OutSyed The Box |
| Posted: 25 Jul 2012 12:07 AM PDT Someone asked the other day 'define a Salafi'. OK. Here is one : distant cousins of Goofy? I am just kidding. Jangan lah marah-marah ok. No need to reach for the suicide vest just yet. I looked up the Wikipedia. Here it is : "A Salafi (Arabic: سلفي) is a Muslim who emphasises the Salaf ("predecessors" or "ancestors"), the earliest Muslims, as model examples of Islamic practice.[1] The term has been in use since the Middle Ages but today refers especially to a follower of a modern Sunni Islamic movement known as Salafiyyah or Salafism, which is related to or includes Wahhabism, so that the two terms are often viewed as synonymous." OK so Salafis are synonymous with Wahhabis. And what are Wahhabis? Here it is again : "Wahhabism (Arabic: وهاب Wahhābiyyah) is an ultra-conservative[1] branch of Sunni Islam.[2] It is a religious movement among fundamentalist (with an aspiration to return to the primordial fundamental Islamic sources Qur`an, Hadeeth & Scholarly consensus (Ijma)) Islamic believers.[3] Wahhabism was a popular revivalist movement instigated by an eighteenth century theologian, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) from Najd, Saudi Arabia." Well they began as a very desert Arab based, very tribal type of religious outfit who merged territorial domain with religious orthodoxy to rule a land. This is obvious in the name they gave their land "Saudi" Arabia – the only country in the whole world that is named after a family which still rules the country. It gives quite some meaning to the Malay term "Ini lu punya bapak punya negeri kah?" Their quick answer would be "Ya lah". There is a very strong and growing Salafi movement in Malaysia. It is well funded by the Saudis. I know the name of the head honcho among the Salafis here tapi tak payah sebut lah. Suffice to say that Ustaz travels overseas half the year, is a wealthy guy and has a large and growing following. They are smart – they are not militant. Yet. But just wait and see. Someday there is going to be physical violence between the Salafis and the other Sunnah Wal Jamaah here in Malaysia. I have already played some You Tube videos showing some Salafi ustaz fellows criticizing other Sunni ustaz. I liked the one where the guy says Scooby Doobydoo. These are all the Salafi ustaz. There is an intense exchange of words going on already in the Internet between the Salafis and the other Sunnis. The Youtube is helping them score plenty of points. Just search Youtube for "Salafi Wahabi Malaysia" and you will see for yourself. The exchange of words is quite intense. Lets thank Allah they are separated by cyber space. Imagine if you put them all in one room, na'as kita. What is the big difference between all these folks? Its all ritualistic. Here are some examples. This is the bulan puasa. At night after buka puasa people go to the mosque to sembahyang terawih (the special night prayer in the bulan puasa). The Sunnis pray 20 roka'at(or 20 sets of prostrations – it's a long prayer). The Salafis only do 8 sets of prostrations. The Salafi terawih prayer is shorter. Ok so what. You do 20, I do eight. Big deal. Well, not so easy folks. It does not stop there. The Salafis say that those who do the 20 roka'at are involved in bida'ah or innovations. Bida'ah can lead to kufur (jadi kafir). This is what irks other people. To my knowledge the other Sunnis don't accuse the Salafis of bida'ah for praying only 8 roka'at. Then there are a host of other things that the Salafi do not do. For example after the prayers, the Salafi do not raise their hands to baca doa. They say that too is a bida'ah. So after praying they just get up and walk home – which I think is a cool thing to do too. Dah habis balik rumah lah. There is more. The Salafis do not conduct prayers at the graveside for those who are buried already. They make a big issue out of this. To them once a person is buried and gone, that's it. End of story. Tutup fail. Now here is the real crunch why the Salafis are quite disliked by the other Sunni ustaz in Malaysia. The Salafis do not (or should not)believe in hantu, jampi, bomoh, jampi air, kismis ajaib, sembahyang hajat (?? – am willing to be corrected on this one) and a host of other peculiarities which is practiced by many Sunni ustaz in Malaysia. It is a source of income for many religious ustaz to sell air jampi, halau hantu,halau jin, sell kismis ajaib, kismis tawaf and other such nonsense. Remember "no money no religion". The Salafi folks do away with all these. Hence my reading is you will not find too many Salafis among the PAS people. I believe that Tok Guru muka tin sadin has even recorded a ceramah where he blasts the Salafis about whether God sits on a real throne or it is a metaphorical throne. You see, if the Salafis increase in their numbers and their influence, it will