An Evening With A Jew
Assalamualaikum wbt
On my way back home from the metro, I passed by this one guy with thick black beard and long dark blue coat. A moment after we passed each others’ shoulders with a small glimpse, the guy suddenly turned back and said ‘Hi’ to me. It was surprising when I actually did not expect even a word from him.
I stopped and looked at him innocently as I was still confused to whom he greeted earlier. By the way, he said ‘Hi’ as in Hi in English. Not ‘Privet’ as what a common greeting the Russians always use. He said it once again. Hi. So, I replied ‘Hi sir’ as I could see he is older than me. He came closer and started the conversation.
Mr. Beard: Are you a Muslim?
Me: Yes, I am.
Mr. Beard: Oh, well. Nice to meet you, miss. I was wondering whether you’re a Muslim or Hindu just now.
Me: Well, sir. Obviously you can see I’m wearing a scarf on. I don’t seem any similar with the Hindus I guess. (Smile)
Mr. Beard: Yes. Yes. I was mistaken. By the way, I’m a Jew. I’m very glad to have met you here.
Me: (Shocked) Ooo, really. (Smile)
Mr. Beard: No, miss. I just wanted to say that I am very upset with what’s happening in Gaza at the moment. I believe the Palestinians are innocent and they were trapped in between the political crisis which arises amongst the leaders of both parties.
Me: Thank you for your concern, sir. I believe in that too. There are many reasons why they should stop it and to deal with one good solution. It’s for their own benefits. For the Gazans and the Israelis themselves. I know I shouldn’t say this but in my opinion, the Israelis are too arrogant to admit what is not belong to them is not belong to them. And for the Palestinians, there should not be any selfish heads to get over the problems. And so do for the other Muslim countries which seem to back off for the sake of their own benefits. Oh, I do sound harsh, don’t I?
Mr. Beard: No no, girl. You think like an adult. How old are you? 18?
Me: Eh, no sir. I just hit 24. That sounds more like a compliment for me, you know. (Smile)
Mr. Beard: Ah, no way. You look like a daughter to me. I never imagine you are twenties.
Me: You are too kind. But sorry if my opinion sounds harsh.
Mr. Beard: Not at all. You should know that there are a lot more Jews who hate being a Jew at the moment. We are shame for what our brothers did to the innocent people there. That’s why I don’t put my Yamika on today.
Me: Ooo… (I was blur actually. I didn’t know what Yamika is. But I could imagine it must be something to do with the small covering on their heads.)
Mr. Beard: Ok, miss. Nice knowing you. Where are you from, miss?
Me: I’m from Malaysia. I’m a Malay and a Muslim by practice.
Mr. Beard: Be a good Muslim, then.
Me: (Smile)
Isn’t it good to have the opportunity to talk openly over this matter with the Jews themselves? Well, his final words were really meaningful. At least for me myself.
I continued my way home. I was greeted by a young lady then. This is another story. But I’ll cut short the story. She’s a believer of Jehovah Witness. We discussed over this thing once more whilst she handing me over a few handouts related to her belief. Frankly speaking, when I was staying in apartment outside the student hostel compound, I a few times have come across these people. They even paid me a visit at home and we discussed about Islam and Christian openly. It’s scary you know. Just imagine what would happen if I could not answer the questions? Lucky me, I have a few Islamic books which I brought over from Malaysia (Ayah, I’m sorry. I took yours!) and some of the questions could be answered by logic.
All I can say is, I am lucky to be the chosen one to have encountered with such situations in life. That’s why we must try to give assiduous effort to enrich ourself with good knowledge and so we are ready to face any possibilities that might come in life.
Note 1: It’s really wearisome when you cannot prove that you are right. So, be prepared.
Note 2: Yamika is the round or diamond shaped “hat” that Jewish males use to dignify their manhood. (Why I never know this? Huhu)
Note 3: No second date for today as it was scheduled. Everyone is lazy to get out of the bed. 😀
cewah….
Mr Beard to nampak akak ni awet muda kot?
haha
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Haishh. Sabar je la kamu ni Loque 😛
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loque Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
sabar itu separuh dari iman
😀
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ohh..akak diapproach biasanya with christian kat sini yang nak tahu pasal muslim community as there are malay here yg masuk pub etc..
well..berguna betul ilmu masa akak jadi naqibah dulu 😉
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 8:14 am
If they approach you for the sake that they want to know more about Islam is good. But if they come and approach you to convince you about their belief (sebar dakyah), that’s scary. You are fortunate Kak Inah to have such a good background 😉
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inah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am
sarah dearie..ade 2 golongan ini dan biasanya akak diapproach untuk kedua-duanya..pernah juga diajak untuk berdebat bersama mereka..hohoho..
bahaya bahaya 😛
kena tambahkan ilmu di dada nampaknya..sbb ilmu akak kebanyakan nya di kitab bukan di dada..huhu
al ilmu fil qulub, laisa fil kitab – itu yg sebaiknya 😛
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wah, bestnyer pengalaman nih.. teringin nak sembang ngan jews face to face gak tapi selalu takut even ramai gak kawan kitaorg yang kami selalu detect dia ni jews.. Tak berani nak cakap lebih2.. huhu
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Senang eh nak detect Jews ke tak kat sana ye? Kat sini Jews tak ramai. Kalau ada (macam Mr. Beard ni) I think he’s a foreigner. Nanti kongsilah pengalaman kamu pulak berdepan dengan bukan Muslim macam mana ye.
