Straight From The Heart.

UPDATE: As Cikgu mentioned, I have tagged 2 people. One of them I am not at liberty to mention now as she is rather preoccupied with her job, but the other...please do visit miqdad, he has a beautiful entry on 'Muhibah'.

At the same time, I would like to add a further 2 - just as Cikgu did; Pak Mior and Accia.

*****

Have you seen those simple Petronas Public Message Service where they asked primary schoolchildren what they think of their friends (of different races)? I like those PMS, and the message they are trying to put across. Those children, just as we once were, are colour blind. In fact, we still are to some extent. It is only the fear we have of the unknown, or the fear that was instilled in us, have caused us to be wary and cautious of people of different skin colour. Perhaps, even that is not correct as we have dark Malay, pink Malay, fair Malay and brown Malay. The same goes for the Chinese and Indians though to much lesser degree. So what is Muhibah? Honestly, I don't know!

I have lived all my life mixing with people of different ethnic background, skin colour and beliefs, the only difference I really see is in their belief to God.

One of Turkish greatest known figures of the past is Suleyman The Great, or Suleyman The Magnificent, as some would call him. He lived in the pomposity of the royal courts but had a slave boy who became his best friend and confidant, and later his best general. Yet the boy was not a Muslim during their years of growing up. And still, they forged a bond that was stronger than a friendship - each with mutual respect for the other.

Take Kublai Khan and Marco Polo; the former almost revere the latter to such an extent Marco Polo was the only European to be allowed free passage to any parts of China. Yet, they were of different skin colour, tongue and even belief!

Where am I going? Honestly, I have no clue at all! But I do know Muhibah, for what ever the word means, is basically about understanding and respect for one another irrespective of race or belief. It is not, as the politicians would make us believe, something that exist between races. It is something, which I would like to believe, that exist between one human and another.

I don't know. I have tried writing and rewriting but still have no clue to what Muhibah is. Without wanting to sound pious, perhaps I can draw inspiration from surah Al Kafirun. Though this surah is with regards between a believer and a non-believer, it clearly outlines the difference that will always be within one human and another, and that respect should be accorded to each belief. I guess that's it as I am certainly no philosopher.

Islam, by the way, cuts through all racial barriers and skin tone. Perhaps a hadith is proper here, though you must forgive me for I have forgotten the source: A child is like a white cloth. It is you who will give colour to the cloth. As with a child, so it is with society.