Sunday, April 1, 2012

My buddy Allah



so today’s topic is religion! Very sensitive topic so I’ll try to be gentle.

On the beginning of our year in Indonesia we had a dilemma. Dilemma was pretty clear and it was about religion in Indonesia. Hinduism was much more attractive for us than Islam so we tried to go to the only Hindu place in Indonesia > Bali. But many, many people applied for the scholarship we got scared and we really wanted to go somewhere so we picked a place nobody wanted to go to. Sumatra. And Sumatra is one of the most orthodox and one of the strongest Muslim places in Indonesia. So we tried to avoid Islam and ended up in Sumatra. Makes no sense huh?

I haven’t made up my mind in the question of religion. I don’t like radical atheist because i find it as narrow-minded as following something you don’t understand. To say that believing is the result of brainwash is nonsense, even though some f***heads made it a great business. I’m not talking about that kind of religion, i leave the church as it is and leave everyone with their own opinion. Like Gandhi said: „I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” But after all i see myself as an atheist, not particularly proud of it.

We all know urban myths about Islam and to tell you the truth I had kind of twisted view of Islam before. Islam has a huge problem in the world. The problem is that it’s not understood. Even Muslim people don’t understand Islam properly. It’s not about extreme ideas but keeping people in big ignorance and kind of a fear.

Sometimes we get this feeling that fear is a big influence in every day’s Muslim life. I have a feeling that most of the restrictions they obey are because they are afraid (we pretty much do the same, don’t we). It doesn’t matter if they fear Allah, their parents or Ku Klux Klan, this fear keeps them obedient and everyone likes that. They don’t know they can do this and that and that half of the restrictions don’t make any sense and its futile explaining that to them. It’s essential to realize that we are in their country so we shouldn’t feed them with our western „knowledge“.

How do we feel Islam?
Well, one thing is what we call „Allah time“. It’s several times a day and its basically praying time. You can hear it all around the city in many, many mosques. Why Allah time? Because the Dj starts the beat, mc starts to rap and everyone begins to breakdance on the rugs. The first Allah time of the day starts at 4:30 am.

Except that we have these sexual restrictions. It seems like nobody has sex in this place unless married. Girls are not allowed in boys houses and vice versa, most of the girls are covered, and the topic of sex is greatly tabooed. It’s very funny. When you talk about sex they start to giggle and act like we acted when we were 14 years old.

It’s not easy to write about religion. It affects too many people and sometimes you just don’t know what can be disrespectful. That’s why I hope it was acceptable and clear enough.

Keep posted and see ya next time.

5 comments:

  1. I think its crazy how places are soooo different mainly because of some story books lol ;D nah but seriously it is
    Lol at allah time, dj start that beat!!!!!! wubwubwub

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  2. >nobody has sex in this place unless married

    It should be everywhere.

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  3. It's always so facinating to find out about other cultures, hopefully one day i'll be able to afford to visit all these awesome places.

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  4. what about that practice they call tantra? or its another place?

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