Approach Non-Muslims the Right Way

Recently in The Star newspaper, a reader had written in his opinion on the need to get to know Islam. This person, judging by his name, is Chinese. The title of the letter says, non-Muslims should learn Islam, however the content touches more on the failure of Muslim themselves to educate and promote Islam to the non-Muslim.

Last week I went to a ceramah by an ustaz, who is a convert. He became a Muslim at the age of 27 and before that he was a Buddhist for 14 years and moved on to being a Christian for 13 years. The moment he embraced Islam, he was overwhelmed by 4 feelings (according to him). One of the 4 feelings (as you might have guessed, I don't remember all 4! Sad!) was sadness.

Sadness, according to him, was because no one had told him about Islam before this. No one had given him the opportunity to learn about Islam. He lived in a town in Malacca, a town which consists of 90% Muslims - but no one tried to even teach him Islam. He is saddened by the fact that he could not extend Islam towards his mother and his brother (who died before he converted).

Recently, Nga Kor Ming the DAP politician had uttered a Quranic verse in his speech. He probably didn't get it right and made several grammatical errors. As a result, some Muslims were offended and at least one Malay association made a police report. Some were angered by his act and ridiculed him.

During Rasulullah (s.a.w.)'s time, Islam was the religion that was ridiculed to the extent that people were actually punished and tortured for embracing Islam. According to one tradition of the Prophet (s.a.w.): Everyday the Prophet (s.a.w.) would walk this one street and would encounter an old Jewish lady that lived in a house along the street. Everyday she would throw rubbish towards him and he would not retaliate. One day, no rubbish was thrown. The Prophet was puzzled by the non-occurence and had inquired with the next door neighbour. He was told that the old lady had gotten sick. Rasulullah (s.a.w.) showed compassion towards the old lady and took care of her and provided her with food.

Instead of gleefully accepting his luck that an old lady who had thrown rubbish at him daily had gotten sick, he took the news with compassion and treated the lady with treatments that she doesn't deserve. That is what we call, hikmah. The way the Prophet (s.a.w.) approached another person is not by being mean, cruel, aggressive or just plain angry - he approached everyone with a sense of calmness and a friendly attitude. That is why Islam grew the way it did in a society that was gloomier than the deepest ocean.

Going back to the letter written in The Star, I tend to agree with the writer on the part that there was no real approach by Muslims to teach him Islam. Although there were instances during his early school days whereby he was interested in learning the Quran, no one made an approach and therefore the opportunity to teach him Islam was lost. But it doesn't mean the opportunity ends there.

Instead of saying things like, non-Muslims should not read the Quran as they will get it wrong, non-Muslims cannot touch the Quran, non-Muslims must not eat this and that -- we should instead extend the teachings of Islam by saying "can" more than "cannot". Sure they cannot touch the Quran but they can touch the translated version. Sure they would read the Quran wrong, then teach them the right manner to read it. If they cannot eat this and that which is catered for Muslims, cook another batch for them.

Islam is not a difficult religion to abide by. The more "cannot" we utter, the more distant others become. Sure there are cans and cannots in Islam, much like any other religion, but the cans outnumbers the cannots by a mile. We cannot eat pork, but we can eat so many things. We cannot drink liqour but we can drink so many other drinks. It is also proven that both pork and liquor is not good for one's health - so that, is hikmah.

The way Islam is enshrined on the human race is simple; it is based on humanistic inclination. Whatever is good in a humanly fashion, should be good in Islam (I'm not saying everything, but Im talking about human nature).

Even hudud is a good and understandable law, if it is given its due recognition. The key to this is education and understanding. Of course, I can understand the fear that some non-Muslims would feel when the word hudud is uttered - due to the seemingly brutal aspect of it. However in a criminalized world we're living in, which is getting worse by the day, the seemingly brutal aspect of hudud is a kind of deterrance to which man made law have failed to address. Therefore, the approach should be to explain the greatness of hudud and not just brushing it aside.

I respect Tuan Guru Nik Aziz for being able to claim the respect of so many non-Muslims. His moderate lifestyle, his approachable attitude and friendly manners (always smiling) wins the heart of many. That is how Islam should be portrayed. Not making a report so valiantly in the name of Islam for one's own interest.

Peace :)