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I am a Muslim.
I am also the kind of Muslim who walks into other people's places of worship out of curiosity, respect and a genuine desire to understand the people around me.
I have sat in gurdwaras and joined their prayer sessions. I have attended Mass in churches. I have visited Chinese temples, lit candles and incense, and stepped into Hindu temples to experience their rituals and offerings.
I do these things because I want to understand the faiths of the people I share this country with. I want to know what brings them comfort, what gives them hope, and what makes their relationship with their God meaningful to them.
I do not believe that walking into a temple, sitting through a prayer session or accepting a religious offering automatically makes me any less of a Muslim. My faith is not so fragile that it collapses the moment I step into someone else's place of worship.
Which is why I was dumbfounded to read that the Malaysian religious affairs minister, Zulkifli Hasan, has announced an investigation into video recordings allegedly showing a Muslim participating in a non-Islamic religious ritual.
According to the report, the authorities are investigating acts said to involve elements of worship and certain incantations. The minister says the government is committed to preserving the sanctity of Islam.
Since when did preserving the sanctity of a religion require the government to police every Muslim's personal religious experience?
If I choose to visit a church, that is my business. If I sit in a gurdwara and listen to prayers, that is my business too. If I visit a Chinese temple to understand its traditions, I should not have to wonder whether someone is recording me for the authorities.
I am perfectly capable of navigating my own faith without the government holding my hand.
And if I have questions about my religion, I know where to seek answers. I can read about it, consult people I trust, reflect and make my own decisions. I do not need the government treating my curiosity as a potential threat to Islam.
Of course, there is a difference between understanding another religion and adopting its beliefs. There are Islamic teachings about what Muslims may or may not participate in, and Muslims are free to seek guidance on those questions - but religious guidance should not automatically become government surveillance.
Malaysia is a multiracial, multireligious country. We keep talking about mutual understanding, tolerance and living harmoniously with one another. Yet when someone crosses the threshold of another faith's place of worship, we appear ready to ask whether that person has crossed a line.
How are we supposed to understand one another if we are discouraged from experiencing one another's beliefs?
Please-lah, does the government have nothing more urgent to govern?
We have corruption scandals, abuse of power, public funds to protect, and countless questions about accountability. When people entrusted with public office betray that trust, they betray the public and the principles they are supposed to uphold. Surely, that deserves serious attention.
And yes, many people implicated in these cases are Muslims too. If we want to talk about living according to our religious values, honesty, integrity and justice should be part of that conversation.
Why are we so eager to scrutinise a Muslim's encounter with another religion, but so much less enthusiastic about asking whether those entrusted with power are practising the values they profess?
I also wonder whether we have become so accustomed to having a minister for religious affairs that we expect the ministry to find something religious to regulate every other day.
A government can administer religious institutions and enforce the law. But when it starts treating a person's private spiritual journey as something that needs investigating, we should ask where that authority ends.
You can frighten people into keeping their curiosity to themselves. You can make them think twice before entering a place of worship that belongs to another community. You can even make them afraid of being seen doing something that might be misinterpreted.
But does that make their faith stronger? Or does it simply make them more afraid?
I am a Muslim. I have no intention of abandoning my faith. But I also have no intention of closing my eyes to the beautiful things I can learn from people of other faiths.
My faith is mine to practise, reflect on and strengthen. It is not a public relations exercise for the government, nor is it a box that needs to be ticked every time someone wants to prove that the authorities are doing something.
So, dear government, please-lah. There are plenty of things in this country that need your attention. Leave my spiritual curiosity alone.
If my faith cannot withstand a visit to someone else's house of worship, perhaps the question we should be asking is not why I went there.
Perhaps we should be asking why anyone is so afraid of me going.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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