Sunday morning...cakap cakap. An attempt at clarity.

You must not, should not and must not lay blame on all Muslims for the evil that some "Muslims" do upon others in the name of ALLAH. ALLAH hates no one. 

The evil that men do upon others are of their own volition's......ALLAH is merely the easy way out to excuse their reason to kill their own mother, to kill non-believers, to kill the old, the poor and children....to kill anybody who are different from them. 

I have no doubt that any of these terrorists, any of these freedom fighters, any of these Jihadists, if given the opportunity and hope that most of us have in making something of our live that give us reasons to live useful lives, than they too would choose life over death.  Choose to live in peace than in war and chose to have compassion and love for others rather than to snuff the lives of others simply because others are different from them.

Today religion has become an instrument of those who seek to use religion for their own gain - spiritual and material. 

The moment I come across any "religious" zealots.... appointed or self appointed muftis and Imams who seek to impose their "considerable" religious knowledge or "authority" upon me...I walk away. 

Whether well intentioned or otherwise these so-called religious authority who have "answered" ALLAH's call to serve HIM will invariably see Islam in the light of their own circumstance. Those who are appointed by the powers that be will do the bidding of those who pay their salaries. Those who are not, see themselves to be in conflict with those who are and invariably their "holier than thou" mentality will also color their act of serving ALLAH...all to my disadvantage.

It is best to think for yourself what you should or should not do. And in the presence or absence of ALLAH would it not be best for us all to do good rather than evil? 

Of course there are many among us that need divine guidance in their search for the meaning and understanding of life. Go and seek that guidance through whatever means or medium you think is right for you but you must try to understand that more often than not, who and what you are now have been an accident of birth and the result of circumstance and events that have surrounded you since that birth. 

Rarely have I come across people who have had the good fortune to be able to think and decide for themselves who they are and what they want to become in life for themselves without interference from others. And more critical to be able to do that when their ability to think for themselves have reached maturity and will allow them to make the right decision for themselves. 

Many of us are still seeking for answers and some of us will breath their last on this earth still seeking answers to the meaning and the reason for life.

Be yourself. 

Be confident in your ability to reason with yourself what is good and what is evil..and as I have said previously...with or without ALLAH or GOD...it is infinitely better to do good rather than evil, to live a useful and compassionate life than to live one where you do harm to others. 

Understand than in truth you are really the master of your own destiny. 

Live life well. I wish for you all, all that you would wish and want for yourself. Life is good.           

cakap cakap....Religion.

I have never been a servant to religion. Religion serves me. I do not serve religion. 

If what I say is sacrilegious...so be it...for you see, for most of my life, I have lived according to what I think is right, what I think is good and what I think would serve me well. And what I do reflects that...."but"...and it is a monumentally big "but" that I still am unsure of ignoring....but, I have steered clear of writing about religion.

I have done so because there are two things I do not like. One is rejection and the other physical pain. 

I know that once I go into the realms of religion I risk being rejected by many of those that read what I write because they do not agree with my take on religion. As for physical pain...there will be many who will want to inflict physical pain upon me for my beliefs...what ever those beliefs may be because for any beliefs that you may have there will be some idiot out there who will want to inflict physical pain upon you for that beliefs! 

And so for now all that I will say about religion is what I have wrote above : That I have never been a servant to religion. Religion serves me. I do not serve religion. 

What says you?

cakap cakap...religion.

I think that over 90% of Muslim in Malaysia are Muslims by birth. Not by conviction but by birth. The conviction may or may not come later. Now pray tell me what would have happened if these 90% of Muslims who became Muslim by birth were born Christians? And I can already see Muslims coming on to me to tell me that they were born Muslims because they were the chosen one – as the Jews claim themselves also to be the chosen ones! There are no chosen ones  - only those that claim to do the choosing upon themselves!

I am appalled that Sultans are Sultans by accident of birth. And by accident of birth they are gifted with a life that is paid for by the Rakyat. A life they live without contributing anything to our life, our country or our religion – if your religion happens to be Islam!

And by accident of birth, Najib and Hishamuddin are where they are now. One a useless Minister of the Rumah Ministry and the other our equally useless Prime Minister. If anything is to be said in favor of these two it is that they have taken what advantages that have accrued to them from their Prime Minister father to carve out for themselves a more then decent living through UMNO.

Then there are the Malays who are, by accident of birth, Bumiputras in this country of ours. Accident of birth and location made them the preferred ethnicity in Malaysia. A Malay who calls Australia his home is no Bumiputra. He is just another Australian! Period.

And so for the Muslims, the Sultans, Din and Najib and the Malays, what they are and what they have become, was to a great extent decided at birth. But whether they become a good Muslim, a good Sultan or a good human being will depend on what they do with their life.

What irks me is how testy and defensive Muslim becomes when there is talk about any encroachments by other religion into Islam. There always seems to this “them”and “us” mentality between the Muslims and non-Muslims bordering upon a paranoia that gives me a sense of dread if not fear of physical hurt if I was to stray into this ‘no-go” zone of questioning Muslims for their fear of other religion taking Muslims away from their religion.

Why should a Muslim, any Muslim, prevent another Muslim from opening himself to other religious conviction? If not for knowledge or self improvement then he might do so in order to prepare himself to  defend Islam against all the too common accusation that Islam is too self centered for its own good.

What I am getting at is this. You are what you are due to a number of factors. Whatever they are you make the best you can of the situation you are in. None of those factors that made you what you are should make you think yourself better or worse then the person next to you for they too are what they are because of the circumstances that they are in.

All religion, all ethnicity – all humans should respect and allow another human being to live their live as they think fit – as a Muslim, as a Christian or whatever it is that they chose to believe in. Even the atheist must thank GOD for making him an atheist! Amen.

George Carlin - On Religion.