Makan tghari

We had this conversation during lunch time yesterday. Nothing remarkable but I wish I could have answered smarter and more detailed (bil hikmah, that is). Haih. And since this is like really long, and ok segan pulak tibe2, so more posts coming up shortly. Haha.

First session there were only me and Helen.
Ah are you a vegetarian?
Eh no. Why
No because. I don't see any meats on your plate so I'm just assuming. And there's a lot of veges there as well, so.. Hehe
Ooh. I don't really eat vegetables, in fact. Hehe
But why didn't you take meats instead?
Ohh. You see, I'm a Muslim right. We don't eat just any meats. We eat hmm a special kind of meats.
Ah how special is your meat I wonder. Is it any different than what I have here?
Have you heard of the word halal?
Yeah
Okay so I only eat halal food, especially meats we have a special way of slaughtering the cows. Or chickens.
Oh I see. Yeah2 like in some Lebanese or Indian shops here I always see the word halal.
Yeah2.
So your a Muslim. Do you really believe what your religion says or you just follow your parents?
Haha of course I believe what it says
All of it?
Yeah
Ohh. I mean don't you like need to verify, you know like the proof. You don't see your God right.
Hm. No you just need to have faith, I guess? When you have faith you won't have to come so far and so hard to verify if it exists or not. Like you believe it's there, even if you don't see it. Not everything is tangible you see.
Ahh hm right2. You muslims are so intensed right.
Oh haha what do you mean.
I mean like you have to pray many times a day like during early morning you have to wake up to pray.
Oh haha yeah we do. It's 5 times a day, in fact.
Like when I was in Dubai you know when Emirates just bought our simulators last time
Aha
I think it was like way early in the morning I couldn't remember what time. And I was sleeping. And I heard like the call to your prayers and I was like agghh I wanna sleep please! You know, haha.
Yeah2 but we've grown used to that so.. But hey otherwise how do we know when to pray right. Haha
Ohh. But it's kinda rare to see young generations still practise their religion. I mean look around you. Nobody bothers to go to church every Sunday anymore.
Oh haha yeah. I mean for me, it depends I guess. Like my parents been observing Islam since i was small so it's like, it's odd to not have to practise. If you know what I'm saying. And I like what I'm doing as well, so win-win heh.
Good for you. So you believe in Moses? You know the guy who split the ocean.
Ah you know him? Yeah we do, he's one of our prophets.
Oh so how many prophets do you have.
Hm let's see. We have like few hundreds of them but we only need to know like 25 of them.
Jesus is your prophet too right.
Yeah.
And I heard like there's another one coming. Is it true?
No. Actually after Jesus there's a last one, if you heard the name Muhammad. But he showed up like 14 hundred years ago so yeah we don't have or wait for another prophet after him.
Muhammad? Oo 14 hundred is long ago. Where did he show up?
He was born in Saudi Arabia so he spread Islam from there.
Oo so what did he do back then? Any miracles or magics he brought?
He spread Islam. Actually he was the one who introduced Islam. And in fact I am a muslim now because of the message he spread. So it's a kind of miracle I guess? Like ok how amazing 14 hundred years later people still follow what he preached.

Later Jean-Marc (JM) and Bob joined us. They continued speaking French with each other and suddenly JM said in english (I know they're talking to me if they're speaking in english).
JM: You know in Algeria or Saudi Arabia or some arab countries when they ask you what do you believe in? And when you say err I don't believe in anything they will look at you like some aliens.
Oh haha why's that?
JM: Because for them it's like a taboo when you don't hold on to something. You know. Doesn't matter if you believe in Jesus or anything, as long as you have a belief then your good to go. I've been in Algeria last time.
Helen: Yeah I think religion shapes up morality. Because when you are religious, you have moral. (cey somehow I feel like she's referring to me cey la tapi perasan kejap)
Oh ha yeah couldn't agree more.
Helen: So Bob what's your religion.
Bob: I'm half Muslim, half Christian.
Helen: Who's the Muslim?
Bob: My dad is, then he married my mom who's a Christian.
Helen: So who picked sides. Like one of them has to pick one religion for both right.
Bob: Ah no, my dad never practises anyway. And so does my mom. So we the kids are like, haha, end up not very religious I would say.
JM what do you believe in?
JM: I believe there's a greater power out there but I definitely don't believe in what they preach in churches. Like they are so hypocrit one second they say love thy children the next second they're caught redhanded molesting the kids. I mean what the hell?
Haha okk they were?
JM: Haha yeah you never know.
Helen: Naaiemah what's the difference between Muslim and Muslim man?
Oh it's actually the same thing. Like for me, my religion is Islam. And the one practising Islam, like me, I'm called a Muslim. Which is the same as Muslim man. You know, muslim, and a man.
Helen: Ah I see. And your god is what, Ala something.
Oh it's Allah.
Helen: Yeah

And Helen continuously looking puzzled, told us she had a meeting and dashed away. We talked a lot more about something else earlier. But the thing I noticed about her is, she knows quite much about our prophets except Muhammad saw. And she looked eager to know. Which is good, I guess. And we talked about the Jewish as well earlier which I don't know much about, and she does more than me. Haih segannye. So mcm kene banyak bace lagi pasnih.

And JM, the way he talked (the face expression and the tone) clearly showed he's a real believer. I guess. He knows there's a greater power out there but how could he not be able to define what the greater power is?

Besarnye tanggungjawab.

May Allah guide them.