Friday, August 11, 2006


What would you do?

He looked expectantly at me, holding out his hand.
"Hi, I'm Daniel."

In that split second, my decision had been made:

"I'm sorry, Daniel, but I don't shake hands with guys," I said, with what I hoped was not a sheepish smile.

To my relief, he blinked and followed that little stumble with a wide smile. "Oh, that's okay."

After graciously thanking him for finding my mobile (alhamdulillah, ya Rabb), I made my way back to Frank Tate (the building) and into the musolla, rushing to make it for Zohor prayers.

This wasn't the first time I had been faced with such an awkward position. Both times, I had really asked for it, quite literally. It is, after all, a new semester, and making new friends is only to be expected. In tutes and pracs, you're bound to make a new acquaintance, and in some places (such as Management tute and Genetics prac), there will be the traditional ice-breaking session.

Most people sort of understand what being Muslim and wearing the hijab entails. Some non-Muslim guys even go to the extent of not really looking to talk to you unless necessary. That's something that stil strikes me as profound - that people who are not Muslims can understand what being Muslim means, and that they understand better than some of my Muslims peers (maybe I'm talking about guys, in specifics) how to communicate with a Muslim girl.

Tundukkan pandangan, jangan cakap selagi tak perlu, no langgar-langgar, flirting mana boleh, no tepuk-tampar, sila buka pintu dan beri laluan.

They really, really get it.

But still, some of them may not know that there are boundaries set in Islam, between men and women. Maybe they feel we fought our way into uni, just to 'liberate ourselves'. Who knows? :)

Allahu'alam.

Thing is, though, what do you do when, during a sesi berkenal-kenalan, especially with non-Muslims and mat sallehs, a guy comes up to you and puts out his hand as a friendly gesture?

Do you curse the Imperialists who spread this unhygienic means of establishing relationships (do you KNOW how many kinds of bacteria you nurture on your palms' sweat glands)?

Do you pretend not to look (as what some of my friends have done - never fails to make me smile at the thought)?

Or do you politely say to them,
"I don't believe in shaking hands with guys." And hold your palm up as a sign of semi-apology?

I opt for the last one.

Maybe opt is the wrong word to use, since I do it without even having to mull it over for very long. MasyaAllah, I truly never halt before stating that particular stand of mine. Alhamdulillah.

But some of my female Muslims friends from Malaysia are like, "Whoa. Serious lah."

And I'm all, "Uh. Yah. Habis tu, nak buat apa? I have to stand up for what I believe in. And help them understand."

Although it did bug me that a former prac-table-mate rephrased my words (as above) into, "Oh, you CAN'T shake hands with guys. Yeah, cool."

I didn't bother correcting him, since I had other things to worry about, and he already seemed to be unable to hear me anyway.

But like one of my 'big' sisters said, being a Muslim is more than just stating the shahadatain and wearing the hijab and asking for permission from your lecturer to go for prayers.

Being a Muslim means rejecting everything that is not beneficial. That includes everything unIslamic.

Am I making sense here?

Being a Muslim means that you cannot wear the hijab and smoke/drink (you know what I mean)/go clubbing/date. You cannot go to rock concerts with your girlfriend, and then come back and give a lecture on tauhid, with your kufi on.

Islam permits no hypocrisy. Because even people who don't really know what Islam is all about, knows that doing all that just ain't right, man.

You either live as a Muslim, or you live as the 'other'.

It's as simple as that.

We talk about dakwah as if it is such a big deal. But the smallest form of dakwah we can do is to live as a Muslim, and show other people, unconsciously, what Islam is all about - that it is beautiful, and made fit-to-form for all human beings, regardless of background, nationality, etc.

Islam does away with all conflicts of mind and heart. And most of the headaches that beleagure the troubled mind.

Because Allah loves us just that much, see.

And even if that Love is pretty hard to repay, we have to try.

So what would you do?

Wassalamualaikum.

this has been a rant by Syazwina Saw at 4:33 pm

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