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At the invitation of my brother Lee Khai I joined the Bible Study Fellowship group which was held at the Methodist Church on the corner of Anson and Burmag Road in Gerogetown. There were quite a number of people attending the study group for adult males comprising of mostly Chinese with a handful of Indians and in my beginners group I met two Nigerians and a gentleman from Minyanmar. Initially we were introduced to the fellowship and explained of its basic cause and purpose I was made to understand that the group's intention is to study the Bible and discover its hidden meanings, the group is not affiliated to any particular Christian Church.
My personal involvement is to take advantage of the offer and make a thorough study of another major religion of the world, Christianity, the religion of Jesus Christ, or as known to the the Muslims as (Nabi IsaAlaii Salam). I have many unanswered questions about the Religion of Christ and like all the other religions in my life Christianity plays a significant role as I was married to ladies of Catholic Faith and two of my children were being raised through the religion of their mothers my late wife who passed away in Illinois, was laid to rest in a Christan cemetery; she is a Muslim by conversion. Here in Malaysia I have numerous Christian friends and the ever rising concern over the clash between Islam and Christianity in this country is becoming a concern as it raise allot of issues borders of suspicions and accusations; there need to be a very deep understanding of the two religions if there is to a be harmonious coexistence between the two.
This morning a glace at my Face Book I found my friend David's comment about the word 'Allah' being claimed as exclusive only to MUslims and not to be used in any religious translations such as the Bible a sore issue that seems both ironic and paradoxical but none the less a sensitive issue for the Muslim Malays in Malaysia.I have not come across any such claims made by any other Muslim countries not even Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, so I am assuming only Muslim Malays are making it their claim and are willing to go all out war if need be as the matter has arrived at the Highest Court of law in the country. it occupies the headlines in our Media and is being made a topic of conversation in coffee shops and the parliament. Most who I talk with has their legitimate reasons albeit the Muslims or Christians and I am at a crossroad as to what the final verdict would be for me personally. It is my concern as a Muslim by conversion and a Buddhist by birth, one who has four children from mothers who ancestry are all Catholics. I have Uncles and Aunties who are Hindus and an adopted family who are Christians by faith. It is to honor them that i choose to dwell on this matter if not as a concerned citizen who fears the prospect any religious conflict that can result from such matteres and in this case a word, a name; why only i can use it and not the rest of you (non-Muslims).
I am positive all parties involved in this issue are religious leaders with high calibre of understanding and taken all and every aspect of the issue before they came to a decision and those who may loose their case will feel the injustice of it all. I have my personal commitment to Allah Subahan HuwaTaala, the One God, Al-Lah, to help for a better understanding of this mater for myself as a believer, as one who have accepted Islam as my faith. my commitment to my faith in Him is to share with my friends whoever or wherever they may be, my personal insight, my feelings; I believer Allah would have written it in His Quran on this matter or the Prophet would specify who can who cannot in His Hadiths or perhaps one of the Kalifah of Islam would have a fatwa- edict in this matter as it is a vital issue that threatens to tear apart two families of the same 'Father'; Malaysia does not deserve such a fate as she has evolved to transcend Ignorance, I wish to believe so. We are a Nation of intelligent men and women who are mostly educated in the West or the Middle East, I hope our great minds will find skillful means to come to an amicable end where both of these 'Religions of the Book' will help to promote healthy, creative and spiritually vibrant a society, Lord knows we need it.
I am convinced that intelligent and unprejudiced minds have debated over the issue from both sides and International Religions Councils have been consulted with regard to this matter of God-Allah, yes No! I see it as a matter of how as to a matter of why to answer to approach this issue,; the whys and wherefores are impediments that will help only to irritate and instigate more confusion, the 'How' is more productive and perhaps even creative, how do we find the Right Means to solve the issue without making it a problem that cannot be revoked once set rolling, there is no turning back, it will only ride on our backs into the future generations like a cancerous sore waiting to happen. For me there is no clear cut solution but it is not impossible to come to a happy agreement somewhere in the middle, we will meet halfway in dealing with this issue and aspire to arrive at a better understanding through getting to know one another's understanding and belief systems, gradually and with tediousness a Muslim will have to understand the religious culture of the Malaysian Non-Muslims; Right Understanding- Unbiased by any ethnic or racial sentiments, least of all not by political ideologies and exploitations. Only a man of God can stand and bear witness without any doubts or prejudices, Tawakal lah kamu atas nama Allah (SWT), Have Complete Faith in your Lord's Grace and Judge ye not...Lest ye be Judged. In whatever name shape and form my mind can conjure up my Lord, he is still One and for so long as i maintain this physical form I am manifesting Shirik; for there is me and there is my Lord.
Allah yang Maha Wujud, God is the only existence, the only Force, the only Sustainer, the only silence within the silence when the hearts stop beathing, InnaLillahi wa' Innalillahi Rajiu'n...From The I come to Thee I return, my Lord...I am no more. my life was lived as an experiment as well as a spiritual journey, a Journey to The Lord of Power, I am on my sacred journey towards Your Throne, just like the Tibetans as they knelt and prostrate their way to the Potalla to pay their tribute to the Budhha, I am approaching You in my own way, sometimes on my hands and knees sometimes while i am lost in some arrogance and forgetfulness, but ever step of the way, as i draw in my breath I cal out Your Name... Hu-Allah! and when I let it out I my mind is fixed on You as my sustain er and that at any moment you have the power to stop me on my tracks, ready or not to stand before You and be accounted for. I believe in the day of reckoning, I may not have nay clue as to how it will work out but from what little I have read and been told, it will not be nice for most of us.
