FAH 0023 /FBH 0023: MORAL STUDIES JAN 2020

LECTURER’S NAME: Mdm Khairunnisa binti A Shukor

THEME: Journaling our Moral Journey - Task 1(Week 7)

Identify Islam religion which we would like to know more about. Then, learn, understand or
experience something from that faith.

Group member:
NO. NAME STUDENT ID PROGRAMME
1 Celestine Wong Yi Ni 19000466 CE1
2 Yap Hui Ying 19000491 CE1
3 Jennie Ngu Siew Zhen 19000511 CE1
4 Berlinda Wong Wei Wei 19000517 CE1

Religion: Islam
 Malaysia is an Islamic state with three main races and many other communities. The main
religions and beliefs in Malaysia are Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism,
Confucianism, Taoism, and Animism. However, the Constitution of Federation of Malaysia
allows other religions to be freely practiced by all, except the Malays. As defined by the
Constitution of Malaysia, Malays must be Muslim, regardless of their ethnic heritage;
otherwise, legally, they are not Malay. It is important for the people living in a multiracial
country to understand and respect the various religions and beliefs practiced in the country.
Although we live in an Islamic country, we do not know much about it. For instance, most of
citizen prefer to send their children to vocational school. Due to this, they are less in touch
with other religion. Throughout this task, we can learn more about Islamic religion so that we
all can be united.

Islam is the newest of the world’s major religions. Nine of the Malaysian states, namely
Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Kedah, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Johor and Negeri Sembilan
have constitutional Malay monarchs. These Malay rulers still maintain authority over
religious affairs in states. To appreciate the diversity of thought and ethical life in the Islamic
heritage, it is important to know how a whole spectrum of Islamic values and moral and
ethical notions was formed in Islamic history

Islam is the name of the religion established by the Prophet Muhammad which literally
means “submission”, and its central idea is to be surrendering to the will of Allah. One who
follows Islam is a Muslim. The final objectives of a virtuous life on earth for a Muslim is to
go to heaven. Man is created to serve Allah and be faithful towards Him so that he can
differentiate between what is good and what is bad or between what is right and what is
wrong.

Allah spoke words of wisdom. The Qur’an, the sacred text of Islam, contains the teachings of
the Prophet that were revealed to him from Allah. Traditional Muslims believe that Allah is
the one true God with no partner or equal and that the inspiration of this belief system comes
straight from God and the vehicle chosen by him to deliver these teaching to the general
population, the Prophet Muhammad. Thus, followers of Islam consider the Qur’an not the
work of Muhammad but as direct revelations from Allah.

Muslims worship the Unseen, Omniscient, Creator, Allah. The Muslims practice five pillars,
which is faith, prayer, alms, pilgrimage, fasting. Their custom is going mosque on Fridays,
ablution before prayer, no alcohol and pork, holidays related to the pilgrimage and fast on
Ramadan. Mosques are part of the ordinary scene in Malaysia and are as much a cultural icon
as a religious one. It is also the norm to hear the azan (call to prayer) on loudspeaker five
times a day. On Fridays, government offices and banking institutions are closed for two hours
during lunchtime for the Friday prayers. It is a monotheistic faith based on revelations
received by the Prophet Muhammad in 7-th century Saudi Arabia. According to Islamic
tradition, the angel Gabriel appeared to the Prophet revealing to him many messages from
God such as appointed some of his friends to record the verses on animal skin, stone and
other material. The revelation was lasted about 23 years.

The Quran contain total versus of 6,666 which include 1,504 verses about morality. From
many of them, one of them is Forgiveness. According to The Quran, human beings have been
encouraged to practice the act of forgiveness among themselves. To forgive a person who has
done moral offense, and not to be cruel to him is seen as a noble virtue. In Islamic theology,
the act of forgiveness is not meant to deny or underplay the moral injury suffered by the
victim; rather it involves a positive change in mentality toward the offender. Thus, an act of
forgiveness means rising above one's self-interest or narrow-mindedness, and achieving
nobler quality of heart. Through this, we learn that if we want to be blessed and cleansed, we
need to forgive others first so that peace will be always staying in between everyone. It is
highly relatable as forgiving others is vital as hatred and rage in us can be destructive and
harmful to one and others. Forgiveness is an intrinsic value. It is good and not depend on
other value as we are not really forgiving if we forgive due to something or forced by
someone.
 The second moral value that we learnt through this is tolerance. In Islamic context, to
be tolerant of one another comes both as a teaching and an injunction which is to be
cultivated at personal, social, and religious levels. Islam expects people to practice tolerance
in their family and social life. The Islamic attitude towards the followers of other religions is
not only to show tolerance towards their beliefs, but also to affirm a non-negotiable Islamic
principle of tolerance and religious responsibility. "There is no compulsion in [accepting]
religion. The right course has become clear from error." (The Qur'an 2: 256). Tolerance is an
intrinsic value. This is because tolerance do not depend on other values to achieve certain
objective which the value mentioned is itself the final objective.

The final moral value that we learnt is honestly. In Islam, honesty implies

maintaining sincerity and truthfulness in all actions, interactions, and transactions, and the
issue of honesty touches almost all aspects of human life. Here, honesty serves as an umbrella
term having some basic components like speaking truth; fulfilling commitments, whether
written or verbal; remaining truthful to one's word; rendering the assigned duty sincerely and
as meticulously as possible; imparting everyone's due rights without the person's asking for it;
being objective in evaluating any case and giving judgments; avoiding falsehood, deception,
and favoritism. We can also know that honestly is also one of the intrinsic value which
quality received or rejected solely because it is good or bad without considering its effect.

In conclusion, Islam is one of the religions that plays an important role to act as guidance to
make people can distinguish what is good or bad, necessary or unnecessary, worthy or not,
and makes every believer can think wisely and no rush in taking any action or making any
decision. Everyone should have religion as religion can guide and put restraints on a person
to identify what is good or bad. This shows objective value as majority of the people would
agree that religious play an important role in life to make a person be wise in choosing the
right way to face the challenges in the future.