I've stopped long time ago trying to make sense of heaven and hell stories I heard when I was younger. I was thrown out of the class not once but a few times because of my questions about issues that bothered and confused my young mind.
Once, during the Ugama Islam lesson, our ustaz mentioned about the ultimate fate to non-Muslims. He said at the end, all non-Muslims would be thrown and burn in hell eternally. For Muslims no matter how bad they are in their previous lives, they would endup in heaven after they spend sometimes in hell according to the types of their sins.
My questions were:
Why did the Creator let believers other than Islam bloomed and mushroomed way before He introduced Islam? If other religions have been around thousand years before Islam was introduced, wouldn't they be angry when you tell them who and what they have've been worshiped are not the right one?
If non-Muslim tells a Muslim that Islam is not the true religion wouldn't our Muslim friend get offended and angry perhaps?
Of course the ustaz wasn't be able to answer my questions because long after that I was positive he didn't know the answer. But as usual, what he did to me wasn't any different from any Mullahs, Imams or Tok Gurus have been doing when they have no clue. In my case, the ustas threw me out of the class and accused me of making fun of ugama Islam.
What in the world a fourteen years old girl wanted to make fun of the only faith she ever taught, ever learned and ever known?
I know I'm not the only one wbo have been carried this question or other questions. We are taught to take everything without questioning. We are taught to believe and accept everything we learn from ustazs, ustazahs, tok gurus or imams. There was not much room for thinking. We are told there are things that we know their existence but they couldn't be touched, seen or heard.
"Like air we are breathing, we know there is air around us, but we cannot touch or see it," we are told. So, that's it?
So, what am I supposed to do with my wandering mind? What am I to do with all these questions burning in my head? I didn't invite them. They are there. Everytime I see something I have questions about it. Should I just ignore my wandering mind?
I cannot randomly choose my questions I have and see if they fit to a religion teaching standard.
And don't tell me I would be thrown in hell just because I have all these questions.
Don't plant the seeds of fear in the young minds when the teachers do not have the answers. The seeds will grow and become big trees, the roots will grip the hearts and minds, and freeze their thinking, cripple their thoughts.
They have questions, but they are afraid to ask because when they ask the wrong questions, they might end up in hell.
So all the way they learn to ask a simple and safe questions.
"Can I swallow my spit when I'm fasting?"
"Can I clip my nails during my period?"
and so on......
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