BETWEEN ARABISATION ADN NATIONAL IDENTITY

Nik Aziz Hassan nikaziz1948@gmail.com Shauqi Kassim shauqi_kassim@yahoo.com Rosli Dahlan rd@lh-ag.com Rahman Shaari rahmanshaari@gmail.com Aida Kassim michaidanais@yahoo.fr Din Merican dmerican2@gmail.com Mahathir Mohamad badariah@perdana.org.my Syed Akbar Ali syedakbarali@yahoo.com Soraya Kassim sorayakassim@hotmail.com Shaqira Adnan myra_90@hotmail.com Chandra Muzaffar muzachandra@gmail.com Bakri Musa bakrimusa@juno.com Hamid Merican md.hamid.merican@gmail.com A. Halim Ali aha750@gmail.com Md Hasri hasri91@gmail.com Zaid Ibrahim carbofree@gmail.com Baharuddin Zainal bahazain@gmail.com Ab D. Kadir Shailk Othman kgrc@tm.net.my


                   ISLAM -- BETWEEN NATIONAL IDENTITY AND ARABISATION                                                                 By: Kassim Ahmad                                                                     19 April, 2017                                                        darul_hikmah333@yahoo.com.my    Recenly an old friend, an imam (prayer leader) in a rural area visited me. I was amazed that he was attired in Arab dress. Normally only during Muslim festival after the fasting month of Ramadan do I put on my full Malay dress. When I attended the recent Cultural Congress, I wore my batik shirt.    In the evening I had another function where  I had to give a talk and recite my poetry. I had my batik shirt on over which I wore my coat. I delivered my talk, a sarmary of my life' journey to find the truth. Another poet also recited his poems.    I told the audience they can ask me any questions. In the cultural congress, I raised my hands three times to speak. The moderator continued to allow other people to speak on particular subjects. So I left the hall, because I had another function to attend that afternoon.   Most Malays seem to think of Islam as an Arab phenomenon. Prophet Abrahan was not an Arab, nor was Noah and many others. God informs us in the Quran that He sent a messenger to every community. We can see this Arabisation in the language we use, like salat when before we use the word sembahyang. The Sultan of Johore was among the first to point to this phenomenon of Arabisation.     I am not sure about the women's tudung. My mother and her contemporaries never it wore it. They wore the selendang, an eligent head cover. Nowadays, the women say the must cover their 'aurat.   The word 'aurat is from Arabic, meanig 'nakedness'. Nakedness should mean the chest down to below the kness for both men and women. For the men, it was stipulated olny from the navel down to below the kness! You can be sure that they are male chauvinists. Most men are so protective of their women they want hide their womens's beauty from the gaze of other men!    The wife of famous Indonesia religious scholar, Hamka, never wore it.    Some Malay women are even proud of wearing the tudung. The argue that they are God-fearing people! Since it is not prescribed in the Quran, wearing it can in stead  bring harm to a woman's hair. A male chauvinist once argued that even then a woman's hair should logically be covered since it attracts other men and encourage adultery! This surely is an animal arguing from for freedom of sex!    As for beauty of form, no one is more handsome that Prophet Joseph whom even the wife of the governor of old Egypt, Zulaikah, could not resist.  .
____________________KASSIM AHMAD is a Malaysia author. His website is