Blasphemous Oxymorons

I’m a fairly recent convert to green tea courtesy of a fine sampling during a trip to Japan sometime ago.

Not really a connoisseur, I don’t brew my own tea leaves etc and depends mostly on generic offerings of the main tea producers.

Normally, I would go for “plain” type but a last shopping trip saw me pick up a “jasmine” variation, and sure enough: it simply doesn’t work for my taste buds.

The best thing about green tea is that it would never taste bitter no matter how long you have it in the cup or mug, which was not – disappointingly - so with the jasmine green tea I bought.

As such I’ve had to time how long the tea sachets stays in my Friends’, “Rachel” sized cup.

Supposedly green tea helps to detoxify your system, but this I wouldn’t really know or care enough to look into, as I just like its natural scent and taste.

Detoxification refers to the process of removing toxins from the body, although I believe its more of a mind thing where you just believe in the need for an external element when the body has already in-built biological system to deal with it.

Perhaps its just a sign of times and the realisation of how much alien ingredient we are pumping into ourselves helping to popularise this concept.

We now want to know what these items are and where they are from. Ie. its very source.

In Islam, the question on "source" is very important, hence the existence of the Quran and hadiths in providing guidance even as cleric hold discourses on items – new and old – that concerns the Ummah at large.

As such, Halal (permissible) is a concept that applies not only to the food and drinks we consume but also the resources used to get these items in the first place.

It’s certainly a huge issue that confronts modern muslims and hence the somewhat vapid attention to ingredients in items consumed, for example, and the firm adherence to earning an honest living.

Rezeki yang halal, as the saying goes. Quantum hardly matters really.

(And since we couldn’t really be 100 percent sure, we seek forgiveness for any slipups in our prayers. But, of course, there must be ample effort on our part, too.)

Could this be all that is wrong and besetting the biggest party in the country; aka the so-called money politics?

Could it be that the body (the party) is too pumped up with all that is not-so-halal there is simply no detoxifying it anymore?

All those years of handing out small and big tokens – mostly in the form of “duit kopi” or “beda isi minyak” - for support etc are now sedimentation no longer flushable.

Star columnist Azmi Sharom wrote: “It’s the kind of thinking that creates some horrible everyday blasphemies like people muttering “halal, ya?” after they accept a bribe.”

Azmi is probably writing from personal experience.

To ordinary Malay Muslims, the "halal, ya?” (or “mintak halal”) are often requests to set aside lack of small change in money, or uninformed consumption of a host’s food items.

Things like that.

“Halal, ya?” for bribes is just as oxymoronic as "Halal Pork".

You’d need a lot more than just green tea to detox such blasphemy.

Bribery - Lawson Wood (1878 - 1957)

Meaty Discourse: second take

The headlines were screaming loud today in the English dailies.

Star and Sun: “Yoga Fatwa on Hold” while NST went with “Fatwa on Yoga – Consult the Rulers first”.

The two main newspapers in Bahasa Malaysia are pretty subdued on the matter.

If you wish, read up Sun’s take on the subject in the main news as well as its columnist for the day .

Remember: with open mind. Don't go ballistic unless warranted.

Two things come to mind when you read through these news articles:

i. the National Fatwa Council is bound by Constitutional jurisdictions in the implementation of edicts, and

ii. the issue is only of concern to the so-called liberal, English speaking and using Muslim cross section;

The first point is the more interesting as it points to a two-tier syetems: an issuance of edict by the Federal National Fatwa Council, and then implementation by the State Fatwa Committee.

Implementation in the respective State is following the Royal Assent from their respective Rulers before it can be gazzetted.

What happens if the State doesn’t agree with the National Fatwa Council?

Secular me had this one nagging thought I didn’t highlight earlier as it might just be interpreted as going against Fatwa, and it is this:

Once a fatwa is made, it becomes a rule. Haram is haram, and there is no two ways about it and once gazzetted, action can be taken against those who break these rules.

The suddenness of the edict is a problem for some of the now-Haram Yoga Muslim instructors who would (should?) have known enough to not indulge in the mantras and chants which would have eroded their faith in the first place.

What would become of them? Perhaps, they should have a name change: Pilayoga, or Yolates, or something. Would they still run foul of the edict if the poses and practise are basically the same?

The view of the Perlis Mufti accords a way out for them and in the logical discourse-based thinking (not always the case when it comes to religious issues), this possibly should have also been the way the National Fatwa Council worded the edict.

Just like it is with the daily prayers: there will be room for differences in practice as long as the core faith and belief remains true.

Muslims should not envy those sitting in the Fatwa councils - Federal and State – as in their hands lie the huge, HUGE responsibility of guiding us and woe should there be missteps along the way putting the religion in dispute or ridicule.

There is no bigger responsibility for a Muslim than to lead the ummah.

That is why the Prophet Muhammad SAW is Junjungan Besar.

The solemnity in prayers

Meaty Discourse

My wife and her secretary joined an after office hour Yoga class sessions sometime back.

They went for a whole stretch of days and were quite pleased with the progress made in terms of their fitness levels, and the ability to fit into blue jeans again.

And then it got to the stage of mind over matter. Or something. Oneness, and what not.

I wouldn’t know as I wasn’t there but both decided that it was not something they’d want to venture in.

Did I mention that my wife’s secretary is a devout Christian?

Being stuck in routine 8am to 6pm job, my wife found the idea of social exercise club heaven sent, and yoga – early on – seemed a good idea with an all-female membership, close vicinity to her workplace and a structured fitness system.

She didn’t fancy hitting the gym or swimming, and walks in the park are basically a weekend thing so Yoga was it.

The National Fatwa Council’s recent decree on Yoga just affirms what both she and her secretary felt at odd with.

(My wife is now eyeing Pilates as her fitness regime and learning the ropes via the idiot box and a VCD. Her secretary meanwhile practices "speed marketing" in Singapore.)

Couldn’t have the Council be a bit more proactive over such matters? Nip whatever “kesangsian” there is at the bud, so as to speak.

Yoga has been around for a long, long time and is not even a recent phenomenon in the country.

There are things that are more current and shimmering which the Council should look at in earnest; issues that have more meat for discourses such as the right to practice religions, the amalgamation of Civil and Syariah laws, or the controversial ISA, for a few examples.

What of the study by Suhakam for children attaining the age of majority to be given the right to choose their religions ?

These are some of the worthy issues the Council should discuss and reveal their thoughts on.

Things like chants and mantras accompanying Yoga moves or any other activities - Silat, for example - most Muslims know and accept as wrong anyway.

Hence the oft-quoted defense of only practicing the moves from their practitioners.

Being dismissive of an issue's seriousness would only lead ignorance to rule public discourse over such matters and half measured efforts are equally damaging.

During an assignment of covering a Malaysian Nature Society’s function in an Orang Asli’s village in Gopeng, I walked upon a group of women cooking curry in a huge pot, supposedly for lunch.

Their answer when I queried what dish it was: “Babi hutan. Boleh makan sebab dah sembelih. (Roughly translated: Wild boar. Can be eaten as it’s been slaughtered.)

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Ignore the practitioner and enjoy the scene.