I am apalled reading one of the letters sent to the Star newspaper yesterday, about how this lady and her friends were spoken to harshly and even worse - had stones thrown at them. Just because the way they dress.
One thing I always have problems with the so-calles ‘pious’ people that carries the brand ‘Muslim’, is their bad attitude. These people were normally associated with close-mindedness, rigidness, and unwillingness to compromise and co-operate. These 3 characteristics, as much as it is annoying to deal with, were still tolerable as one can choose to view it as personality trait. However, when it comes to bad attitude and behaviour, these can’t be tolerated.
Muslims, if we want to look at the earliest example is supposed to be the most gentle and tolerant person. Who else is the first Muslim other than the Prohet Muhammad ( pbuh ). It was reported and always cited that he is a person so gentle and soft-spoken; people were attacted to Islam because of his attitude and behaviour. He never spoke harshly to anybody, even when provoked. Whenever he wanted to teach a new subject to his follower, he does it with tact, compassion and understanding. He believes and realise that it is not easy to change a certain thinking or behaviour that has been practised in the Arab culture for thousand of years that he needs to be gentle when introducing new ways of doing things.
When did Muslims started behaving in a holier-than-thou attitude is beyond my thinking. When the Prohet ( pbuh ) and Islam encourages muhasabah or introspection, when did people started putting on their ‘co-called dakwah‘ cap and acting like some moral and religious police? I believe when everybody, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, started to look inside more rather than looking at other people and judging them, we will become a better human being. Rather than pin-pointing to those people who does not wear the clothes like how you would like them to wear, start looking at what you are wearing and see is there anything you want to improve first. Stop bad-mouthing and spewing out nasty gossips and start taking a really honest and good look into our own heart and see where does that nasty feeling came from? Is it from envy? Is it from lack of information? What can we do to improve our internal heart affairs and to inculcate more loving feelings and understanding towards people who are different from us.
Religous teachers, ustaz and ustazah played a huge role here. Incorporate more examples of the behaviour of the Prophet in their teaching and encourage kindness and compassion in daily dealings. Put a serious effort to curb shallow thinking and to encourage discussions. Most importantly, these religious teachers, ustaz and ustazah need to do regular muhasabah or introspection on their own thinking, feeling, and behaviour. They also need to check on the contents of their teaching from time to time. Is it still relevant? Do I teach the true Islam? Do I give them the best examples to follow?
I really do hope that Muslims take the opportunity of the Holy month to really improve ourselves in all aspects. May all of us become a better person everyday in everyway. May today will always be better than yesterday. Ameen.
