Hari Raya Aidilfitri observations

Today is Hari Raya Aidilfitri - a celebration by the Muslims that lasts for 30 days after they have fasted for 30 days from sun up to sun down. In Singapore, the Muslims are predominately Malays.

The Muslims will be out in their Raya best clothes. They would usually be dressed in the same coloured outfits - yes - parents and kids in clothes sewed from the same bolt of material. Each family would be dressed in the same colour, and when they gather in different homes - there would be a myriad of colours. I think this phenomena is more prevalent in Singapore rather than Malaysia.

Some time back, a Muslim girlfriend of mine Gima and I were discussing names of people. Gima had informed me that a Muslim convert should use their new Muslim name as there was signficance in name. For want of a better example, when Cat Stevens (a stage name) became a Muslim, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and should forsake his real Greek name Steven Demetre Georgiou. Otherwise a person name Tan Ah Kow could now be name Abdullah Tan or Abdullah Ah Kow to signify his new religion and status.

Gima's reasoning for this was that Yusuf Islam would be a name that has a deeper meaning. Gima also mentioned that other names didn't have any significant meaning either and only Malay or Muslim names were significant.

I told her that she was shallow in her observations. I also told her that there were names that were significant in Islam that are also significant in Christianity. So names like Moses and John become Musa and Johan in Islam or Malay.

Then I told her that some families could trace their lineage or ancestry or geneology by the centuries - in my family, our ancestral home still exists in the village and there is a person who records the names of the people. So this was a case of "Roots" by Alex Hayley or Kunta Kinte being practised by family historians.

I asked Gima if she knew the name of her great-grandfather or the origins of her family - which village they come from or their ancestry. She sheepishly admitted that she only knew up to her grandfather because she knew her father's name. Alamak - susah lah ini orang!! Dia semacam katak di bawah tempurung!!!

So I told Gima about the families who dressed in clothes that were sewed from the same bolt of material - they had to be in the same clothes to be identified as "se keluarga dan sama sedarah" because of their lack of a surname.

I do pray for my Muslim girlfriend to open her eyes and her mind to being part of a larger society and not deem or think that there is only one path which she feels is the only way.