Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Mosques without minarets (menara)?

Update (original article below): From BBC: Sunday's referendum has forced the government to declare illegal the building of any new minarets, but Mrs Calmy-Rey (Swiss minister) said Muslims could still build new mosques and continue to worship in the country (Switzerland).

Over in Netherlands: Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders said he would press for a similar ban in Holland. 'If the government is unwilling to hold a referendum, the PVV will present its own bill to parliament. What is possible in Switzerland should also be possible here,' he was reported as saying.

Original article: The Swiss government's call for a vote on banning the building of minarets for mosques (with a majority of 'YES') has predictably lead to an outcry by some quarters like in Al-Jazeera (Switzerland minaret ban condemned). Perhaps this is an important moment for us to ask ourselves why we react in whatever way we do - Anger and frustration? Is that how the muslims should react? Is it because 'our rights' have been denied? Chill guys, it's just a menara masjid. Let me ask you this question if you're angry at the swiss:

"Do you, the one who call yourself a Muslim (submitter), who believes that there is no GOD but GOD, in the Quran and the Hereafter, worship the minarets?"

In fact we should look at this as a non-issue, i think, simply because we don't worship the minarets, the mosques, the leaders, the ulama's, the prophets, the scriptures, the angels and the devil of course. We worship and submit to GOD alone. Unless otherwise. The Swiss have voted and a majority of them wanted the ban on the minarets for whatever reason they have - Islamophobia, worried about the people confused between mosques and churches, etc. They're a democratic country and in such system, the majority have their say. Let's look back at our country, Malaysia. I recall a court case going on about the right to publish the Bible using the Arabic word for GOD, "Allah" and some other Arabic terms too. Hey wait, we're democratic too right? Let's vote, and more importantly, please accept the outcome of such voting system!

3 comments:

  1. Yeah. i heard this from Hicheal. It can be seen in two ways.

    1st.
    as you said, a non-issue. i think, the purpose of minerets was for the Azan caller to be high enough to be heard by the surrounding community. i also found out that it is for ventilation purposes too. (Wiki:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minaret).
    Functionally, in our modern world, it is replaced with 'electronic sound systems' and 'fans or air conditioning'. Minarets seem rather obsolete apart from being 'hiasan'. And, what does faith have to do with a minaret? As long as i have a clean place to pray, what difference would a minaret make?

    2nd.
    It can be an issue, in terms of freedom of 'religion'. Some people might see this as a restriction to them. Oppression. Descrimination. I imagine people saying, "What?! We can't build minarets? Its just a tower. What harm would it cause? Why can't we build a tower? Why are you restricting us and letting other 'religions' build there monuments freely?"


    My opinion, a minaret ban does not hinder the relationship between God his creatures.

    But, it does cause a fuss among His creatures. Unneccessary fuss. Its just a battle of egos. A battle of equility among humans. God will question all the disputes among them. May God have mercy over our souls.

    :D sorry for the long post. ahah.

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  2. la sebab minaret je ke? aku ingt die wat polisi ban muslim keja ke or x bg muslim vote dlm pilihanraya ke..ms aku tgk brita, da smp kat part org2 dok ckp bimbang etc2..

    xpyhla nk besar2kan..bodoh la klu memperbesar2kan isu menara masjid klu jemaah solat kat masjid sekecil satu saf dari berpuluh2 saf yang ada..

    ni bkn my 10 cents, harga dia mahal sket. GBP10...hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks guys. I really appreciate your comments & GBP10 (= RM56).

    Its ok Sabree comments can be long, as long as it's worth the length, hehe. And I agree that this should not hinder our relationship with our Creator.

    Dan Rahimi pun betul juga, saya rasa. Isu ni x payah nak diperbesar-besarkan sampai timbul kebimbangan etc. Kpd org2 yg risau tu, marilah kita tanya soalan aku yang aku sebut dalam post ni.

    ReplyDelete

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Medical practitioner. Amateur philosopher, pianist and composer.