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Sarah memang mempunyai pemikiran yang rasional dan bagus..
Bukan senang nak berhujah dengan mereka yang mempunyai ideologi yang berlainan.. Kadang-kadang boleh menganggu emosi.. Tahniah ke atas kebijaksanaan anda..
Ye lah kalau tak bijak takkan jadi doktor kan..
Yang kureng bijak jadilah cam saya.. Jadi pekerja biasa2 je.. TUlis blog pun artikel biasa2 je.. Huhuhuhu
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Zool oo Zool. Comel je bunyi ayat akhir tu. Adoi. 😀
Untuk berfikir rasional terutamanya tentang agama, kita tak perlu pun menjadi bijak. Bijak bukan syarat kita faham agama kan? Kalau tak, semua cerdik pandai dalam dunia ni mesti dengan jelas boleh nampak apa itu kekuasaan Allah. Tapi sayangnya mereka setakat celik otak tapi tak celik hati.
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zool Reply:
January 31st, 2009 at 8:01 am
Ayat mana yang comel tu?? Cari2 tak jumpa lah plak..
Kekuasaan Allah tu bukan semua boleh nampak.. Ada yang memiliki pendidikan tinggi tapi masih mempertikaikan kebesaranNya..
Harap-harap kita dapat hidayah dariNya..
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Salam sarah. sebelum ketiduran mahu juga menaip sepatah dua disini. Oh. u look young! cheh. itu konon ayat nadia la 1st time jumpe nanti. berangan dahhhh. =p by the way, sarah, u do the rite things! bagus juga ada experience macam ni. boleh improve our skill bila deal dengan siapa-siapa pun. take care sarah. beransur dulu. beradu dulu. =)
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Eceh. Sempat lagi tu! Bila jumpa nanti, awak mesti kata: Budak ni menceceh macam makcik! Saya rasa awak pun pernah lalui berdepan dengan non-Muslim. Tak semestinya Yahudi. Cina dan India yang bukan Muslim pun mesti ada pernah tanya itu ini kan. Tambah pulak dulu awak sekolah campur kan 🙂 That’s a good exposure too.
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salam…
syabas sarah kerana berani menyatakan pendirian..teringin juga nak berbual2 dengan jews tentang hal2 palestin nie..
tapi..to me all the jews are the same (all around the world) based on current scenario in Gaza & tanah palestin…they should do more, express their dissappointment by action..not just by heart..why shouldn’t they do that…
selagi itu tidak ditunjukkan..they all just the same to me…As for now I very much in anger…probably they can call me anti-semetic..I don’t care..
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Saya hormatkan pendirian Abg Fisol tapi dalam istilah kafir harbi yang patut dimusuhi dan diserangi ialah bagi mereka yang dengan terang datang memerangi kita. Sabda Nabi (saya tak ingat sanad): Kalau mereka datang dengan aman, layani mereka dengan aman.
Furthermore, in one of the hadiths narrated by Imam Bukhari (compiled in book of jihad and martyrdom) (Sahih collection), Nabi SAW told us to protect those who have agreed with us. In other words, to treat be nice to them.
It is related from Anas that the Prophet,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was on an expedition and said, “There are people who have stayed behind us in Madina. We have not travelled through any ravine nor valley but that they are with us. They were held back by an excuse.”
As long as they are with us, have the same idea with us, we should not go against them or even treat them badly.
Just my 2 cents 😀 I quoted my principal based on hadith.
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Fisol Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
thanks sarah kerana mengingatkan…
memang ada jews yang baik2, tidak dinafikan..setuju jgk dgn kata2 cikgu jawe jugak..don’t get me wrong..jews asal kat palestin kebanyakan nya yang baik2..memang kita kena berbaik sangka kepada sesiapa saja, even musuh2 kita..tapi kita kena berhati2, sebab jews ni depan kita baik belakang kita lain pulak..ramai jugak rakan2 abg yang bersupervisorkan jewish yang ada masalah dalam research mereka..biased..
zionis berkembang kat kat palestin atas pembiayaaan dari jews luarlah..Jews National Fund (JNF) asalnya untuk beli tanah2 palestin,.wang sumbangan jews worldwide….kalau kesian mengapa sumbang?
abg bukan anti yahudi sepenuhnya, dulu x peduli pun, tapi bila sedih ngan situasi skrg agaknya buat bro lebih berhati2…my point is they should show support dengan iklas, voice out their concern about palestinean to their leaders, unite against zionis..abg cuma malas nak layan jews yg depan kita bukan main sedih, belakang…Ganyang Palestin!..
tapi benarlah..kalau mereka datang dengan baik, kita layan dgn baik..setuju sangat..kalau boleh berdakwah dengan diorang…
hehe…my 2 cents jgk, sekadar berdiskas perkara yang baik kan?..Allah knows best..
