Boys, Pedophiles and Improving our Islam

"Ko dengar tak pasal kes paderi molest budak tu baru baru ni?" Imran asked me during a typical mamak outing.

"Cerita lama tu Im, bukan lama 10 tahun lepas tapi dah beratus-ratus tahun dah." I was not amused. Cerita lama.

"Tu ah bagus pasal Islam yek? Kita mana ada benda-benda macam ni." He snorted.

I fixed my gaze from my saliva inducing tosay cheese to his sneering eyes. "Hah?"

"Aku kata dalam Islam mana ada kes-kes pedophile."

"Yang kau dengar memanglah tak ada. Tapi pedophilia ni tak ikut agama. Selagi ada sexual repression, selagi itulah ada pedophilia."

He knew something was up and had an apolegetic look on his face. Maybe it was because I was trying my best to not tell him my personal experience with pedophiles but I'm sure it was because I lost my appetite. Afiq abandoning something laced with cheese? Impossible!

I open my iPod and key in the kedai mamak's wifi password "feelgood" and searched for 'Dancing Boys'. Sure enough, youtube shorlisted the video I intended to find. I showed the video to him.



There are many other hidden pedophile practice in muslim countries, Afghanistan is certainly not the only one.
Imran gawked.
That's life, you know. It's good to be idealistic about Islam and say that our country will be so much better if we follow our perception of the fundametal Islam. It's also not uncommon for young adults like me to believe that if we follow Islam to the latter without the interference of today's 'modern' thinking, we will achieve a second Renaissance.
So heck, believe what you want. There never was a first Renaissance if you ask me.
I just know that no practiced religions are perfect because we the followers are deeply and eternally flawed. It's the hard truth that I learned early in my life. Islam is perfect. But your Islam is not and neither is mine. So it is perfectly OKAY to improve our Islam.

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