04/02: The throw of dice

Posted By: Raja Petra

Undeniably, our beliefs and prejudices are influenced by the environment we are brought up in. The era we live in also plays a very important part in all this. 250 years ago I would not be running Malaysia Today. Instead, I would be holding a keris in my hand and would be leading an army to oust the government and replace it with a better government.

RPK, I have a simple experiment for you to prove that what we said is a whole bunch of baloney.

Please ask your lovely wife Ms. Marina why she converted to Islam?

Then ask her again:

1) If you were a Christian will she convert?

2) If you were a Jew will she convert?

3) If you were Chinese will she convert?

4) If you were an atheist will she convert?

5) Lastly, tell us if you are mama boy and mama said no to Islam will she convert?

If she can give you the same answer every time, then she is a true believer of Islam.

written by Semuaok, January 28, 2008 00:11:42 (with editing of grammatical/spelling errors)

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Dear Semuaok, I really don't know what you are going on about and what your five questions have to do with the subject matter, which is Malaysia is a failed state. Anyway, so as to not give you the impression I am at a loss for words, in 1973, my wife Mabel was informed by the Imam Besar of the Masjid Negara that since she is a Catholic she need not convert to Islam just to marry me. She can remain a Catholic and still marry me. Not being a practicing Muslim myself, other than the fact I was merely born a Muslim, I did not insist she convert and was very happy to maintain status quo. After all, I did enjoy escorting her to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas was a family tradition on my mother's side of the family, though it was never regarded as a religious affair - sort of like New Year's Eve. (We actually went to church to look at the girls, if you know what I mean).

To cut a long story even longer, she wanted to convert on her own free will and later some of her cousins and their entire family, plus her mother (my mother-in-law), converted as well - although I had no plans to marry any of them, so you can't blame this on marriage. Some of her cousins remained Catholics while her sister and family remained Buddhists. My wife, Mabel, took on the 'Muslim' name Marina, which is not quite a Muslim name as such. But then, in that sense, neither is my name Petra a Muslim name as well. The name Marina was suggested by the wife of the then Deputy Chief of the Special Branch, Raja Adnan Raja Abdullah, my brother's father-in-law.

I really did not live the life of a Muslim so I honestly can't say that I set a good example for her to follow and that she became 'attracted' to Islam because of me. Actually, I could be regarded as a very bad Muslim and it would make sense that my example should have put her off from converting to Islam. Anyway, she wanted to convert on her own free will and without any prompting from me and in spite of the Imam Besar of the Masjid Negara telling her that she need not convert.

They say those who are born Muslims have a very shallow knowledge of Islam while the 'Orientalists' and converts seem to study Islam in greater depth and have a better understanding of the religion. After all, when you are born a Muslim you are sent to religious and Quran recital classes at a very tender age and at that age you are just taught to follow, obey and believe without doubts and without question. All you need to do is attend Friday prayers at any mosque and you will hear the imam preach that we must not question, doubt or dispute what the guru tells us as that would go against Islamic teachings. We are also taught that we must always learn religion from a 'human' guru and never alone from 'non-human' books because if we do then the devil (shaitan) will become our guru.

Invariably, because of this 'understanding' of Islam, Muslims shy away from conducting research and would rather sit cross-legged on the floor of the mosque and absorb anything and everything that the religious teachers tell us without debate or question. We assume that the guru knows what he is talking about and to question, dispute or doubt what is being taught would cause us to be led astray.

The so-called 'Golden Age of Islam' was actually during the time of Harun Al Rashid. This was the time of innovation and invention. In the era when Europe still believed that headaches are caused by the devil entering our head, the Muslims diagnosed headaches as brain tumours. In the era when Europeans summoned priests to exorcise the devils from our heads, the Muslims performed brain surgery to remove the tumour. Irrigation, clocks, 'modern' weapons of war, etc., were invented by the Muslims. The Europeans then had no notion of precise time while the Muslims invented clocks that used water to drive the mechanism which could tell time to the nearest second. Arid desert land were irrigated using mechanical pumps and soon became fertile enough to support agriculture. And so on and so forth.

