Reaching a Solution

My post on Aug 29 has raised some other issues that might harm our unity if it is not dealt with properly. Since this post has opened a room for discussion, let’s try to reach to some degree of solution.

As a Muslim who had noticed that other Muslims were making an obvious mistake, I felt the need to point it out with a verse from the Quran itself that clearly prohibited such actions. My main intention in writing the post was so that Muslims won’t repeat the same shameful act next time. I also thought that this verse could make the Hindus feel better.

As a sister I feel that I have to always support my 3 little brothers in whatever they do. If they did something wrong I’d first try to understand why they did it and then try to correct them wisely. The protesters, no matter how uncivilized their action was, are my brothers and sisters bonded in the name of Allah. Before pointing out their mistake, I had put myself in their shoes and I came to understand why they protested.

That’s why when Veno asked me (does it matter if the majority of the people there were Muslims?), I mentioned about my personal preference to live in a neighborhood far from places of worship of other faith. I was trying to rationalize their action with my personal opinion, based on what I really feel. I feel that this personal preference of mine can make my friends of other faith feel bad. Even I feel bad while writing the statement but isn’t that’s how faith works? Faith is something that is well blended with the soul. If there is something externally that is somehow against our faith, of course the soul will feel bad otherwise it means that the faith is not strong enough. It’s a good indicator that all of us are still holding tightly to our faith. Since we have different beliefs, we view the same issue differently. We disagree over things and most of the time there will be no solution that can satisfy everyone. Often, we end up with a constant struggle inside in an effort to be at peace with our Lord and with other humans and that’s the challenge of having a faith. We just have to keep on fighting for what we belief in.

Humans are very prone to making mistakes. But that’s how we learn things and become a better person, right? So let’s forgive others for making mistakes. I always feel that whenever a mistake is being done, the doer still deserves some credit for at least trying. It’s unfair for those who simply observe (not involved at all in the process of making the mistakes) to simply condemn others. We are all brothers and sisters at least on the basis of humanity. So if one of us makes a mistake, try to correct it in a nice way.

Actually I was hurt by some of the comments. It’s pretty funny actually. I was in a way backing up the Hindus with a verse from the Quran but then I was criticized. Forgive me for any mistake I made in my previous post and for those which I’ll be making in my future posts.

Try to understand the situation of the Muslims. We Muslims are just servants of our Lord who are so afraid of unintentionally admitting the existence of other Gods since Islam is very strict about the Oneness of Allah. We are also afraid of not being counted as the followers of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) if we are not sensitive enough about other Muslims, if we don’t feel what other Muslims are feeling.

Forgive the Malays for making mistakes. Not every Malay has a chance to mix well with the non Malays for various reasons. A friend admitted to me that she has problems dealing with other races at work because she has never been exposed to a multiracial environment. Even for me, this is the first time being in a batch in which there is almost equal distribution of the Malay, Chinese and Indian. I had a hard time adapting at first but I think I manage to adapt myself well and I seem to be enjoying it now. The bottom line is that I know myself and at the same time I respect and try to understand others. I’m very grateful to be in Batch 19 and to be in MMMC. I feel that it is the best miniature of Malaysia where we can unite in spite of our differences.

Lastly, I just want to say that for 1 Malaysia to be a reality, it starts from you and me, from our batch, our college and the subsequent levels of the society. For us to unite, let us focus on our common grounds rather than our differences. Making a big fuss over differences are the dirty tricks played by corrupt leaders. I’m sure we are much better than that. Let’s not bother about the things that we have no control over. We cannot change the history but we can create better future generations who are ‘color blind’ without affecting the purity of our faith.