Before I start writing,
I would like to apologize for taking such a LONG time to answer
your questions. I was busy doing other work and projects but your
email keep sticking out like a sore thumb in my mind. Another
thing I would like to mention is I want to congratulate you for
asking questions about religion. Most people go about their daily
life, going through school and work without asking important questions
about God, religion, purpose of this life etc.
I can’t answer
ALL of your questions but I'll try to answer most of them in a
way that can make you understand easily. (deep breath, ok here
we go.)
Email
received last year, only now then I reply. Paiseh man.
1)
i want to ask why you all need to ask for forgiveness during hari
raya? if you all know that it is wrong, you should not do it in
the first place! i didn't write this to offend you or the malays.
i am just curious about every religion. i as a chinese ask myself
about buddhism and taoist. i got my malay friend fustrated by
asking her a lot about her religion. she tell me to ask somebody
else so i wish you got hte ans to my questions.
You
see ah mandii, sometimes we are bound to be rude to our parents,
siblings, relatives and friends. It may be raising of your voice
to your Mum when you argue, or not doing your chores your Dad
told you to do etc.. all of this is wrong and everybody makes
mistake. So what is so wrong about asking for forgiveness? Even
though sometimes you feel like you did no wrong, you can never
know for sure if the person is harboring any ill feelings towards
you.
I know
of a girl who lives in a rented HDB room because she "cannot
stand" her parents. And I saw a mother and her son arguing
about money in front of the ATM one morning. Everybody makes mistakes,
Islam tells you to seek forgiveness and overlook each other's
faults. Beautiful indeed.
2)
why malay girls need to wear the that thing on their head as
part of costume?
Malay
girls can wear anything they want. Muslim Malay girls on the
other hand are requred to wear the tudung/hijab to guard their
modesty.
Isn’t
it better to see your sister (if you have any) going into the
streets wearing proper clothes than skimpy outfits showing cleavage
that can cause impure thoughts from men on the MRT?
3)
why is allah called allah? who named him? he got parents?
where did he come from? how does he look like?
Actually
your questions is already answered in the Quran (Islam holy
book) and it says.
Say:
He is Allah, the One and Only;
Meaning: This verse say that God is not 3, or 4, or a hundred.
The verse is making it clear that Allah is one, and has no partners.
Allah,
the Eternal, Absolute;
Meaning: Allah is eternal, meaning he does not die, nor is he
brought into this life through birth. God is NOT a man, or that
God died and was given birth to etc.
He
begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
Meaning: Allah does not have any children, therefore having
no sons or daughters. He is eternal, he always is, and does
not come into being through sexual intercourse.
And
there is none like unto Him.
Meaning: He is unlike any of us, He does not eat, nor does He
sleep, nor does He get married like we all do.
Allah
is a word that means “The God” in Arabic. Arab Christians
also use the word Allah in reference to God. So when you say..
“Your God name is Allah right?” That statement does
not make sense because what you are saying is “Your God
name is God right?”
But
Muslims insist on using the word Allah because the word itself
is special. If you use the English word “God”, that
word itself can be change to plural “Gods”, change
sexual orientation “Goddess”, read backwards “Dog”
etc. But with the word Allah, any tampering will not make any
sense.
5)
anybody got see him before?
In the Quran, it says that we CANNOT see Allah:
“No vision can grasp Allah but Allah grasps all vision.”
[6:103] If Allah is plain for all to see, all questions will be
answered and all arguments settled. And besides in Islam, one
of the rewards when you get to Heaven is to see Allah Himself.
And in order to go to Heaven requires work like prayers, doing
good deeds etc. So asking God to show Himself is like getting
the ultimate prize without the work.
6)
how people know he exist?
To me I equate God like the wind. We cannot see the wind with
our naked eye but we can see the wind make its mark by moving
trees, grass, leaves and waves. But in a hadith (islamic text)
a man was asked about why he is sure of the existence of God and
he replied,
"Camel
droppings point to the existence of a camel. Footprints on the
sand tell of a traveller. The heaven with its stars, the earth
with its mountains and valleys, and the sea with its waves-don’t
they point to the Maker, All-Powerful, Knowing, Wise and Caring?"
7)
why my friend say malay cannot change religion?
i thought people should choose the religion they believe in but
not choose that religion because of reasons like: my mum tell
me to... or my dad say if i don't choose then no allowance ...
or even my family will think i extra if i dun do what they say..
Malays
can opt for any religion they want. You cannot force anyone to
convert to Islam. But what you say is true; most people whether
Muslim, Buddhist, Toaist, Christian etc. choose their religion
based on their parents without even questioning or doing some
research.
8) why eat pork will go hell? why malay
can eat other animal and no need go hell? why pork? not chicken?
not beef?
is it that allah just don't like pork? y? why my friend say pork
is dirty.. why? some animals like chicken also sometimes eat rubbish
by mistake! maybe the chicken eat the corn on the floor and ate
some soil? is tat consider dirty?
The
question on wether you are going to Hell or not, is up to God.
"Muslims" who do not eat pork but neglect their prayers
are perfect candidates for Hell... but it is still up to God.
Allah only forbids what is evil & what harms human life in
one aspect or another. Whether such harm is known to man or not.
In
regards to the issue of pork, the best guess on why God forbid
us to eat it is because of health reasons. See the below YouTube
below.
If this
video is down, just go to Youtube and seach for "Islam Pork
Haram".
If this
video is down, just go to Youtube and seach for "Islam Pork
Haram".
9)
why malay called malay? is malay came from malaysia?
if not, then why got the name almost the same?
are they related? which country does malays come from?
Hmm from all the questions;
this one is a toughie. My guess is that Malays comes from Malaysia.
Nevermind the nitty gritty about Malays originating from whatever
ulu Pan Asian Island and through nomadic migration, they form
a tribe blah, blah blah... My relatives are all in Malacca and
my guess your forefathers comes from China.
10) if a chinese girl marry malay guy then
must both follow malay religion, then y a chinese guy who marry
a malay girl, the guy have to follow malay religion also? is it
that people from other religion who marry people from malay religion
must follow malay religion? i thought girl must follow the husband
religion no matter wat the religion is? or they stay in their
own religion even after marraige?
I
ask you ah; Husband or God, which one more important? Of course
God more important right? God, makes beautiful animals, make trees,
make stars and clouds, night and day but a husband is just a man.
So why should you throw all the rules from God just because of
1 man? And man is known to make mistakes some more. And say, you
still marry a man or woman who is not Muslim thinking that 2 faiths
can live under one roof. Then scenarios like this can happen:
To
conclude this long questionaire, I just want to add that the way
you write your questions, it seemed to me that you have this idea
that Islam belongs to the Malays or all Malays are Muslims. This
is a wrong because a Chinese can be a Christian, Buddhist or even
Muslim? Gasp! Chinese also can be Muslim ah?
I
hope I've answered your questions and hopefully you have learn
a couple of things about Islam:)
My
job is not to convert anyone, my job is to convey the message,
Evil Bunny!
