Beautiful article. I was motivated to read your article by a mutual friend of ours. As a Catholic Christian I tend to agree with a lot of the things you mentioned in your article and I read every line. How towards the end of your article there is a passage that I don't really agree with :
"And, the Christians perceive the Muslims rejection to the usage of the term as another strategy to block the spread of the Christian faith to Muslims in Malaysia."
Anas, you pretty much understand the whole issue from both sides except this part. The Christians DO NOT view this as another strategy to block the spread of the Christian faith to Muslims in Malaysia. In fact "converting" Muslims was NEVER part of the intention of The Herald pushing for usage of the word Allah. It was simply for the continued usage of our Christian brethren from the orang Asli and Sabah and Sarawak most of whom DO NOT speak the english language and HAVE been using the word Allah in place of God way before it was even made an issue of or someone decided to make an issue of. I think as Christians we would be pretty naive to use the word Allah as a method of converting Muslims knowing full well the consequences of doing so as can be seen from recent events and events around the world.
Born in Penang, speaks English, Malay, Hokkien & some Tamil. Managing Director and founder of zubedy (m) sdn bhd. Graduated from University Malaya and was in marketing for a multinational before setting up zubedy in 94. www.zubedy.com
No part of this blog should be used for commercial purpose. Any party may reproduce or quote materials published with the condition that they are credited to letusaddvalue.blogspot.com thanks, anas
Let us learn about each other's religion, culture and way of life
We know too little about each other’s traditions, way of life and beliefs.
In fact many amongst us may not even know about our own spiritual traditions, scripture and core religious foundation. Most times we delegate our thinking to our religious teachers and later complain about how they go about doing their job.
A few friends and I have decided to remedy this. We launched a campaign to encourage everyone regardless of faith to read the Quran. The campaign is from January 15th to February 14th.
I intend to ADD VALUE to everyone and anything that I come to interact with and make the world a better place.
As this is an unending journey, I will never achieve my dreams … not in their fullest form. They are too far away in the idealistic world... but,
" The quest of truth will set you free, even if you never catch up with it".
I am one of those dreamers who have found a practical formula of living for today (compartmentalization) and try to achieve parts of my dreams a moment at a time, part by part. It is okay to die without achieving all the lofty dreams, as the spirit will be passed on to others, who are dreamers too.
I also plan to be rich, very rich! Not for the money but for the use of money as a platform to help me achieve my ideals.
God willing, you will see advertisements in the near future communicating universal values and spirituality by ZUBEDY the Brand. (check out http://www.zubedy.com/)
Encourage schools and libraries and sponsor the poor's basic needs of food, shelter and education.
I hope to live to a century or two with healthy living, modern medicine and God's permission. Lead a full life, have many children. But not necessarily sired by me. Travel the world to witness God's creation and be at awe with the creativity that greets us wherever and whenever we turn.
I want to smell all the fragrance in the world be it the stink of the squatters in Mumbai or the pleasing scent of devotional flowers at a Balinese lebaran.
And to know that each experience has a purpose which is to ADD VALUE to the living, the dead and the unborn.
2 comments:
AZ!
Man, you are something else!
Where on earth did you attain such profound wisdom!
What age are you,Bro, for such reflections belong to the Ameers & Sages
Thank You
Godspeed!
Anas,
Beautiful article. I was motivated to read your article by a mutual friend of ours. As a Catholic Christian I tend to agree with a lot of the things you mentioned in your article and I read every line. How towards the end of your article there is a passage that I don't really agree with :
"And, the Christians perceive the Muslims rejection to the usage of the term as another strategy to block the spread of the Christian faith to Muslims in Malaysia."
Anas, you pretty much understand the whole issue from both sides except this part. The Christians DO NOT view this as another strategy to block the spread of the Christian faith to Muslims in Malaysia. In fact "converting" Muslims was NEVER part of the intention of The Herald pushing for usage of the word Allah. It was simply for the continued usage of our Christian brethren from the orang Asli and Sabah and Sarawak most of whom DO NOT speak the english language and HAVE been using the word Allah in place of God way before it was even made an issue of or someone decided to make an issue of. I think as Christians we would be pretty naive to use the word Allah as a method of converting Muslims knowing full well the consequences of doing so as can be seen from recent events and events around the world.
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