3/24: Conversations

Zuriani said she would take me to the Vietnamese embassy today, and to meet her in the lobby at 2PM. there, I found two other women sitting with Zuriani, and we all piled into the school van. After a while I realized that it must be improper for Zuriani to go somewhere with me "unescorted," thus, all four of us went to the embassy.

After the embassy, we went to Petronas Towers for lunch. As we were walking through the mall, we passed a Western woman in very short shorts. I asked the teacher I was walking with how she felt about the way the woman was dressed, voicing my opinion that it was very rude and insensitive to dress that way in Malaysia. The teacher replied that she didn't feel that way. First of all, she lives in KL and sees all types of people here. Secondly, that woman is not a Muslim; she can dress any way she likes. It didn't offend the teacher one bit.

So then I told her about a woman I had seen at the community recreation center pool the first night I was in KL. All the women at the pool were totally covered, even those swimming. But this one woman was wearing very tight jeans, high heals, and a tight spaghetti strap top, and this woman was a Muslim. The teacher replied, "How that lady dressed at the pool is none of my business. It is between her and her God."

Wow! So I am being blown away by tolerance.

I had a long talk after dinner with Nuzac, one of the students I had met at the CDLS Conference in Delhi. She explained to me that Malaysians learn about Islam everywhere - in the Mosque, at home, in the school. Her biology teacher talks about Allah and the "miracle of life" in biology class. And learning about Islam is not just religious studies. For example, in studying Islam, Nuzac learned not to litter and why. She explained to me that if she studied for a test and didn't do well, maybe it was because she didn't take care of her relationships. Maybe she wasn't nice to someone, which could have affected the way she studied. Nuzac also told me that she has already done her Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), when she was 13 years old. "I felt so close to God." she explained. "But I don't need to go to Mecca to feel close to God," she continued. "I should feel close to God where ever I am, all the time."

If I could always feel God (or "The Universal Presence") with me then I would never be alone, and I would never have anything to fear.