Reciting the holy Qur’an during Ramadan

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, November 21 (IslamOnline.net) - South East Asian Muslims, a group forming the vast majority in this wide region of the world, has their particular way of cementing communal differences. During this Ramadan, non-Muslims are allowed to join Muslims to break fast and even observe them praying the Tarawih or recite the holy Qur’an.

In Indonesia, a group of young Muslims decided to visit a couple of Christian friends in their housing area near Jakarta just before dusk, carrying with them dates, syrup and other foods for breaking their fast.

The idea they said was to bring the people in the neighborhood together after a recent increase in religious fanaticism in Indonesia, following the deadly Bali bombing in October last year.

The Christian couple invited in and even prepared a place for the 5 university students to perform Maghrib prayers in their house, something that is rarely seen in those days of “war against terror”.

“Islam has been under intense character assassination lately, mainly by leaders of the U.S. and Britain. This has pitched the Muslims against a certain community in Indonesia. Our aim is to break such barriers and show that Islam is peaceful, after all,” said Nagib Muzani who studies at the University Islam in Jakarta itself.

He added that this was the first time that he went to visit non-Muslim friends in Ramadan and broke fast with them. “It was an atmosphere of joy and respect, the children of the couple were so excited that we had to wait for the muezzin to call for prayer to eat,” he said.

In Indonesia, it has been a tradition for Muslims to share their Islamic way of life with others, in an attempt to show the peaceful nature of the Islam, many now sees as aggressive.

After all, Indonesia is a liberal country, Muslims there are rather liberal on many issues be it politics or communal interaction.

“Indeed some people abuse this liberalism that prevails in this largely Muslim society, however, Islam is well here and we are proving to the non-Muslims that we Muslims do not handle bombs that well as we handle their hearts with care,” said Muzadi.

Women praying at mosques

After the Bali bombing, there was a lot of tension in Indonesia between the different ethnic and communal groups. Even Muslim groups were on the verge of conflicts but thanks to the liberal approach by top local Islamic leaders, rifts were averted.

Islam has always united the Muslims of different groups and only politics divides them at times. This is the case in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and even Thailand.

However, the division between Muslims and non-Muslims in the region considered to be a hot bed for terrorism by the U.S. has widened and much is being done by the authorities in the different countries to help cool down the tempers.

In Malaysia, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday, November 20, that Muslims in his country have proven that Islam has no quarrel with followers of other faiths.

He said this was proven when non-Muslims also attended gatherings for the breaking of fast which also showed to the non-Muslims that the Muslims had no quarrel with them, Bernama said.

"We see non-Muslims also attending the breaking of fast like the one being held at this mosque and this enables them to understand the teachings of Islam and remove any doubt with regard to the Muslims," said the former Prime Minister when addressing the people at the breaking of fast at the Ulu Melaka old mosque.

Mahathir said Muslims preferred peace and there was no reason for them to quarrel with the followers of other faiths, as long as these non-Muslims did not wage war against the Muslims.

He hoped that the solidarity demonstrated by the people of various races and religions would be maintained to ensure that the country continued to enjoy peace and prosperity.

In Singapore, some Chinese students from elementary and primary schools were invited last year to fast during Ramadan to feel how their Muslim friends cope with the month.

Many of them fasted for a few hours, as a symbolic gesture and getting a taste of spiritual strength  Muslim students derive to fast despite the heavy schooling schedules in the tiny capitalist state.

This year too, many students of non-Muslim faith attempted to fast on their own, to prove that they understood the meaning of the fasting for Muslims.

“They could not complete one day in most cases and only very few of them, who has some spiritual strength and have tried before to fast, managed to end the day without eating and break fast with us,” said Norshamiza, a private school student at Geylang told IOL in an email.

However, she said, it was interesting to see that non-Muslims of a younger age were making efforts to understand their Muslim friends, asking about the Islamic culture and in most cases showing their disbelief that Islam could ever be accused of being a deadly faith.

Some of the Mosques in Singapore also held open doors, allowing non-Muslims to visit and even be present at Iftar time.

Nevertheless in Thailand, the war against the ‘Siamization’ – imposing Thai language and culture on Muslims – has not tampered during the Ramadan and it resulted in many non-Muslims and at time Muslims who cooperated with the Thailand government in Pattani and Narthiwat to be attacked by Muslims gangs.

“Probably south Thailand is one of those hot spots where things are not really going as we are told, and Muslims are really frustrated and would do anything to defend their faith in the wake of constant violations by the authorities,” said Abdullah Mussa, a Muslim preacher who is married to a Thai Muslim but living in Malaysia.

South East Asia has a huge population of around 250 million Muslims and this Ramadan was given a special touch with the younger generation frequenting Mosques and even reaching to non-Muslims to tell them about the beauty of fasting and praying or reciting the holy Qur’an during this month.