When I read the above “news” today, my mind clicked to a totally naïve but innocent question from my daughter on whether the cane wielded by Nabi Musa A.S. was magical.
My answer was that the magic was in fact bestowed by Allah to Nabi Musa A.S. and, no, it wasn’t the cane.
I hoped it was the “right” answer, as she – and countless others of her generation – are being constantly bombarded by tales of magic and what-not by the idiot box and cable television.
For Muslims, believing in things to be magical or have powers is dangerous territory, after all.
The central core of our belief is that Allah is ESA and to equate others/items/beings/things with Allah is SYIRIK; a major sin.
(If I am not mistaken, there is no English equivalent to this word. You can draw your own inferences from this lacuna vis-à-vis the current furor over the use of the word “Allah” in a Catholic Church publication.)
The Malay “mythical” landscape – just like the abovementioned “magical China bowl” – is filled with this dichotomy of thoughts and practice.
I hope it’s more a matter of editing than actual belief, but then again, the article did quote verbatim.
Believing the magic the bowl has is really no different to that of believing that trees, graves and others can produce 4D numbers.
Being born a Malay means that automatically you’re a Muslim.
Unfortunately, this does not mean that you are born into a Muslim family whereby the teachings on Islam would be imparted in the most opportune possible way.
Some may take things for granted, while others simply couldn’t care less that they are Muslims.
How else do you explain the general breakdown in sections of the Malay youths who succumb to social ills?
It is unfortunate that my community tends to be so gung-ho of perceived threats against the religion from external sources but less so of similar threats from within.
Perhaps this explains the response (minority, majority, does anyone care to do a poll?) over that recent High Court ruling.
A fear, helplessness, perhaps (I can’t stressed this word enough), that as a community with less than rock solid Aqidah, we would not be capable to stem sustained onslaught from those intending to propagate beliefs other than Islam.
In things having magical powers, for example.
It's wintry days in New Delhi..
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