What Americans and Britons Can Learn From Muslims and Malaysia
I teach English in Malaysia to international students of various backgrounds. Russians, Frenchmen, North Africans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Indonesians, and more diversify our classrooms. All of them observe and nod their heads at the religious tolerance and harmony in Malaysia and agree it is a shining example to the world.
In the West, the common folk are left ignorant to the realities of their own countries, of history, and of the rest of the “global south.” They are fed propaganda that immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants, are threatening their way of life. Yet they fail to realize that these imagined threats are the opposite of the truth: they bring salvation. Their “threats” are not Muslims, but rather globalization and modernization. The UK government actually invited Muslims to the UK in the 1960s to work there. historian Humayun Ansari stated:
“In the early 1960s, the government sponsored [a series of] films — Calling all Muslims! — enthusiastically inviting Muslims to come to work in British industries or to study in British universities.”
64 years later, rioters now complain about them and engage in violence towards them. The Muslims responded by inviting them for lunch and some opened their hearts and took their shahadas. Their own elites steered their society in a certain direction and brought amazing people to their country. The sooner you appreciate the Muslims, the sooner you can benefit from their wisdom.
Malaysia’s Example
As an American, I (and everyone else from the West, just admit it, even if you didn’t believe it yourself or grew out of it) grew up being taught that basically European/American “white” culture is the norm and everyone else needs to assimilate or they’re “stepping out of line,” too lazy, or hostile to our culture and should be seen with suspicion. Foreign countries eventually will succumb to the [dross] of the global Western “liberal” monoculture.
The Western elites have been attempting to colonize the entire world and erase so-called “traditional” cultures (as if they are “modern” and everyone else is “backwards” and “traditional” is primitive). Average citizens are unaware of their role in this agenda and how their behavior feeds into it. Westerners often live “sheltered” lives, unexposed to other ideas and the very thought that another nation, religion, or culture could even produce an idea let alone an entire system worthy of inspiration for them rarely or never occurs without a jolting life event or an honest and educational sit-down. Non-Muslims from the West may visit Malaysia and learn almost nothing about Islam, assuming it’s entirely worthless and the Malays are simply uneducated, undeveloped, and racially inferior to be capable of educating a “sophisticated white man.” Some even so far as attack and insult Islam, belittling their scriptures and traditions as “backwards” (because only European people can be “forward”).
Muslims of course are accustomed to this arrogance — they’ve been fighting colonialism for centuries until my grandmother-in-law’s generation won independence. Stories of racism began during the life of the prophet ﷺ and his own companions (Yasir, Sumayya, Bilal, and more) were slandered with racist tropes and even brutally tortured to death. I’ve been Muslim for 9 years as of writing this, and I’ve heard the same anti-Islamic arguments and rhetoric perhaps dozens of times and none of them surprise me. Westerners and their stupefied blind-followers assume the world is ignorant, but it’s they who are ignorant. These people spend zero hours actually studying Islamic books, taking Islamic classes, visiting mosques, or listening to Muslim scholars, but they will spend a few hours of their life gobbling up hateful rhetoric and propaganda and assume they “know enough.” It’s nothing new, but Allah ﷻ is The Guide, and we cannot force others to change or to listen. If you’ve read this far, take the time to learn and interact with others without an insult or a weapon — sincerely try to learn from credible sources. You will grow, become more productive with your time, and appreciate it.
Many Races, Many Religions, One Malaysia
Malaysia can be very healing for people to spend time in. It’s like a breath of fresh air. You find mosques, churches of various denominations, sikh Gurdwara, Buddhist and Hindu temples all in one country living peacefully together. If you talk about religion with someone, it’s likely in a very heart-warming matter with no ill feelings. It’s intellectually and spiritually stimulating. It has a neighborly feel to it that is becoming more difficult to find in the West.
Malaysia achieved this through education and legal boundaries. They live and promote the values in their society that there are different religions and ethnicities here living harmoniously under one nation, Malaysia. “Many religions, many races, one Malaysia.” The government actively promotes the preservation of culture and mutual respect rather than the “melting pot” theory of the West which forcefully demands homogenization. Each race still speaks their native language in addition to Malay and some speak English. At Eid events, Hindu men and women security guards are often seen working at mosques and sikhs may come and visit. Even foreigners who spend time working here notice the harmony in the society.
