Do You Hate Islam?
Guy I just met: Are you Christian or Muslim?
Me: Free.
Guy: Free-thinker. Do you hate Islam?
I motion around to the rest of the teachers and say that all of my friends here are Muslim. Then he sees the copy of the Qur'an that Rhman got for me (after I asked for it). He asks if it's mine, and I say yes, it was a gift. He nods and leaves. The interesting thing isn't how weird this moment was, but how uncommon it is here. This is only the second conversation I've had at school about my religion. Most people just don't care, or have assumed I'm one thing and have no reason to think otherwise.
I am curious, however, about what this man must've thought about me before he asked. Perhaps since I'm white he figured I hated Islam, and since I'm American I'm too ignorant to know that Malaysia's a Muslim country. Maybe he was trying to sympathize with me, like "poor kid. He's spending the next six month surrounded by a religion he hates."
Alternatively, maybe he thought I knew Malaysia was Muslim but thought that I wanted to change the entire country to Christianity or Atheism all by my lonesome. He might then realize that there's a chance I'm not just stupid, but also crazy. Or even worse, if I flew 8,000 miles to convert an entire country to Pastafarianism, then there's a chance, however slim that I'm extremely well-funded (maybe by the athe-christ-afarian government?) and charismatic enough to pull it off. Never mind the logistics of trying to convert that many people when they don't want it, Guy-I-Just-Met would at least have to respect that I put a lot of energy into coming over here and that could make me a legitimate threat.
Lastly, he must know that if that really was my plan, there's probably no way I'm just going to come out and tell him that I hate Islam. The athe-christ-afarian government surely must have trained me better than that.
So that makes me think I haven't seen the last of Guy-I-Just-Met. He knows I could've been lying and he wants me to know he knows. And now I know he wants me to know and he knows that too. That question was just to show me that he'll be watching me, and that my athe-christ-afarian government will not succeed in converting Malaysia so easily.
Wait, what if he was my operative in Malaysia? The athe-christ-afarian's reach is long indeed...
PS I have new photos up. They're from Sarah's birthday and the adventures that followed.
Me: Free.
Guy: Free-thinker. Do you hate Islam?
I motion around to the rest of the teachers and say that all of my friends here are Muslim. Then he sees the copy of the Qur'an that Rhman got for me (after I asked for it). He asks if it's mine, and I say yes, it was a gift. He nods and leaves. The interesting thing isn't how weird this moment was, but how uncommon it is here. This is only the second conversation I've had at school about my religion. Most people just don't care, or have assumed I'm one thing and have no reason to think otherwise.
I am curious, however, about what this man must've thought about me before he asked. Perhaps since I'm white he figured I hated Islam, and since I'm American I'm too ignorant to know that Malaysia's a Muslim country. Maybe he was trying to sympathize with me, like "poor kid. He's spending the next six month surrounded by a religion he hates."
Alternatively, maybe he thought I knew Malaysia was Muslim but thought that I wanted to change the entire country to Christianity or Atheism all by my lonesome. He might then realize that there's a chance I'm not just stupid, but also crazy. Or even worse, if I flew 8,000 miles to convert an entire country to Pastafarianism, then there's a chance, however slim that I'm extremely well-funded (maybe by the athe-christ-afarian government?) and charismatic enough to pull it off. Never mind the logistics of trying to convert that many people when they don't want it, Guy-I-Just-Met would at least have to respect that I put a lot of energy into coming over here and that could make me a legitimate threat.
Lastly, he must know that if that really was my plan, there's probably no way I'm just going to come out and tell him that I hate Islam. The athe-christ-afarian government surely must have trained me better than that.
So that makes me think I haven't seen the last of Guy-I-Just-Met. He knows I could've been lying and he wants me to know he knows. And now I know he wants me to know and he knows that too. That question was just to show me that he'll be watching me, and that my athe-christ-afarian government will not succeed in converting Malaysia so easily.
Wait, what if he was my operative in Malaysia? The athe-christ-afarian's reach is long indeed...
PS I have new photos up. They're from Sarah's birthday and the adventures that followed.
Comments
i was so excited to use the freethinker thing, guess its a just another word for Muslim-hater.
thanks for the memo.
I guess the guy-u-just-met was just BS you la.. (sorry for English, years staying in Australia never diluted my roots.. haha)
anyway, about you spreading the atheism idea, it's up to you if you really wanna do it. hey, no compulsion for religion is what I believe (and I am a Muslim).
and about "white-lies", I guess people do it just to survive (but I'm not accusing that you did, ok?)
I did that here when Australians ask me whether I'm a Muslim. And as a Malay Malaysian do look like Indonesian, I just said, "Nope, I'm a Catholic. I'm a Filipino, from Manila".. (kinda scared that they get emotional, especially after the Bali bombings done by those crazy blasphemous lunatics) :)
Just to survive another day..
Thanks a bunch for reading the blog and posting your comments on your experience. It seems pretty common that people don't want to be lumped together with the people in their group that do negative things. I was reluctant to tell people I'm American because I have to explain I'm not Bush.
Sorry if it didn't come across, but I'm not actually trying to spread atheism or anything else. I might be trying to spread the love of roti chenai to people back home, but that'd be about it. Sorry that it's not more available in Australia.