Imam Muda Reality Show

I am an OLD sixty-two-year-old who needs more rest than the average adult. (There are also the

YOUNG sixty-two-year-olds who are still young in spirit and physically strong). So, besides going marketting, minding and ferrying my grand children to and from school, (three trips per day,) and going to the mosque for prayers, I need to take short naps every now and then. Consequently, nowadays I do not get to watch very much telivision beyond the news programmes. Not that I really would like to. Still, I have managed to catch a bit of the Imam Muda reality show this year.

I have always been one of those people who believed that a new approach is needed in our da'awah effort, something that is required of every Muslim. (But actually, I'm not sure if the letter of the enactments would require that all of us first obtain the certification from the authorities). All too often the people involved are aloof, the 'holier than thou' approach used entirely lacked hikmah, and sometimes, some self-appointed souls were downright hostile and confrontational. I often felt that such an approach can sometimes back fire and, instead of attracting the intended audience towards the true faith, one may actually drive them further away. I have heard of school girls being singled out and picked on by Ustaz's and Ustazahs, simply because they don't quite yet meet the required standards of religious observance, or simply id not know enough. Barbed comments were regularly directed at them, and they were often embarrassed in front of their classmates. I was also once shown a video recording of a self-appointed enforcer of the faith, aggressively harassing a small group of teenagers at the Dataran Merdeka. There had been a concert there and the kids were just hanging around, together with a host of other people of varying ages, before going back. Actually the CD was sold by the enforcer himself, after giving a ceramah at the surau of the Tabung Haji, purportedly to fund his 'pemulihan akhlak' (moral recovery) activities.

Of course the kids at Dataran Merdeka were freely moving in mixed company, a sin in Islam . Of course we are enjoined to 'mencegah kemungkaran' (prevent sinful acts). Of course Ustaz's and Ustazahs are supposed to guide and bring their charges closer to the true path. Here I am talking about the approach, not the end. Where is the hikmah? Where is the humility? Where is the kindness? Where is the 'not embarassing people in public'? I have heard a sixteen year old say in the commonly used mixed language that so infuriate the language nationalists, 'If that's what I'm suppossed to follow, 'terima kasih ajalah' (thank you very much). Lagi labuh tudung, lagi busuk hati' (the longer the headscarf, the more rotten the heart). When we go before Allah in the hereafter, He will ask us about what we have done as his Khalifah on His earth. Would it indeed please Him if, instead of attracting unbelievers into the folds of believers, we actually drove away those who were already born into the faith, shallow though their faith may yet be? Many of these young people simply do not know better. Their parents did not effectively instruct them , maybe because the parents themselves were not sufficiently instructed or for whatever other reasons. (Maybe they too were unsure of the legal status of such instructions, especially when even an ex-Mufti requires certification.) Their religious teachers in the day school did not effectively instruct them, maybe because they feel that the primary responsibility for religious education should be the parents or the religious schools, or again for whatever other reasons.

I found the Imam Muda reality show a refreshing new approach to dakwah. The only other comment I would like to add is that in pursuing this new approach, one should be careful that it does not create or contain elements that go against the grain of Islamic teachings. Whereas Islam enjoins humility and kindness, as examplified by the well known story of the prophet feeding the blind Jew who had been cursing and calling him names, celebrity usually creates in the celebrated haughtiness and pride instead of this desired humility. Whereas Islam forbids embarassing somebody in public, in the conduct of this types of reality programmes, the spectacle of somebody being subjected to embarassement can sometimes heighten its entertainment value. If those involved are not careful, you could see a spectacle of an established member of the religious elite subjecting a young aspiring would-be-member of the religious elite to embarassment, in front of the whole world. (We have international viewership?) As Muslims we are thought that if we are smarter, or stronger, or richer, or handsomer, or in whatever way exceed others, it is because Allah chose to lend us that attribute, in order to enable us to better serve him. The programme should therefore be handled in such a way that it does not potray a group of young people trying to best one another; rather it should reflect a group of young people helping one another to develop and use what Allah has granted them to the best of their respective abilities. It should not reflect so much the idea of somebody 'winning against others' as somebody being grateful for Allah's gifts to him. Again, the sifus (masters) should be potrayed as caring elders rather than gleeful judge and happy executioners.

The basic idea of such reality shows, as it developed in showbusiness, was entertainment.The basic purpose of the owners of the network and the other financial backers of the grogramme (advertisers etc.) is commercial. Still, one can use the opportunity made available for one's own purposes, so long as it can be done in ways that does not compromise one's very own basic guiding principles. Although one needs to attract the audience, one needs to be careful in the adoption of the 'Hollywood' type of elements in the programme. At the end of the day, the audience must be attracted to the message in the letter rather than envelope, the mailman, or the way he shashays down the ailse. Interestingly, did the audience comprise more females, including the makciks (aunties), than males? Or was it just the camera angles that gave that impression?

No, I'm not an ustaz in the commonly used sense, i.e., one who represents religious expertise. If I make some reference to religion, it is simply what I have heard from the real ustaz's.