Of course, not all inventions were from scratch and not all the scientists were Muslims. Some were Jews or Christians living in Muslim lands. The Muslims went to China to learn how to make gunpowder, but while the Chinese used gunpowder for 'entertainment' purposes such as in firecrackers and fireworks, the Muslims used gunpowder to make cannons and whacked the shit out of the Crusaders who were merely using swords and bow-and-arrows. Saladin or Sallahuddin was not a brilliant general as much as he was aided by 'modern' technology to defeat the Europeans and capture Palestine.

Eventually, a conflict arose between the ruling elite, who were seen as not Islamic enough, and the members of the cloth. The conflict was finally settled with an agreement that religion would come under the jurisdiction of the ulamak while the ruling elite would just run the state. The ulamak decided on the laws and on what would be regarded as right and wrong. That, basically, was how the Shariah came into being although the Islamists would dispute this opinion and would insist that the Shariah existed since the time of Prophet Muhammad.

The ulamak eventually prohibited innovation and called it bidaah and that was the beginning of the end for Muslim technology. If I can be so bold as to say at the risk of my head getting separated from my shoulders that the ulamak 'killed' Islam. The Europeans mastered Arabic and went to Muslim Spain to learn from the Muslims. They then went back to Europe and translated all the Arabic books into western languages. While the Muslims slid backwards because of the prohibition on innovation (bidaah), the Europeans innovated even further and propelled forwards. Today, Muslim countries can't even make a plastic cup and all are in the category of failed states.

Anyway, to cut a long story even longer, my wife, now called Marina, learned how to recite the Quran from Tok Guru Haji Abbas Khatib Muhammad, a man most would know if they hail from Kuala Ibai, home of the famous 'floating' mosque south of Kuala Terengganu. She also read Hadith Sahih Bukhari and Kitab Imam Ghazzali, basically recommended reading for those who want to become 'proper' Muslims.

But there was one problem in all this though. In spite of the ten or so trips she made to Mekah and the various readings and religious classes she attended, my wife had been brought up to think, unlike the 'born' Muslims who have been taught to accept and believe without question, dispute or debate. So she read more. And she researched. And we both sat for long hours with dozens of books spread out across the bed to refer and cross-refer the various and different opinions on what Islam really teaches and what Islam is all about.

My wife pointed out to me the verse in the Quran that says do not accept anything without verification. She also pointed out the verse that asked do we want to merely follow the majority belief and justify this with the excuse that we just followed what our ancestors believed before us whereas our ancestors were wrong? She then read books written by both Muslims as well as 'Orientalists' (who sometimes do better research and know more about Islam than even Muslims themselves) to get a wider and more balanced view on Islam. She and I would spend hours at the bookshops scouring the bookshelves in search of books that would satisfy our lust for more knowledge.

One book she read, which is in fact a very popular book, related how one day the Prophet's wife got accidentally left in the desert when she went to answer the call of nature and the caravan went off without realising she was not around. This book was trying to explain how the animosity between the Prophet's son-in-law cum cousin, Ali, and the Prophet's youngest wife, Aishah, came about. A young, handsome Arab happened to pass by and saw the frantic Aishah marooned in the desert and he immediately recognised her as one of the Prophet's wives although he had never met her before. He recognised her as one of the Prophet's wives because she wore a tudung and only the Prophet's wives wore tudungs.

The young, handsome Arab came to Aishah's rescue and the following day she was reunited with the caravan which by then had realised she was missing and had stopped, wondering what they should do. Aishah was missing for one whole night and when she rode up the next morning with this young, handsome Arab this started tongues wagging. Eventually, the whole of Medina was gossiping about the 'affair' Aishah had with the young, handsome Arab and Ali pressured the Prophet to divorce her to protect his reputation. Muhammad was a Prophet and he could not afford people gossiping about his 'unfaithful' wife. Invariably, this was how the animosity between Ali and Aishah started and later, when Ali became the Fourth Caliph, Aishah led an army from Mekah to attack Ali in Medina. The tragedy to this whole thing is that this animosity still exists even after 1,400 years. And this is one of the reasons for the conflict between the Shiahs and the Sunnis that has taken millions of lives in the many Muslim versus Muslim wars since the time of Ali-Aishah.