seriously dent the periuk nasi of the ustaz air jampi, the tok guru sembahyang hajat conmen and a host of other religious activities that are easily manipulated to win votes and take money from the gullible. So as far as people like PAS are concerned, Salafis are not good. They are bad for business. It is worse for the ustaz guys who work in the jabatan agama, the ustaz guys who make the fatwas and other such things. (I am talking about the Government ustaz or ustaz Kerajaan). They too will be seriously threatened by the Salafi. If the Salafi become more influential, these ustaz Kerajaan may lose their flock of followers, and thereby lose their source of income as well. At the same time the Salafis are gaining in popularity because they are freeing the gullible from the clutches of the ustaz cari duit. If you are a Salafi, you should have less guilty feelings about yourself. Because they observe fewer of the "extra extra" type rituals. But they don't come without their own threats. The chaos and confusion, murder and mayhem in the Middle East is caused and funded to a large part by the Salafi Saudis. So watch out. They can become cuckoo. What we need is a home grown Malaysian Salafi movement which can modernize the ustaz and modernize the religious practices and wean the Malays away from the kepercayaan khurafat which is so much part and parcel of the landscape. Plus they must not turn violent or aggressive. (I think this is where the danger lies). Ya ustaz, I hope you are reading this. Ada cara yang lebih baik daripada amalan Salafi Arab Saudi. Considering the terribly, brainless condition of religious teaching in this country I think the Salafis are heads and shoulders better than jual air jampi, jual kismis ajaib, doa halau hantu and other such crap. In the 90s I engaged in an extended discourse with a group of Tauhidis (Salafis) in Penang and also via post with some Salafis in Kerala (there was no Internet then). I am happy to say that they are no more Salafis : ) They have become my good friends as well.   |
| The Modern Day Slacker By Dina Zaman Posted: 24 Jul 2012 08:16 PM PDT  This is Dina Zaman's column in The Star today : A WRITER'S LIFE, By DINA ZAMAN. I am reproducing it in full. My comments follow : YOU would have known at least two of this type: the young Malay boy in his late 20s to mid-30s who has the potential, but for no reason at all, seems intent on ruining his life, by simply being lackadaisical and complacent. He is the slacker. It is this type which frustrates the hardworking Malays, who have worked so hard to bust the myth of the lazy Malay, the subsidy-mentality-bumi, and gives them a bad name. The latter, who come from various economic backgrounds, burn the midnight oil at their corporate jobs. Some take on another as a side income or work at two jobs. Their partners or spouses are equally as hardworking, but when drawn into conversation about the idle Malay boy, both will throw their hands up in the air. Talk to non-Malay professionals and they say nonchalantly, "That's what you get when you hire these Malays." A successful bumi businessman told me once that he hires only young non-Malays, because he had been duped too many times by the boys he wanted to help. These boys, who seem to be mushrooming by the day, are articulate, and do keep abreast of current events. Interestingly, these boys mainly come from working class backgrounds. They're not unintelligent. Have a chat with them – they can be so perceptive that you wonder why they are not in politics or a think-tank. And yet, they are in debt, and seem to relish in their financial piccadiloes; when they are offered opportunities, they take and screw them up halfway. The reasons are unbelievable: I broke up with my girlfriend. I don't have money. I don't have the ilham. My friend owes me money. I owe myself money. However, despite their apparent flaws, they complain about how the world owes them a living. The government should give me a grant. The government owes me a living because I'm Malay and poor. People don't like me because I'm not connected. Girls don't want to date me because I'm poor and directionless. Granted, some do try. But they look for short cuts. Some of them become the "shadows" of the bodyguards, the lesser datuks and proxies to the middleman to the PA to the right-hand man of the "Man Himself", in vain hopes for a small cut. If they are lucky, they take back RM5,000. They create small enterprises and mark up costs that defy business logic, that in the end they have to close shop. The opportunities are already there. Yes, our education system is not perfect, but many have come out from it better and richer. I also do not deny that working or doing business is not easy either. Yet there are many Malaysian success stories. Blame the NEP if you want, but the truth is, many have also thrived sans it. Some