Of Setting Good Examples

This is a true story.

A Malaysian woman married a English man, and her being muslim, the man, of course, converted to Islam and the newlyweds moved to UK to start a new life. The early years were wonderful for them. The man was a good convert. Sure, he converted for love and marriage, but he became a good muslim. He prayed five times a day, fasted during Ramadhan and took good care of his wife. HE WAS A GOOD MUSLIM.

And then they came back to Malaysia, because he was on a business trip. As customary with business trips, he had to entertain some clients at a bar. He wasn't going to drink. He didn't drink. After all, he was a good muslim.

At the entrance to the bar, he noticed some Malay men walking in. A few had been sent by what looked like their wives, judging by the fact that they salam-ed the husbands before they went off.

And then what did the men do? They walked into the bar, where there were several callgirls waiting. They each chose one callgirl, sat down, ordered more alcohol than most of the other tables which were filled with non-muslims, and, according to his words "did very very disgusting things with the girls".

He came home furious. And told his wife "I'm not doing anything you tell me to do in Islam anymore!"

She was shocked and wanted to know why. So he told her what he saw, and he said "I don't want to become like those men"

Sure, you could say that these men are the minority and that he should know better than to think he would become like them. You could tell him that there are good and bad muslims, that he should strive to be like the good ones, not neglect the religion just because a few bad apples decided to be idiots.

But the fact remains. He was a good muslim. And then he saw the born-muslims commit those sinful, disgusting acts. These same men probably pray 5 times a day, and fast (or at least pretend to) during Ramadhan. I mean, why not? I've seen people who never fail to pray when they're supposed to and preach and preach and preach and then turn around, go to clubs and drink to their heart's content. So why not? And the fact remains that this man did not want to be like these born muslims.

And so he stopped praying. Stopped fasting. Stopped being a good muslim.

Talk about setting good examples.

disclaimer: this post has nothing to do with me agreeing to the non-muslim lifestyle. I'm a proud and practicing muslim. I try my best to pray 5 times a day, I don't drink, I don't eat pork.

All I'm trying to say here is that if we want others to understand our religion and want to know more about it, we have to show a better example, lest we turn more people off.