My take on the Al Islam versus Catholic Church issue
First of all, I do not read Al Islam magazine (published by Utusan group), on a variety of reasons. Lets just say after a certain “Si Tora-Tora Jadian” took over the editorship of the magazine (and unceremoniously booted out a few years later), I just stopped reading it. The only Islamic magazine that I follow religiously (excuse the pun!) these days is Majalah i, published by Karangkraf.
That being said, I really wonder what the fuss is about, with regard to an article written two months ago by their reporters relating their experience at Catholic churches. I read the republished article at The Nut Graph and frankly, I don’t see anything that the reporter had done that (a) impede Catholics to worship their “god”, and/or (b) cause consternation and anxiety among the Catholic worshippers during their presence at those churches. In fact, I would say that it is a brave example of investigative journalism, although the journalists’ motives towards this end may be suspect. Its not like the Christian missionaries had not done this to Muslims before, albeit with even more sinister motives. The journalists came to the church expecting Muslims to be apostatised and they came back reporting that this was not true. The end.
So again, what is this fuss about?
Incoming search terms:
- church al islam
sebenarnya cerita Melayu menjadi Kristian telah lama …
tetapi baru-baru ini semenjak tertubuhnya Suruhanjaya Antara Agama atau dikenali Interfaith Commission (IFC) , ianya semakin hangat diperkatakan …
base to basic … secara usulnya bangsa Melayu beragama apa sebelumnya Islam sampai ke tanah Melayu ??
Bagaimana bangsa Melayu mengIslamkan diri dari segi ilmu , pemikiran , budaya , peradaban dll ?
Comment by al-jauhari — July 16, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
In my opinion, i think the main issue is not that the journalists entered church. I think that's totally ok. But to participate in their holy communion ritual (eating bread and then spit out), that's quite insensitive action.
On top of that, i don't think it's wise to justify that by saying Christian missionaries had done similar or worse actions before. After all, two wrongs don't make one right. Having said that, am not implying that it's alright for the missionaries to do what they did (referred to your link). If you mock other religion be it Islam, Christian, and etc.. it's already wrong.. moreover, we are multiracial country. Should celebrate our diversity not otherwise.
Cheers..
[MENJ: I agree that publishing a photo of the wafer may be insulting to Catholics. But there's nothing serious apart from that.]
Comment by mfree — July 16, 2009 @ 9:24 pm
As a Catholic, I am insulted that they should partake of the Body of Christ unless they are true believers. They could have just gone into the church to look for the so called apostates. There was no need to participate in Communion. However, as you are not a Catholic, I don't expect you to feel sensitive towards the issue. Isn't this similar to all the Muslims who feel sensitive about us using the word Allah?
Comment by Ju — July 17, 2009 @ 5:16 am
What the fuss? t|The fuss is about respect and tolerance…in the al-islam case there was none…imagine if the situation was reversed, and a non-muslim reporter entered a mosque on friday prayers…joined in the prayers etc…theres gonna be an uproar…
[MENJ: I am pretty sure that has happened before. EDIT: It has happened before. As for "respect and tolerance", there was nothing in the report to indicate that the reporters showed any disrespect towards the Christians in their worship. I am pretty sure you haven't read the story in toto.]
Remember what happened when it was alleged mass conversion was 'carried' out in Perak involving the famous Malaysian sailor?
[MENJ: Strawman argument. What does this have got to do with the Al Islam story issue?]
Pakailah lah otak.
[MENJ: Awaklah yang pakai otak dahulu sebelum merepek yang bukan-bukan.]
Comment by bongkersz — July 17, 2009 @ 6:49 pm
In order to understand what the fuss is all about, I believe there is a need to understand what the Eucharist means to Christians and Catholics in particular since it happened in a Catholic church.
[MENJ: I am more familiar with early Christianity and the Protestants, with a rudimentary understanding of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. But I understand where you are coming from.]
I don't preach to be an expert on the subject (although I am Catholic), to suffice to say, the insult isn't in the spying and in the photography ( i which case you mentioned could possibly be insulting ). The grave insult to Christianity and Catholicism in this incident, is that Catholics believe that through the celebration of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist, they believe that the Bread and Wine is turned into the actual Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if this is true, imagine how would they have felt, knowing someone took It, chewed It and then spat It out. And who knows how they disposed of It after that.
[MENJ: Yes, I know about the Eucharist.]
Consuming the Body and Blood might sound like cannibalism to you, but I tell it as I see it.
[MENJ: Since its not the topic of post, I withhold my opinion on that ritual to another time.]