packed up their bags and moved abroad without a degree or connections. The Internet is at your disposal – for all this talk about not having money, a good number of these boys have a working computer. Mac, no less. So work from home. Work with clients from everywhere! A friend once hired a Nigerian student in Nigeria to create his website. That young boy from the sticks of Nigeria delivered a really swoosh website within a month. When asked why they are so dismissive of politics and youth activities, they can tell you, "It's a waste of time. We're not America. There's a tradition of activism there, not here. Besides, we're the grassroots. The government should take care of us and provide us with incentives." How can any government do so, and why should it? This is not about opportunities but attitude! There is already a social and economic imbalance which will worsen. Many marriages break down, and some of the increasing reasons I hear from my syariah lawyer friends are that these boys are complacent and do not contribute to the marriage financially. They do not pick up the slack at home by being the housekeeper, and expect the wives to fund two families. Theirs and his. Some resent their wives' successes and create problems. Some of them bring their debts into the family equation. Economically, if more and more of these youths opt to be slackers, the country's GDP will go down greatly and crumble into a declining and worsening economy. The divide between the haves and have-nots will widen. The gender imbalance is already there: More young (Malay) women are in tertiary institutions and working very hard. Quite a number have told me they fear marriage because they do not want to be beholden to a spouse who cannot contribute to a marriage. At this juncture, this begs another question. Why are a good number of young and working class Malays complacent? Sometimes, I feel that the foreign workers deserve citizenship because they work and somehow manage to save for their families back home. They live in the most deplorable living conditions, and some worse than the shacks I have seen in my kampung. The question should no longer be about whether Malay youths are politically apathetic. The question should be how to make these boys work and be motivated. It is a study I greatly welcome and would like to do. My comments : Well put Dina. You have got it in a nutshell. I really like the "Some of them become the "shadows" of the bodyguards, the lesser datuks and proxies to the middleman to the PA to the right-hand man of the "Man Himself", in vain hopes for a small cut". That is so funny but true and very sad. First off, some will take the easy way out and just blame Dr Mahathir. Its all Dr Mahathir's fault. What happened to ayah dan ibu, mum and dad, cikgu and ustaz? Arent they directly responsible for their kids attitudes and upbringing? I mean 'bukankah syurga terletak di bawah tapak kaki ibu"? If so, it looks like too many ibus have been stomping on their responsibilities. I know unemployed guys who live off the earnings of their multiple wives. They spend a few days with this wife then a few days with that wife. Around pay day, their "visitations" with the wives become quickies. If you drop the 'i' from bumi, then it becomes 'subsidy mentality bum'. These are the shirkers. You meet them everyday. There is a new class among them now ie those who live off the Gomen that they also criticise. And blame Dr Mahathir for all their shortcomings as well. Looking at their lack of values, I think even their grandchildren will be blaming Dr Mahathir for their failures as well. This is going to be a generational thing. They do not understand a simple concept called work. And doing what is required to be done - meaning doing what the market wants. The only thing that I see differently from Dina is about the corporate guys. If they are the korporat GLCs then we are likely just creating more cripples. The GLCs are places where they learn how NOT to compete. They dont have to worry about getting money (the Gomen provides it). They dont have to worry about market feasability (the Gomen will occupy whatever they build or bail them out if they fail). So long as there is oil in the ground and Petronas keeps making those multi billion Ringgit dividend and tax payments to the Gomen then things will be hunky dory. The great malady that infects everyone is 'cepat kaya' without work or doing least work. This shall be the undoing of the 'subsidy mentality bum'. It is not money that should be the desired end. It should be the work. The product or service that we provide. If that is done well the money should follow. The brain should switch from 'cari duit' to 'buat kerja'. Di bawah tapak kaki ibu, you can possibly find kasut slipper. Your future is between your two hands.   |
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