POSITION PAPER 2

Of course religion is important but I am a Malay first before I become a Muslim. Discuss.

By : Nor Aslinawati Binti Nawawi ( 0726078)

Yes, it is true that religion is important but I am a Malay first before I become a Muslim. Have you heard the word “Biar mati anak jangan mati adat”? From that statement, we already know how important for them to maintain the culture and custom because it is shows their identification. People tend to give more importance to certain elements of their identities. People hold on to a certain sense of identity. It is how we define ourselves. They believe whole heartedly that when you are Malay you also are Muslim. They want to be strong and by being Malay they can be a good Muslim.

In my opinion they strongly feel that only Malay can be a good Muslim and only Malay can perform the Islam. They can group together to bring benefit to their identity group, or they can group together to fight off threats. That is why people tends to be Malay first before they become a Muslim. In conjunction to that, we know that Malay always have strong sensitivity and responsiveness when we talk about their race and also about religion. As we know, Malay people are they who are polite, responsible, good behavior and attitude, kind, friendly and the others that are consistent with the need of Islam. Their characteristic itself sometimes show how emotional they are when there are other parties who try to argue what they believe and what are their right. They are trying to protect the Islam from the others enemies. They also who are responsible in making ISLAM HADHARI in order to strength the Islam among the Muslim. By that example, it is show how being Malay can make them be more alert as a Muslim.

However, the truth is many people are willing to die for their religion, but not that many are willing to die for their race, language, profession, culture, etc. Only religion can consistently unite people who are otherwise very different. So, it is not true that when we are Malay we will be a good Muslim. Nowadays, there are many Malay who do not know what is Muslim all about. They only are Muslim because they are Malay. Malays now are more excited to having fun, follow others culture and some of them are now being in the wrong path. In my opinion, we only can be good Malay if we are strongly having religion. What I mean here is we have to be a good Muslim than you can be good Malay also. As a Muslim, we had been taught how to perform good attitude and behavior. We are Muslim. That means that we practice the religion of Islam. Muslims live in many different countries and cultures. It is not true that only Malay is Muslim. Chinese also can be a good Muslim if he or she obeys to Allah s.w.t. and do what Allah said and leave what are prohibit (Amar Ma’ruf Nahi Mungkar). The word Islam means "submission to God." Islam, in fact, is an attributive title. Anyone who possesses this attribute, whatever race, community, country or group he or she belongs to, is a Muslim. According to the Quran (the Holy Book of the Muslims), among every people and in all ages there have been good and righteous people who possessed this attribute and all of them were and are Muslims.

According to the Abul A'la Mawdudi, Islam is a universal and eternal religion. Its appeal is to the whole humanity. Any person who declares belief in La ilaha illallah Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah (there is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet) enters the fold of Islam and entitles him or herself to the same rights as those of other Muslims. Being a Muslim means following a way of life every day in order to please God. So, we have to be a Muslim first than you can be perfect Malay. Other than that, with the religion, Malay can perform better performance because they know that what are they do are all because of getting blessing from Allah s.w.t. Lately, there are many misunderstanding about the Malay. Some people said that Malays are too emotional that can bring harm to others races. They are now more aggressive rather than before. That is why we must return back to our hold which is Islam. So, in conclusion I believe that we must first be a Muslim than we can be perfect Malay who is not lost direction in this world.