Why this and why that....

I had dinner with DZ, TITS and AO last night.

These are pople with a lot of passions and have significant achievements in their lives. DZ's book was a best seller, and TITS's work was nominated for the prestigious Aga Khan Award of Architecture. (except for me, I am no where). They could be quite eccentric at times, but, they are my inspirations.

I can spend hours with this bunch. They are my close friends and it is always refreshing, to a certain extend quite intriguing.

I like people with a lot of (analytical) questions and I am blessed with quite a few. I am one of them. I will ask questions, why this and why that, especially to older people who I have the privilege to be in touch with.

We were talking about tudung (among others) and how our very own Muslim (Melayu) approach the matter. I have seen girls with tudungs but the only "religious" thing about them is just the tudung. If you observe their mannerism, the rest of their dresses are not quite religious. I can't say they dress conservatively as what the religion teaches us to be.

I am sorry, I am not generalizing here. There are several lady members of my family are covered, by the way.

This issue is perceived to be very complicated, which I think in actual fact is NOT. We just have to open our mind and look at the bigger picture on what is meant by dressing conservatively.

Most Malays' (born Muslims) perspectives on our religion are very narrow (boy, am I going to be in trouble, but I don't care, it's my freaking blog). We are missing a lot of points in our lives because we are so confined strongly to our culture and what our ustazs (sometimes makes me wonder whether they actually have the right skills to teach because all they talk about are punishments and hell).

How can our religion be a great religion if we can't even think globally.

People might think I am too liberal. As for me, I don't care if KW (my crazy Chinese friend) is having bakuteh while I have my very own halal food on the same dining table. So, what!

Out of curiosity, I sms-ed DS asking him about any ayat (Quranic verses) that says a woman will be burnt in hell if they expose just three strands of their hair.

His answer (which I always like!) was:

"No such ayat. Only during prayer is covering of hair strictly observed. If a few strands come, the ALL KNOWER and COMPASSIONATE is NOT going to be a tyrant all of a sudden."




Now I can sleep better.

Good nite everybody. Its Ramadhan.