Bismillahirrahmanirahim

I am re-posting something a brother wrote

The constantly recurring question on the impossibility of assimilation between Malay culture and Islamic principles is indeed perplexing. This is not merely due to the in-depth content that the debate has produced; however to the contrary, it is indeed vastly due to the lack of knowledge and research from both “warring parties” that have caused such a superficial and tiring debate.

A recent article published on Berita Harian: “Orang Melayu Keliru” on the Eidul Fitri certainly seems to prove this point. The main argument by the writer was the encroachment of the Malay cultural celebration that has seemingly “colluded” the spirit of Eidul Fitri which according to the author is an entirely Islamic affair. As such, the author seems to draw a line distinguishing the Malay cultural and Islamic matters.

One wonders if the author ever studied usul fiqh prior to asserting such a conclusion. Any novice or student of usul fiqh would have understood that cultural practice or “uruf” is amongst the factors in developing Islamic legislation and practices.

Furthermore, Yusuf Qardawi distinctly mentions that the “basic asl refers to the permissible of all things” in one of his important work “al Haram wal Halal fil Islam”.

According to al Qaradawi: “The first asl, or principle, established by Islam is that the things which Allah has created and the benefits derived from them are essentially for man’s use, and hence are permissible. Nothing is haram except what is prohibited by a sound and explicit nas from the Law-Giver, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. If the nas is not sound, as for example in the case of a weak hadith, or if it is not explicit in stating the prohibition, the original principle of permissibility applies.”

He carries on to add: “I would like to emphasize here that the principle of natural permissibility is not only limited to things and objects but also includes all human actions and behaviour not related to acts of worship, which may be termed living habits or day-to-day affairs. Here again, the principle is that these are allowed without restriction, with the exception of a small number of things which are definitely prohibited by the Law-Giver, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, Who says: …He (Allah) has explained to you what He has made haram for you…. (6:119) including both objects and actions.”

Therefore, it is quite clear that cultural practices are not only permissible but crucial in the development of the Islamic legislation.

Malay cultural societies

Another issue that arise out of this debate is the inability of student or advocacy groups that supports the development or preservation of Malay culture to see things from an Islamic point of view or to allow anything Islamic into their initiatives or program. Many would claim that being a Malay cultural group would hence have agendas that are not similar to a Muslim organisation.

The excuses typically given seems to suggest that advocates of Malay culture are not able to analyse deep enough of the already existing developmental values in the Malay cultural heritage. Values towards betterment on prosperity of the individual and the collective groups or community (which by the way are agendas crucial in Islam) are as a matter of fact literally littered within Malay literature!

In most cases also, cultural advocates seems to narrow down Malay culture to a very few applications such as drama (which is really a Western expression), “dikir barat” and “tarian”.

As a result, Malay cultural expressions in the form of “pantun”, “sajak”, “syair” and “penulisan” which in the past were expressions of a call to action towards personal and communal development seems to be absent in the agenda of cultural advocates. This is sad since essentially, these are form of expressions that are rich of da’wah motivations.

Even the rich Malay literature contains important material of discussions revolving around values and principles. The classic legend on Hang Tuah killing Hang Jebat is a typical example. Learning or discussion that could be derive from it includes important question on “Right and Wrong”, loyalty and betrayal. The satires of Pak Pandir are also an expression that aims to point out the maladies faced by some portions of the Malays.

Moving forward

Malay cultural groups need to be less superficial and begin to see things from a more in-depth point of view. In doing so, they will begin to see that the Malay culture has indeed many commonalities with Islamic values and principles. Hence, this will incubate plenty more collaborations that would be able to serve as “vehicles” towards personal and communal betterment.

Wallahua’lam