Imaginary dialogue between Thais and Indonesians : ISLAM

Diposting pada January 2, 2010 | Awan: Adventure | oleh : sunu wibirama.

Life as a moslem student in a non-moslem majority country is not-so-easy thing that arises huge interesting experiences. Meanwhile, a lot of moslem people in moslem majority country never (*or yet?) really want to understand about their religion, and how to explain another people about what they belive in. Cross-cultural and cross-religion experiences will be more attractive to read by presenting it as an imaginary dialogue. By talking each other, we will understand how other people think about us and how we think about them. Some parts of the dialogue are real questions and answer happened between us, a foreign Indonesian student and Thais student. Either Indonesians or Thais study in the same institutions. Yet, they have different way to express their believe in God.

Thai (T) : Sawasdee khrap, hi ….peng ngai, Sunu ? (Hello….hi…how are you, Sunu?)

Indonesians (I) : Auw, sawasdee khrap, Pi. Dee khrab, khorb khun na khrab..(Hi…hello, Brother. Fine, thanks!)

T : Have a class today ?

I : Nope. Done it last semester. Just writing thesis now…

T : Nice. Mm……Last night, I saw in the television about some moslem people go to Mecca and do some special praying there. Do you have to go there too?

I : Yep. We call it Hajj. Depends on our condition. But we should make an effort to go there, by saving money of course. You know, it costs quite expensive to go there, especially for me (*laughing).

T : (*laughing) Ah, I see…Good ! But, I think that, why moslem should worship the big black cube there?
I don’t know how to call it…but, it should be easy to you to remember, right?

I : Ah, Yes. It’s called Ka’bah.

T : Kaba? Ka’bah? ….Ok, I know it now.

I : Actually, we don’t worship it. It’s just a mark of direction when we do praying. Have you ever seen me praying in lab ?

T : Yes….yes! You move your hand like this, and like this (*he tried to imitate “takbiratul ihram”).

I : Yes…called Sholat. We don’t worship Ka’bah, actually. We worship our God, Allah. We never mention “Ka’bah” in our praying but “Allah”. So, it’s just a direction where we have to pray in a mosque, or in our room. But if we have to pray on the car, we can pray to any direction.

T : I see. Yes, you ever prayed on the car when we went to Srinakarinvirooj University.

I : Yes, you’re right! It was difficult to find a mosque there. So, I had to pray on the car when we went there.

T : How many times you have to pray in one day?

I : Five times. First, in the beginning of the morning, after we wake up. Approximately 5 o’clock a.m. Second, in the afternoon, start from lunch time until 4 o’clock in the evening. Third, in the evening, start from 4 o’clock until 6 o’clock. Fourth, in the beginning of night, start from 6 o’clock untill 7 o’clock p.m. And finally, before we sleep, start from 7 o’clock untill before the dawn.

T : Wow! Every day?

I : Yes….of course.

T : Why so many? I mean, is it enough if we pray only once or twice per days? Five times are too many, I think.

I : (*laughing….) It worth to do, friend. Just like, why you have to eat three times per day?

T : Feed your body?

I : Yes right! Then praying feeds my soul.

T : I see. It makes sense. Mmm, what about food? You can not eat pork, right?

I : Yes, actually not only pork. Blood, dog, several animals with canine tooth like tiger, or animals which stay in two different natures, like frog and several animals with uneven nails.

T : Hey..what about meat? I mean like cow or chicken?

I : Mm……actually we have special way to kill animal. We should respect the animal, then we have to pray in the names of Allah before we kill them. We also have special ways to kill, which are not to torture them and cut their neck using the sharpest knife. We must not torture animal and have to respect them, that’s the point. That’s why ….you know, moslem people should eat only the Halal meat which comes from proper way to serve. But for seafood, we can eat all you can eat.

T : Sounds not so easy for me. So, it’s okay if you eat seafood ?

I : Yes, of course…..no problem. But don’t put any pork oil into that food. I can not eat them, then….hahaha…….

T : I see…

I : But if you can find any halal shop for me, that’s better.

T : I think, I’ve ever seen halal logo in some moslem shops. But there aren’t lot in Bangkok. You have to seek them in some big department stores like Platinum, Siam Paragon, or MBK.

I : No problem, friend. I’ve gotten some info from my friends. There’re lot at Soi 7, Petchburi Road.

T : Yes. Do you know, if we also have moslem food shop in the front of our campus?

I : Yes, I have gone there several times. Thanks, anyway!

T : So…..would you like to have lunch, now? Py kin kauw hreu pow? (Should we go to eat or not?)

I : Okay, let’s go. Py leei….(Go!)

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