Isma (or Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia) have once again decided that the country must know how batty and bigoted this group of so-called Malaysian Muslims are!
On Friday, they came out with a statement proclaiming that “moderation” – or in their words, “liberalism, pluralism, feminism, freedom of speech, human rights, LGBT and Christianisation – will lead to sins!
Then on Sunday, they raised the voice of provocation by saying Malays should not wish Christians “Merry Christmas” and celebrate along with them.
According to Isma activist Abu Ameen, this is not permissible under Islam.
He explained: “It is an integral part of our faith to reject celebrations that have not been prescribed and/or that have a basis in falsehood, as inevitably they lead to misguidance and alterations in faith, as has happened in Christianity”.
He added that as Muslims, they can show there is a better way of life for all mankind to experience peace – not by kissing under the mistletoe or visiting Santa, but instead by embracing Islam.
The poor man cannot differentiate between Christmas traditions and Christian beliefs.
But he did suggest that Christmas is an even better time to conduct da’wah (preaching). Is he going to suggest to Muslims to park themselves in churches and start evangelizing to Christians?
Anyway, don’t be surprised if there are Muslims who are getting ready to lock themselves in, in their own homes during the twelve days of Christmas!
Yesterday, I reached another Toastmasters milestone. I participated in 250 regular Toastmasters meetings in 356 days and delivering 103 project speeches. Of the one hundred and three speeches I had done, 14 were Advanced speeches and 89 were CC speeches. I should be in the Malaysian Book of Records!
And there are nine days more to go before 2014 ends.
And there are nine days more to go before 2014 ends.
Last evening I was at the Sime Darby Healthcare Toastmasters meeting and I was the invocation presenter. In fact the room we were having the meeting was special because it also served as the venue for my very first contest that I participated in when I first joined Toastmasters nearly six-and-a-half years ago. I remembered it clearly – it was an Area contest under Division C. Of course I didn’t progress beyond Area level.
Today I have reached District level (i.e. 2013-2014 representing Division G) but I know I still have a long way to go. I guess this is really life-long learning.
My appreciation to Dr Lim Chooi Peng for introducing me to Toastmasters and Lee Wei Seong (formerly D’Utama Advanced) for starting my journey as a Toastmaster.
Indeed, I have much to be thankful for.
Photos of yesterday’s meeting:
No comments:
Post a Comment