This was not a story about whether Muslim women should wear tudungs. It was a story about what led to the War of the Camel fought between Ali and Aishah. But my wife did not miss that part about the young, handsome Arab man immediately recognising Aishah as one of the Prophet's wives because of the tudung she wore and that only the Prophet's wives wore tudungs. My wife then read what the Quran said about women having to wear tudungs and the verses in the Quran she came across spoke about covering your bosom and that when you talk to any of the Prophet's wives you must 'screen' yourself and not gaze into their eyes.

Okay, I have dragged this long story far enough and will now address your questions, Semuaok. I really do not know whether my wife would have converted to Islam had I been born a Christian, Jew, Chinese, Indian, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. Maybe she would or maybe she wouldn't have. Who can say? But I do know she is a better-read Muslim than many 'born' Muslims. Furthermore, many have converted to Islam not because of marriage but for other reasons such as because they have studied many religions and finally decided that Islam is the best choice. How did they come to that decision that Islam is the best choice whereas others feel that Islam is in fact the worst choice (probably you included)?

These people are not farmers or fishermen but are in fact very intelligent and well-educated people. Surely they are able to think. And with that super-brain they still chose Islam? How do we explain this? Can we say that these people are not really that clever after all or that Islam is really the better religion and these people know it? How do we answer this question? A religious person would argue that God moved their hearts and a Muslim would say that God showed them the correct path. But if you are not religious or not a Muslim you would not accept this argument as valid.

I can't speak for my wife, Semuaok, but I can certainly testify that had I been born in Sweden to a Christian family I would most definitely not be born a Muslim. Pure common sense can tell you that and you need not go to a religious school to understand this. And had I been born in Saudi Arabia or Iran then I would most likely be a Wahhabi Muslim or a Shiah Muslim respectively. However, had I been born in Sweden or China or Tibet or wherever, and whether I would later leave the religion of my parents and convert to Islam is a question no one, if they are honest with themselves, can answer.

Undeniably, our beliefs and prejudices are influenced by the environment we are brought up in. The era we live in also plays a very important part in all this. 250 years ago I would not be running Malaysia Today. Instead, I would be holding a keris in my hand and would be leading an army to oust the government and replace it with a better government. That was how my ancestors lived their lives and I have no reason to suspect I would be any different. I have a terrible temper, as did all my ancestors before me, so, just like my ancestors, I will not take any crap from anyone. The Internal Security Act did not come into law until 1960 but 15 years before that one of my grandfathers, Raja Musa (Moses), was exiled to the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean for opposing the government. Even earlier than that another of my ancestors, Raja Haji, died fighting the Dutch in Melaka. The Dutch honoured him with the title Raja Api (Prince of Fire) in spite of him being 'the enemy'. And many of his great-grandfathers and grandfathers before that died fighting the Siamese and the other superpowers of that era.

Of course, that was then, when fighting governments and superpowers was a noble and manly thing to do. And plundering the Dutch and British ships was an honourable profession and women would swoon over you and fall over each other to become one of your twenty wives. Today, they would hang me by the neck until I die or lock me away in Kamunting and throw away the key. Anyway, I don't think I want to die plundering British ships in the Straits of Melaka.

I have said this before in one of my previous articles and I will say it again: when and where you were born will determine what you become. As I also said, I would like to be more than just a Blogger. I would like to be at the head of an army that topples this government. But that does not work any more. Today, we have elections and democratically-elected governments. So that is how we shall have to change the government in spite of the elections being heavily rigged in favour of the ruling party. And as to whether my wife would today be a Muslim if not for the fact that she met me and later we got married, hey, I don't even know whether you would be asking me that question had you been born in Java and came to this country in a boat to look for work in one of the construction sites. Some things in life will have to remain a mystery. Maybe someone, somewhere, threw the dice so now we are what we are. Who knows?