The Mistaken Identification of Islam from Origins of Language and Culture

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ecently a baby was named Ian that means "God's graciousness". Ian is Aramaic. Arabic is the subset of Aramaic. The parent of this baby received some negative comments claiming that the name is not Islamic. If they think Arabic is Islamic, and Arabic is a derivation of Aramaic, then why wouldn't Ian claim its status as Islamic? Please people, don't give me the bullshit about not being Islamic. True, Ian is an Irish popular name. So what? I love U2! My point is race or language cannot be conclusive when determining religious conclusions. There are many Muslims from all corners of the Earth ranging from the Caucasians in the West to the Chinese in the East.

What is Islamic? When Idris became the second prophet after Adam; Islam, Christianity or Judaism weren't around yet and there were certainly no races established yet because he (Idris) was from the first few generations of humans. So what makes Idris more Islamic than Ian? For that matter, same applies to Adam, Nuh and Salleh. These are some of the names of prophets mentioned in the Quran which are perceived to be Islamic. It is perceived to be Islamic because they are believed to be Arabic. Whilst the Arabic slang resulted in those names to be pronounced as such, their origins are way before the Arab race or language were established.

Other names which are widely used by Malay Muslims are in fact not Arabic in its origins; such as: Musa (Hebrew), Isa (Hebrew), Daniel (Hebrew), Sulaiman (Hebrew), Daud (Hebrew), Ishak (Hebrew), Elyas (Hebrew), Ibrahim (Mesopotamian), Iskandar Dzulkarnain (Macedonian) and many other names perceived by the Malays to be Islamic. I can be called Jesus but still be a Muslim. In fact, some Malay names such as Johan, is not even Arabic or Muslim. It's probably German or Hebrew. Bottom line is Arabic and Malay, from language perspective, does not equate to Islam. We must not let cultural ambiguity to dictate religious conclusion.

If a Chinese or Indian or any race for that matter converts to Islam, it is perfectly fine for them to continue to use their existing name. I am sure there are many Chongs, Lees or Yothu Yindies of this world who embraced Islam still use their original birth names. Perhaps we should all go to mainland China and start talking to the Chinese in the numerous mosques that they have there. The mosque itself would probably not look Islamic and may look like a temple such as the one in the photo (Xian Mosque in China). Do you know that the Moorish architecture of domes was actually used for churches before the Muslims used it for mosques?

If we analyse our daily lives, there are so many examples of why we shouldn't mistaken the identification of Islam from origins culture. If I wear a tie and a coat to the mosque, would I be labeled as non-Islamic? If I say "Allah, help me" in English, would Almighty Allah deny me his attention? In fact, many Malays don't even know the meaning of those Arabic words that they utter when they pray. What is important that the heart must embrace Islam. Perhaps Allah has His own reasons why he made an Arab to be the last prophet. Had He made the last prophet from the Fu Chian region of China, Hokkien would have been the ultimate language perceived to be Islamic instead of Arabic. Only God knows what language Adam spoke when he (Adam) communicated with Him (God), the angels, Eve or even Satan.




* kopihangtuah



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