What we have in Malaysia is not so much as a Language issue or the right to or no to use the word,(ALLAH), ours is more of an Ethnic and cultural issue, to put most blatantly i it is a matter of the Muslim Malays against the rest of the country. I cannot help feel like there is a sense of weakness in faith the lack of confidence among my fellow Muslims; that we are incapable of upholding our 'Tawakal' in Allah, there is almost a sense of insecurity in our selves as Muslims. We are not allowing for for nature and collective spirit to take its courses but step in and obliterate every rational possibilities that can be generate from this experience; like how do we educate the masses without investing our own self serving interests. Can our minds be free from all forms, ideas and beliefs systems, from their demands in influences to come to a decision wholeheartedly for the benefit of mankind and his future. The ripples of any decision made today will ripple throughout the centuries ahead, it is sad and ironic that the word itself has become a problem that will cause the schism between two brotrherly religions of the same root and for it to happen in a country that has accepted religious tolerance as the national institution, the word 'Allah' issue, is about to cause yet another rift between Islam and the rest of the Culture Religious whole of our society.
I spent the early afternoon of the Aidil Adha skinning three calves from the six that was slaughtered at the mosque grounds as the Korban ritual was carried out. God wanted Abraham to sacrifice his frst born to Him by slitting his throat and Abraham complied. I was the 'Test of Tests', in one's faith in God. What are you willing to sacrifice for Me? God replaced Abraham's son, Isaac, (according to the Torah and Bible and Ishmael according to the Muslim tradition, with a mountain goat when Abraham was about to make the cut. This small inconsistency in the Judeo Christian and Muslim traditions raise a question in my mind for a long time...the question, which of his sons did Abraham put on the sacrificial altar? I am positive both Judaism and Christianity will have their true version of the historical event just as the Muslims would; it is written in the Quran, in the Lord's own words. But the fact remains till today that the schism happened to lay asunder two biblical religions that would lead into history so much conflicts and killings all in the name of the One Creator; our version is the legitimate version.
Later on during the times of Jesus and Christianity, the Principle of the Triad was introduced which renders God the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one Principle in three forms. The Quran according to Islam refutes such a principle, '' He is not be begotten nor does He begets...Allah is One." Here again another major schism was being rendered to split the religions of the book setting one against another.
Most of what one reads in th Quran is identical to what one reads in the Bible if not the Torah and Zabur, so much so that the two religions of the descendants of Isaac , Judaism and and Christianity accusses the Quran as being a plagiarism of their ancestral history. Islam is the religion of the Arabs and the Prophet (pbuth) was a descendant of Isahmael, Abraham's elder son whose mother was a slave to Abraham. Isaac was born of Abrham's 'real' wife who remained barren until very late in her life when God granted Abrham's plea for a son to his first wife. Hence the question one ask, who would Abraham choose to kill when a choice he was forced to make? To find the truth one has to read! One has to meditate and contemplate and one has to ask for guidance from the One that has all the answers. Whatever answer that is the product og thoughts and speculations is of no significance, one can only accept in faith as to what the books tells us, for they are the words of God; just as the Quran is.
In Islam there is not compromise when it comes to the words of Allah(SWT) in the Quran, hence if the Quran expounds the fact that the prophet Isa Alaii salam did not die on the Cross then he did not die on the Cross not matter historical fat is presented and no matter many traditions belief it so.
Today as these two religions are at a crossroad threatening to further become a conflict in this country, I feel it is my part to make it clear as to how much or how little i understand of the matter.
It is in my limited understanding that the Arabic word 'Allah' means 'The God. Not just any god of antiquity as was present in the times of the Prophet, pagan gods and idols as worshipped by the Desert People but 'The' God of Abraham, the One. Al-Lah. It is also my understanding that the word 'Tuhan' is commonly used generic for Gods of other faiths; it is not and Arabic word rightfully a Malay word. Simmilalrly the word God I doubt existed when jesus was spreading his religion or anytime during the time of Moses or Abraham, it is I f I am not mistaken a word originated from a European root...Goth. Aramaic was the language of Jesus hence Christianity, Yaweh, Elohim and Jehovah are the words used to address the Lord among many others in the Hebrew/ Christian traditions... but never the word, God. It is ironic that if seen in reflection the word God becomes the word Dog...hardly a word one might want to equate with the word Allah, at least not to the Muslims way of looking at it.
Thus who is right and who is wrong? Is it a matter of right or wrong? Or is it a matter of making and all out effort to come to a Right Understanding of these issues and make the decisions after all has been thoroughly investigated and reconciled; this to me is what our Lord would demand that we do, to bring His religion together in Unity; the 'Merging of All Differences in Unity."
"I respectfully urge you who study the mystery,
光陰莫虚度 do not pass your days and nights in vain."
SANDOKAI. - The Merging of Differences in Unity."
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