This of course is actually inspired by Islam, the official state religion. The country even has functioning Shar’ia courts alongside secular courts for non-Muslims. Most Westerners equate Islam with intolerance and violence rather than harmony and peace, but those who sincerely visit Muslim countries will typically find the contrary.
Different Intentions
When the Europeans took their ships in search of colonies, their intentions were vastly different from the Muslim traders who arrived to Nusantara a millennia ago. Historians write that their intentions were “gold, God, and glory,” slaying and conquering the “heathen” non-Christians around the world and pilfering their wealth, enslaving their people to lives of servitude to Europeans and fatten the homeland. They brought racism and apartheid with them and destroyed countless mosques and slaughtered educators, intellectuals, and religious scholars by the thousands. They banned native languages, labeled them as “backwards,” and forced schools to teach European languages. They turned diverse economies upside down, their only function to extract raw materials for Europe’s industrialization or fuel the opium trade that ate up China. They fomented racism and religious sectarianism in otherwise tolerant and harmonious societies to “divide and conquer.”
My Lebanese friend grew up under the French and stated that a French soldier would take your lunch money if you spoke Arabic. They said if you speak French you are modern, if you speak Arabic you are backwards. He used to ring the church bell with his Christian neighbors on Sundays. In America, I almost never interacted with a non-white through all of my years growing up in the 90s and 2000s, let alone a different religion in any depth or sincere relationship.
As Europe was blatantly upside down, the Muslim world was upright. The Muslim traders were businessmen disciplined by the Shari’a, the Qur’an, and the prophetic Sunnah.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ إِلَّآ أَن تَكُونَ تِجَـٰرَةً عَن تَرَاضٍۢ مِّنكُمْ ۚ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ
“O you who believe, devour not your wealth between you through falsehood; But only through trade by your complete mutual consent. And do not take each other’s lives.” [Quran, 4:29; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
Their Islamic worldview is not that of conquest and pilferage, but rather mutually beneficial trade and learning about each other’s cultures as equals.
O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may ˹get to˺ know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware. [Qur’an 49:13]
(Note: I recommend reading this tafsir of the verse for more depth)
The Prophet (ﷺ) is reported in a ḥadîth collected by Imâm Aḥmed to have said, “O humanity! Your Lord is one, and your ancestry is one. No Arab is superior to a non-Arab, nor is any non-Arab superior to any Arab. No white is superior to any black, nor is any black superior to any white except on account of their righteousness (taqwa, caution to obey Allah and not sin).”
Regarding living in harmony with other religions, the Qur’an also addresses this:
Let there be no compulsion in religion, for the truth stands out clearly from falsehood. So whoever renounces false gods and believes in Allah has certainly grasped the firmest, unfailing hand-hold. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. [Qur’an 2:256]
Insulting other religions is prohibited:
“And do not insult those whom they worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge” (Qur’an 6:108)
Other religions are meant to exist and are the will of Allah Most High:
Had your Lord so willed ˹O Prophet˺, all ˹people˺ on earth would have certainly believed, every single one of them! Would you then force people to become believers? [Qur’an 10:99]
After them came saintly figures, such as the Wali Songo and the Seven Saints of Malaysia who revitalized the culture with civility and noble character, calling the people to Islam. Then various kings accepted Islam. Over the centuries, the lands naturally have been moving in the direction of Islam. The only hiccup was the various invading Europeans who attempted to oppress and destroy Islam and violently promote Christianity in its place and then the Japanese who practically banned it. Women were banned from wearing hijabs, forced to wear miniskirts, and the Japanese anthem was recited in schools. After independence, freedom was restored, but people forgot basic tenants of Islam. So several youth went to Yemen and Egypt in the 1980s, studied traditional Islam again under saintly figures such as Habib Omar bin Hafiz, and returned to teach the people Islam again and rebuild their destroyed religious institutions. Through immense obstacles, brutality, wars, and fitna, the Southeast Asian Muslims regained their freedom and religion and restored it, all by Allah’s Divine Grace.
If we only took the time to sit down and learn, we would find that the best example has been the very thing our countries have been seeking to destroy. The Malays even publish papers on religious harmony and peaceful co-existence — maybe we should read them.