If it had happened the other way around, where I went undercover into a mosque to try and find out if whether or not it was a breeding ground for terrorist, did something sacriligious during the proceedings and then reported that "oh, I was wrong, there are no terrorist here", would that have been an ok thing to do because my findings had proven that it was untrue? Sounds cliche but I think there's enough reason to make a fuss.
[MENJ: What you have described has happened before, but you don't see Muslims making a fuss about it. Here's an example and needless to mention, very insulting to Muslims. You don't see Muslims making police reports over it, do you?
As I have mentioned, I see it as solely investigative journalism with no intention of sacrilege, unlike the video I linked to above. Frankly I think the Catholics are making a mountain out of the molehill, although publishing that wafer photo regrettably was a mistake that should not have been done.]
Comment by Average Joe — July 18, 2009 @ 6:42 am
At times like this, it's saddening to see how people can argue and fight in the name of their respective God and yet all that's being preached is make love and not war..
Let's not be God ourselves and judge people. Let these people answer to God themselves when the time comes.
Cheers everyone…
Comment by mfree — July 18, 2009 @ 7:22 pm
I do not think that Christians are making a mountain out of a molehill. To say so, reflects absolute ignorance, and a void of empathy/respect for the sanctity of religious rituals. Be it in a mosque, church or temple, religious rituals must be respected. Consuming Holy Communion, which Catholics believe to be the body and blood of Christ, with no respect to the belief of Catholics is an act of desecration. Even Catholics who are not in a state of grace refrain from receiving this sacrament. For 2 men to waltz in and carry out this charade with no regard for the sanctity of another faith, and then spit it out, is abominable. You don’t need to believe something, in order to be respectful. Just try imagine the uproar if a christian or hindu or buddhist spat on the Quran. Then, multiply that! The two so -called journalists did something worse than spitting on a Bible…they spat out what we believe to be the sacred body of Christ, then made a mockery of it by photographing and publishing an image of a chewed host. These idiots who call themselves reporters either didn’t care abt what they were doing or were too lazy to do their homework before attending a Catholic mass. The Eucharist is the most important part of the Catholic mass, and a cursory search on the net would’ve prepared them to attend one. Many non-christians hv attended mass during inter-religious dialogues and hv managed to conduct themselves as befitting their religion, not feeling compelled to jump up and join the Holy Communion queue. This is not just a matter for Catholics. Any decent human being who has even an ounce of respect for other religions would be deeply offended by this crude and despicable act. I believe that not just to do the right thing, but to set an example that this sort of disrespect will not be tolerated, both "reporters" along with the editor and anyone responsible for the publication of this article should be held accountable.
[MENJ: And on that note, I wonder whether you realise what company publishes "Al-Islam" and who the owner of that company is? Good luck in trying to hold them "accountable", for if that publisher in question can get away with writing inflammatory and racial statements in the Malay vernacular press, I certainly do not believe that they are going to be held responsible for the article in "Al-Islam". To believe otherwise will be very naive. Very naive, indeed.]
Comment by beverly — July 22, 2009 @ 7:48 am
"nothing in the report to indicate that the reporters showed any disrespect towards the Christians in their worship"
took part in a holy ritual, consuming something considered sacred to the Christians and they spat it out. not disrespect? come on menj, you are not talking from your backside are you?
what strawman argument, i'm referring to the reactions by Muslims for mere 'rumors', imagine if a deed of such proportion as done by those two journalists is to be done against Muslims.
just like how it was wrong for anyone to make jokes about the prophet (case in point – Danish cartoons), it's wrong for those journalists to do what they did.
i just can't believe you try to justify their actions, menj. sigh. what the fuss you said? i love your reply to average joe above, where you conveniently put 'with no intention of sacrilege'. you are good, very good. you know how it is played out. regardless of what intention, what people perceived from the actions matters. just like some said the cartoons on the prophet is not big deal, they have no 'INTENTION to insult' but yet you well aware of what was the outcome.
[MENJ: Sure, I am well aware that the photograph of the wafer was disrespectful to Catholics and I have said MANY TIMES that this action was regrettable. Other than that, I am not bothered by the fuss that is going on. Christians are not guilty of doing the same to Muslims, so why should I feel any "sympathy" or "sorrow" for them?]
Comment by bongkersz — July 22, 2009 @ 8:16 am
As I think, each religion has its own rules and world views. I would like to see no war between churches. Make love, leave in piece and respect each other.
Comment by Rich Wooger — August 15, 2009 @ 9:05 am