I am sorry I have been away again from this blog. I have been busy dividing my day between client work and a new short film entitled Prayer.Prayer is a my own personal response to how sad the state of affairs is in my country; a country that is quick to declare religious tolerance in its tourism brochures and yet it has, in the span of a year, demonstrated its intolerance on more than one occasion.
I respect Islam. How can I not when many of my friends are of the Islamic faith. In fact, Muslim law considers Jews and Christians 'protected people'(dhimmi)and does not encourage their conversion to Islam. Muslim persecution of the dhimmi was not only forbidden by Islamic law; the Prophet also warned: 'He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have me as his accuser on the day of Judgement!'
So how can the modern, educated, so-called peace-loving Muslims in my country be so ignorant as to torch a church over the Christians' use of the word Allah. Do they not know the word Allah is derived from the word al - 'the' and ilāh - 'God'? Allah simply means 'The God'. I am not picking on all Muslims, mind you. The Catholic faith has had, through the centuries, it's fair share of faults. It's just very sad to me that many are quick to be outraged and slow to learn about their religion and to actually pray.When I asked a close Muslim friend of mine what she thinks of Jesus, she answered: 'I will not be a good Muslim if I don't respect Jesus for he is a prophet in Islam.' I teared immediately at her answer.
So what is my short film prayer about? Am I trying to provoke people?When asked, I tell people that my new short film is about 'a ten year old girl going on jihad'. Almost immediately, I can see a weird expression on their face. To them, I may as well have said 'ten year old suicide bomber!' and admit to being the next Namewee. Somehow the word Jihad is synonymous with Terrorist. Actually the true meaning of the word Jihad means 'religious struggle'. Something I go through everyday as a Catholic, and something any God fearing person of any religion should go through in their journey of faith.
Insya-Allah, my new film prayer will provoke people... provoke them in a good way, and inspire them to pray for peace, hope and love. I think our country Malaysia desperately needs it.
