Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Universalising Islam in Malaysia Posted: 22 Aug 2013 04:13 PM PDT Early this year, I attended a Chinese New Year open house, organised jointly by the Hidayah Center (a dakwah [preaching] institution under IKRAM, a Muslim organisation) and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA), with sponsorship from the Islamic Council of Selangor (MAIS, Majlis Agama Islam Selangor) and Mohd Chan Restaurant. Alongside a small exhibition about Islam in Mandarin and English, there were various cultural activities during the open house, such as Chinese traditional music performance, lion dances and Chinese calligraphy competition. Indeed, in the last few years, as a way of disseminating Islamic message among non-Muslim Chinese, there is a growing trend of accommodating Chinese cultural elements in the Islamic preaching in Malaysia. Chinese-style mosques, Chinese Muslim preachers, Chinese halal restaurants and Chinese New Year celebrations are among the creative forms to promote the universality of Islam and to show that 'there can be a Chinese way of being Muslim'. Chinese Muslims are minorities in Malaysia, in which only 1 percent of ethnic Chinese are Muslims. In the past, ethnic Chinese who became Muslims were assumed to lose their Chinese cultural identity and become 'Malay'. The recent emergence of Chinese Muslim cultural identities, which combine both Chinese cultural symbols and Islamic messages have challenged this widely held perception that 'Chineseness' and Islam are incompatible. Unlike conventional dakwah activities, which aim at strengthening the faith of Muslims, Chinese Muslims dakwah movements aim to universalise Islam and invite non-Muslims to get closer to the Islamic faith. Differentiating Chinese 'cultural' traditions (budaya) from religious rituals (agama), Chinese Muslim leaders argue that Chinese culture does not contradict with Islamic principles. Instead, it can facilitate the spread of Islamic messages, which I call here 'dakwah pendekatan budaya' (preaching by using [Chinese] culture) or 'cultural dakwah'. Statements such as, 'Chinese New Year does not belong to any religion and that it is a cultural event shared by all Chinese' are commonly used by Chinese Muslims to justify their celebrations. A common belief in this school of thought is that many Chinese in Malaysia hesitate to become Muslim, because they are afraid of losing their Chinese cultural identity after conversion to Islam. By holding public Chinese New Year Celebrations, this group would like to diminish such worry, with the hope that more Chinese will convert to Islam, or at least get closer to Islam. Many Muslim leaders endorse these celebrations, as long as such activities do not contain non-Islamic elements, such as deity worship and the consumption of non-halal food, for example pork and alcohol. They see Chinese New Year activities such as wearing red, giving ang pao and lion dance as cultural practices that do not contradict Islamic teachings. They also think get-together events, such as mutual visits, reunion dinners and open houses, fit well with Islamic values, and view these activities as promoting 'silaturahim' (maintaining good relationships). Since 2010, working together with the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA), IKRAM has held various Chinese New Year Open House celebrations. IKRAM is a Muslim organisation in Malaysia, consisting primarily of well-educated, urban-based, middle-class and reformist-minded Malay Muslims. In 2013, the Selangor branch of IKRAM organised Chinese New Year celebrations in nine locations in Selangor: eight small open houses at different districts, all held at Chinese halal restaurants; and a grand one in a Chinese school. Remarkably, one of the key sponsors was the state-controlled Islamic Council of Selangor (MAIS, Majlis Agama Islam Selangor). I joined some of these celebrations, which were well attended by Malay and Chinese Muslims, as well as non-Muslim Chinese. Chinese cultural elements and Islamic messages are strategically combined in such events. Let me describe one of these celebrations in detail. On 24th February 2013, the 15th day of Chinese New Year, more than one thousand people attended a grand Chinese New Year open house in the Chee Wen Chinese primary school in Subang Jaya. The organisers had chosen a Chinese school and not a mosque to hold this event, hoping that more Chinese would join without hesitation. Invited guest speakers included leaders from Chinese organisations, Islamic NGOS, and Hui Muslims working in Malaysia. There were three hosts for the event: one of them was of mixed Chinese-Malay parentage and the other two were Hui Muslim studying in Malaysia. Most of those involved in organising the event were – both Chinese and Malay Muslims – wore red. Halal Chinese dishes with a localised twist, including a 100-feet yee sang (a popular Chinese New Year dish in Malaysia) were served. The food was sponsored by Mohd Chan Restaurant, a Chinese halal restaurant. Inside the hall, there were decorations of Chinese lanterns and Chinese calligraphy that read: 'Allah is the Greatest' and 'Happy Chinese New Year' in Mandarin. Various entertainment programs, including Chinese traditional music performance and lion dances were staged. There were also screening of videos, introducing Islamic teachings and sharing experiences of Chinese converts. MACMA Selangor also held a small exhibition about Islam in Mandarin and English. Qur'an, Islamic books and leaflets in Mandarin and English were available for free. Some volunteers also approached the non-Muslim Chinese who attended, asking their views on Islam and sharing the Islamic messages with them, in a subtle and indirect way. The chairman of IKRAM Selangor Hassanuddin Mohd Yunus explains,
In Seremban (a small town, an hour-drive away from Kuala Lumpur), there was also a Chinese New Year dinner celebration inside the Al-Saadah Complex. The Seremban Al-Saadah Complex is a newly-completed Chinese-style mosque in Malaysia, initiated and sponsored by the Islamic Council of Negeri Sembilan (MAINS, Majlis Agama Islam Negeri Sembilan). Its architectural design was inspired by the Great Mosque of Xi An, in mainland China. Various Chinese features dominated both the exterior and interior design of the mosque complex, such as the Chinese-designed entrance gate, the Chinese garden, the courtyard and pavilion, the red pagoda-shaped minaret, red lanterns and Chinese calligraphy. This mosque complex hosts various activities, such as religious talks, Mandarin classes, conversion ceremonies and cultural festivals. Remarkably, during the Idul Adha celebrations in 2011 and 2012, Chinese Muslim religious teachers presented their sermons in Mandarin (with translation in Malay on LCD screen) inside the mosque. Moreover, the mosque invited an Imam from mainland China to serve the mosque. The mosque committee is also planning to hold regular Friday sermons in Mandarin, beginning from the mid of 2013. If this plan comes true, the Al-Saadah complex might be the first mosque in post-independent Malaysia which conducts Friday sermons in Mandarin regularly. In the past, it was quite difficult to imagine that a Muslim organisation would organise a Chinese New Year open house or an Islamic authority building a Chinese-style mosque simply because of the pervasive perception of Islam as the symbolic marker of Malay identity. Yet today, not only Chinese Muslims, but many Malay Muslims are enthusiastic in preaching Islam through the use of Chinese cultural symbols and practices. What are the factors that have contributed to this emergence of cultural dakwah in contemporary Malaysia?
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