
Islam also regards his mother, Mary or Maryam, very highly as the Quran states in Chapter 3, verse 42**:
“Behold! The angels said:
“O Mary! Allah hath chosen thee
And purified thee — chosen thee
Above the women of all nations”
How can we Muslims be accused of hating Jesus (peace be upon him) when his mother, Mary, is honoured in the Quran as being a woman surpassing all other women on Earth? The mother of Muhammad (peace be upon him)? She is not even mentioned in the Quran. Not only was Mary name checked in the holy book of Islam but there is an entire chapter that is named after her; Chapter 19 of the Quran is known as Surah Maryam or Chapter Mary. There is no chapter named after Mary in the New Testament.
But I digress. As to the crucifixion, the Quran states in Chapter 4, verses 157-158:
That they said,
“We killed Christ Jesus
The son of Mary,
The Messenger of Allah”
But they killed him not,
Nor crucified him,
But so it was made to appear to them,
And those who differ therein are full of doubts,
With no certain knowledge,
But only conjecture to follow,
For of a surety they killed him not
Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself;
And Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.
To a Muslim these two verses are enough. Jesus (peace be upon him) was not crucified and those who say he was have “no certain knowledge” but “only conjecture to follow”. This episode is most important to Christians because Jesus’ sacrifice meant that the sins of mankind were wiped away as long as one believes Jesus died for one’s sins. Muslims find this idea most abhorrent. Putting aside the fact that we do not believe he was crucified, the idea that someone had to die (and die horribly) for our sins goes against all common sense. I am not responsible for my father’s sins nor is my father responsible for mine. We each have to bear our own shortcomings and the only way to wipe the slate clean is for each of us to beg forgiveness to God ourselves. No intermediary and certainly no blood sacrifice, human or otherwise.
I invite everyone of all faiths especially Christians to learn what Islam has to say about Jesus (peace be upon him) and his mother Mary. I highly recommend the English translation of the Quran as translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (see pic left). It is in my opinion the best English translation of the Quran simply because it has a very detailed index at the back. You want to know what the Quran says about Jesus? Look under ‘J’. Over 60 references to Jesus. Mary? Look under ‘M’ and you’ll find about 20 references to her. And believe me, nowhere in the Quran will you find anything insulting or offensive about Jesus and his mother (peace be upon them both). On the contrary, they are praised and glorified over and over again. Muslims are anti-Christ? Ridiculous.
This blog is hardly the place for a detailed study of Islam and Christianity but I wrote this post today because of the significance of the date in the Christian world and the misconceptions it has vis à vis Islam and Islam’s view on Jesus (peace be upon him). Learn about Islam from the source, the Quran, with a clear mind free of prejudice and bias. Don’t learn Islam from CNN or even Osama bin Laden. That’s just stupid.
*Muslims are obliged to say or write “peace be upon him” when we mention the names of the messengers of Allah either verbally or in writing. It’s showing respect, yo!
**all English translations of the Quran in this post were based on “The Meaning of the Holy Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali” published by Amana Publication.