heart of the matter

religious
FEATURE
HEART
OF THE
MATTER
By Idris Tawfiq
Learning from
South East Asia
in
Ramadan
Although Ramadan in Egypt is very
special, Ramadan, of course, is not
exclusive to Egypt. It is easy to think
that the cultural trappings of Ramadan
which we experience in Egypt are
what Ramadan is all about. If you
travel to London or Mexico or Kuala
Lumpur, however, you will see that
Ramadan is celebrated in other ways
in other countries, but that the essence
of Ramadan remains the same.
Malaysia, for example, has been for
some years a model of what a modern
majority-Muslim nation might be like.
Its charismatic former leader, Tun Dr
Mahathir bin Mohamed, set the bar
very high when he talked about a 2020
vision for his country. Such a vision
included prosperity, professionalism,
hard work and a system that worked.
Such a vision would help us in Egypt,
too.
The essence of Ramadan is not
lanterns or special programmes on TV.
Nor is it about losing weight or making
the kind of resolutions we might make
at New Year. Ramadan is about
returning to Allah.
Standing just across from the
National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur,
the Malaysian Islamic Arts Museum
teaches us something very important
about Islam. Opened in 1998, it is not
just the beauty and the cleanliness of
the Muslim world. What is especially
captivating is the way that Islam
is presented as a truly universal
religion. There is indeed one of the
world’s largest scale models of the
Sacred Mosque in Makkah, as well as
jewellery and artifacts from the Arab
lands, but the Museum puts Islam
within its proper context, reminding us
that Arabs make up just eighteen per
cent of the world’s Muslims. Malaysia’s
neighbour Indonesia, for example,
has more Muslims than all the Arab
countries put together.
It is a lesson that the Western world
needs to be reminded of again and
again, that no Arab or Muslim armies
ever visited Indonesia and
Taking a moment,
Malaysia. Islam was brought
though, to think about
there by honest Muslim
Islam in other countries
traders, whose lives had
might help us to
such an effect on the local
appreciate what we
people that the locals wanted
have here at home.
to be like them. Islam was
spread through South East
There are many
Asia by the good example
thousands of Malaysian
of Muslims, living good lives
and Indonesian
and showing that in all things
students studying
they were seeking to please
in Egypt. All of them
Allah. What a wonderful way
are a great asset to
that would be of changing
their country and their
people’s attitudes about
country should be proud
Islam today! Instead of
of them. You have only
seeing Islam as a religion
Inside the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur
to walk around the area
of terrorists and fanatics,
of Al-Azhar Mosque in
the world would see it as a
Cairo to be immediately
religion in which people find complete
the modern building which reminds us
impressed by the politeness and good
happiness by submitting to the Will of
all of the beauty and the cleanliness
manners of the students from Malaysia
Allah alone.
which is at the heart of Islam. Nor is
and Indonesia who have crossed the
it just the professionalism with which
Muslims in the Arab world, too,
globe and come to the heart of the
the exhibits are displayed which
would be reminded that there is a lot
Muslim world to learn about Islam. Or
serves to remind us that Muslims are
to learn from Muslims in other parts of
you could walk outside the Faculty of
called to be hard working, honest and
the world. Arabs certainly don’t have
Medicine in Alexandria and be equally
professional in all that they do.
all the answers! The Conference that
impressed by the cheerfulness and the
took place recently, for example, in
In fact, a visit to the Islamic Arts
serious attitude to study of the many
the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, was
Museum, the largest in South East
Malaysians and Indonesians who have
an attempt to reflect on how Muslims
Asia, is to take a journey through
come to study medicine in Egypt.
can present the moderate message of
Islam to a world deeply suspicious of
Islam and Muslims.
The Islamic Museum in Kuala
Lumpur has 12 galleries. Instead of
concentrating most of its efforts, as
many similar museums do, on the
legacy of Persia and the Middle East,
there are also galleries dedicated to
China and South East Asia, as well as
an impressive gallery which displays
the significance to the Muslim world of
India. These galleries also reflect the
multi-cultural nature of Malaysia itself,
which even though it has a Muslim
majority of about sixty per cent of the
population, is nonetheless home to
citizens of Chinese and Indian descent.
The building itself is the star.
Craftsmen from Iran and Uzbekistan
have managed to create tile work
and plasterwork of exquisite beauty.
The white open spaces and marble
floors give visitors the chance to relax
and reflect as they wander through
other galleries dedicated to Glass and
Ceramics, Woodwork, Metalwork,
Textiles, Jewellery and Arms and
Armour.
No Islamic Museum could neglect
the influence of the Ottoman Empire
on our world or on the artistic heritage
of Islam, and there is a beautifully
reconstructed interior of an Ottoman
Syrian room dated 1820-1821. Space
others? Will we have fasted from
morning to night for a whole month for
Allah’s sake and then carry on with our
lives when Ramadan has finished as
though nothing had really changed? Or
will we accept this Ramadan for what it
is – a gift.
People throughout the world would
love the chance to put the past behind
them and to make a new start in their
lives. They would love to turn a page on
past mistakes and try to start living as
they know they should. Well, that is the
gift which Ramadan offers us.
One of the beautiful Qurans from the
Museum’s collection
is also used very cleverly by the use of
scale models throughout the building,
showing mosques from Arabia, Central
Asia, China and South East Asia.
It is perhaps typical of the
professionalism and attention to detail
of Malaysia’s Muslims that even the
Museum shop and restaurant are a
joy to behold, excelling most of their
counterparts throughout the world.
We might learn
here in Egypt
that restoration
and renovation
of monuments is
important, but it
has to be followed
up with regular
maintenance or
everything will go
back to what it
was.
In wishing the
Muslims of both
Malaysia and
Indonesia, then,
every blessing of
Ramadan on their
nation, we can
all step back and
learn something
for our own
lives. We have
already asked
in these pages
if this Ramadan
be for us just
another Ramadan
amongst many
Muslims read in the Holy Quran in
Surat Al-Ma’idah:
“This day have I perfected your religion
for you,
Completed My favour on you and chosen
for you
Islam as your religion.” 5:3
We can either let the days of
Ramadan pass us by, as they often
do, reaching their conclusion at the
end of the holy month with our fasting
and good deeds complete, or we can
seize each one of them, taking to heart
those words of the Qur’an as if they
were being addressed to each one of
us today.
Maybe if we did that, the mighty
powers of this world would sit up and
take note of the message of Islam
which swept through South East Asia
by the example of simple, honest men
and women. Let the Muslims of South
East Asia remind us all to take time out
this Ramadan to think where we, and
our own country, are going.
British Muslim writer and
broadcaster, Idris Tawfiq, is a
teacher at Al-Azhar University
and the author of nine books
about Islam. He has an article
every Tuesday in Egyptian Mail
and you can join him every
Sunday at 11pm and every
Thursday at 2pm for his Radio
show “A Life in Question”
on Radio Cairo 95.4 FM. You
can visit his website at www.
idristawfiq.com and his facebook
page Idris Tawfiq Page.