I still don't get why Imams in this country insists on reciting the doa in malay. Is it so hard to recite it in malay or both arabic and malay.
There are two very obvious reasons why we should be reciting our prayers in malay:
1. It is the most understood language around
2. Most muslims in Malaysia do not understand arabic
I discussed the subject with some of my mates a few months back and I was a tad enlightened by some of their opinions. One friend explained an analogy: reciting a doa in a foreign but sacred language is like getting water from a well using a pail that leaks. We may not get the water into the house or could get very little water by the time we reach the house but the pail will be constantly clean.
Interesting. But I would use a less desirable alternative like a worn out tyre to get my water into my house than to carry a heavy pail back and fourth and get no water. Imagine this: I got a painful stomach ache and a very loose motion and there's no water in my kampung house. So off I go to the well to get some water but couldn't because of the leaked pail. Insisting on using any other alternatives, I will inevitably shit in my pants but at least my pail is clean right?
Bull shit!
5 comments:
now... the story has strayed away from the motive. If I wasn't wrong, the pail's story lesson is to tell us if we work diligently, at least you will get something.
Maybe you should pay your bills to make sure your house have a decent water pipes. And as accidents happens, you should prepared your water first... :P
well, IMO it is all about other people's opinion. Eh, not really opinions. It's like what people would say, "what other people would thinks" paranoia etc...
you see, if you are an Imam, and you use Arabic doa (eventhough it is a same script of doa use widely all over Malaysia), people will think that your are "holly-er", "intelligent-er" and "knowledgeable-er"as you can read doa in Arabic like you understand them and can converse well, which majority of your makmum don't know it...
You see, that's why my father force me to remember those doa so that if I became an Imam, I can read them. Still, I'm a rebellious son... XD
afiq, once in awhile i'll come and make some mess here... adei, why did your friends use that kind of analog... it was never intended for people to say ur prayer in arabic... be whatever language it might be... as long as... u the one prayin' understand what u really want... there's no meanin' recitin' doa which u simply memorized without even knowin' a bit of its meanin... ok... likewise... it was never said to have ur child an arabic name or what-so-ever... it was stated to give ur child a good name... be whatever language it is... ok...
am i done talkin' or what...
but still... the pail story is laughable... hehe...
i wonder how it'd be like if christians were still required to recite in latin or hebrew.
my dad questioned the same thing. shouldn't we be taught to memorize the surahs and understand the meaning coherently?
came across your blog from xxeem's.
cheers
i suppose it's because most of the doas in arabic are, well, meant to be arabic, aren't they? some are used because they are the prophet's own traditional supplications, as per hadith records, thus what follows is the consideration that it's better to recite them as they had been worded by the prophet himself, in arabic, than for us to translate them into malay for convenience.
(mind you, just because im suggesting that that is better, it doesn't mean that im also suggesting doing otherwise is wrong - wallahualam).
hmm maybe the problem is not in us not understanding the arabic doa, but rather, in us not making the effort to want to understand the arabic doa. after all, just because the Quran is Arabic, it doesn't mean that it's all the better for us to start reciting Al-Fatihah in malay during solat, eh?
however, with regard to translating even our own little doas (as opposed to narrated word-for-word supplications by the prophet) into arabic, like when we pray for a peaceful Malaysia or 50 As in SPM or a new pet duck, i have to agree that it's somewhat impractical in congregational prayers - if the majority of the makmum don't really know what's being prayed for, then lol, it doesnt make sense that they are supplicating... isn't it?
i mean, there's a reason why local mosques give khutbah in malay, no?
and btw, yup, i do recite my own doa separately from the jamaah sometimes=)
Post a Comment