Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Hijab: Form vs Substance


I had seen their sisters in one of our hospitals before. They were not banned. Nobody in his right mind would see their head scarves in religious terms. In India where they originate they are seen as Indian. These women are better known for what they do (substance) than how they appear (form)

All the major religions have this challenge: too much form and too little substance.

There is a global Islamic Revival. The older folks especially LKY's generation sense it more acutely when they compare the Muslims of their youth and now. Religious revivals always make people who are not adherents nervous. The process seems to be accelerating as moderates are beating retreat to the advance of rediscovered Islam. Yes, such revivals are never new. They are always presented as returning to the roots, to truth. They are irresistible or why would outsiders fear them otherwise.






  • Ab Kareem Khadaied Mr Yaa cob. I read yr post. Basically muslim Singaporean is only deserve to claim what is their rights.their constitutional rights. What u are saying is that the Prime Minister and your cabinet partners is not ready to uphold and honour their pledge to honour protect and preserve the constitution.

    The message that u are sending is that the singapore govt is handpicking what to honour in law. U choose what to honour n what to discard.
    The arguement that singapore needs time must surely be a lame excuse.
    Did the government ask singaporean before u brought in all those new residents. Did u ask the malays before u bring in chinese students from malaysia for more than 15 yrs.

    When malay want to excercise their constutional rights u ask for patience n tolerance. Of what?
    Like · Reply · 71 · 9 hours ago via mobile

71 likes.

  • Wanfatam Kakwan Cut the crap...hijab is a must...if the government forbid us...we still wear hijab..we have faith in our god..we dont have any faith in this kind of government..i dont give a damn on what i should wear or not..for me religion comes first..nothing..i mean nothing can overwrite it..if the mufti failed to convince the government..so let it be..if we still wear hijab..what can the authority do..jail us..shoot us..fine us..we dont even care..this is our right n to protect it os jihad..so as for me ..i ll stick to my religion..
    Like · Reply · 39 · 9 hours ago via mobile

39 likes

  • Nurulhuda Binti Mohammad The time will come when we should stop using the term malay muslim and identify ourselves as malay. Theres malay muslims, malay hindus, malay christians, malay buddhist.....all are malay in their own right. Not all malays are muslims remember that.
    Like · Reply · 67 · 10 hours ago

67 likes

More and more Muslim women wants to wear the hijab. If we refuse to allow them in our uniformed services and the frontline staff of our public service then the saddest thing could be not that they would be assertive but they would stop applying for those jobs. It is reasonable to think that some would switch jobs to those that permit the hijab.

On the other hand there is another problem. The quiescent majority might begin to verbalize their anxiety if we fail to draw them out and engage them in discussing this issue. Right now they assume the government would not bend. I agree with the PM's approach of constructive engagement but again I give him and Yaacob an F for communication. They must seize the initiative and respond quickly and clearly.

By and large people here take our religious and racial harmony for granted. Will not be pretty when they suddenly become alarmed. Yes Yaacob, what were you doing? Letting the ball drop again eh?

  • Elias Lye By the way, Dr Yaacob, next time don't need to wait till there's a big hoo ha. You should have taken your own initiative to bring this up. You are the minister of muslim affairs for a reason and it's not like you're not paid.
    Like · Reply · 34 · 9 hours ago via mobile

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Go ahead wear the hijab (Form) and wear it with a smile at all times too (Substance) seizing every opportunity for good works. The Taleban needs an opposite and equal response. Mas Selamat need it as much too.

But the non-believing public need to truly understand what this is all about. Then we would take our religious harmony to the next level. In this way whilst it appear we are shrinking our common space we are also enlarging it as well. Other societies fight over form but let's engage in jihad over substance. This is the spirit of the Gospel. You win by meeting the irresistible with irresistible, by fighting form with substance.

Update: 7:15 am

Two examples from the WSJ email I got this morning. All form and no substance.




1 comment:

  1. I do not see any harm in allowing Muslim women to wear the hijab unless it affects their job. Let them have their hijab but explain it clearly to non Muslims to prevent any misunderstanding.

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