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biasanya, yang berbadan kecil [read as a compliment ya, KS =) ] memang akan nampak jauh lebih muda dari usia sebenar. besides, u do look young than me. =D
thanks for sharing the conversation ya. am always impressed with you =)
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Eceh. Iye iye je Diya ni terpercaya dengan kata-kata Mr. Beard tu 😛
Diya, biar kita berbadan kecil, tapi jiwa kita kena besar. Kan. 🙂
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kita sebaya la sarah rupanya.. 18 kan? heh! 🙂
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Aiseyman! 😀
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wow..dats gud sarah..keep up da gud work…rmai yg nk rasa pengalaman sarah nie..hehe
yana sll pcaya..Allah akn dtgkn sesuatu yg kite mampu tuk hadapi…
so,nxt encounter..jgn skali2 rs takut..just bwaspada..hehe..
just know dat…ure doin da rite thing =)
p/s-thanx dear,4 calling me..sehari yana sronok xtperi..hahahhahaha
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Liyana!!! Miss u! Miss u! Miss u! Eceh. Melebih je saya ni kan. Hehe. Saya pun percaya macam yang awak kata tu. Allah tak datangkan sesuatu pada hambaNya yang tak mampu. Tak kiralah ujian yang macam mana pun. Cuma dalam konteks berdepan dengan non-Muslim ni, yang paling perting ialah persediaan ilmu dan kena berwaspada dengan taktik putar belit mereka.
p/s: Saya pun happy cakap dengan awak hari tu 😉
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Slm sarah,
Sila jgn perasan sarah ye..awk tu dah tua tau,hahahaha..aah, sy pun ada kawan jew, member forum..:) diapun tak suka gak jadi jew macam awk jumpe tu..emm tak tahu sy berfikir betul ke tak..kalau kita tak suka dunia memandang Islam dengan anggap semua orang Islam pengganas disebabkan minoriti yang buat camtu..boleh ke kita anggap tak semua org jew juga jahat macam syaitan keseluruhannya? sedangkan kita tahu ada juga org yang rasional dikalangan mereka..
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Salam Acai. Saya tak perasan muda. Saya tahu saya dah cukup umur untuk kawin. Tapi takde calon lagi. Huhuhu 😛 Dulu saya was-was nak bercakap dengan kawan-kawan saya yang Yahudi kat sini (saya ada cerita di blog lama dulu). Tapi lepas tu saya baca sirah Nabi. Nabi pun berbaik2 dengan Yahudi yang tak memusuhinya. Saya kaji hadith supaya prinsip saya tak silap. Saya jumpa hadith sahih yang menerangkan tentang prinsip ni. (Saya dah terangkan di komen balas untuk Abg. Fisol kat atas). Selagi dia berpendapat macam kita, kita tak boleh perangi mereka. Mereka bukan kafir harbi. Ni la pendapat saya Acai. Kira sama la macam yang awak terangkan tu 🙂
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Interesting story; I think in any religion either future, present or in the past, there will always be a moderate, a follower and an extremist. Some how, as Muslim – we also can’t runaway from that. Back in old times French and UK do burn people alive bcoz of wrong religion perception, so?
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
You really got my point here. Congrats! It’s all about perception. Whether we get it correctly or wrongly. To make it clear, that’s why we should learn the sirah and hadith to make firm on what we believe in. (I did reply about this to Bro Fisol up there. You may read if you would like to know which hadith stated about this matter) 🙂
Thanks for your opinion Wahaza! 😀
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aku salah seorang yg berpendapat tak semua yahudi jahat. mrk yg jahat yg dipengaruhi fahaman zionis dn beramal dgn thalmud yg palsu.
ada mazhab yahudi yg menentang terbentuknya negara yahudi dn mrk enggan pindah ke israel. kbykn golongan ini minoriti dan bertebaran di iran, afrika dn rusia. [aku pernah terbaca ada penempatan minoriti yahudi di malaysia juga. wallahu a’lam.]
tp aku ttp menentang sekerasnya pembunuhan di gaza.
islam menyuruh kita menghormati hak mrk beragama dn berbuat baik kpd mrk, selagi mrk menghormati hak kita. 🙂
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Sarah Reply:
January 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Saya memang dah agak yang Cikgu mesti ada pendapat yang sama. Sirah Nabi SAW sendiri pun membuktikan bahawa Baginda berbaik2 dengan Yahudi yang tidak memeranginya, kan. Malah, Baginda pun berbaik2 dengan Yahudi yang memusuhinya tapi tidak mendatangkan mudharat padanya (kisah Nabi bagi makan pada orang tua Yahudi yang buta).
Saya pun macam cikgu. Bagi Isrealis yang menyerang dan berbuat zalim pada Palestinians tu semuanya saya benci dan kalau boleh saya nak pergi perangi. Yang tu dah jatuh sebagai kafir harbi.
Terima kasih cikgu atas perkongsi info cikgu ni. Saya tak banyak tau pasal mazhab2 dalam Yahudi ni. Semalam saya membaca pasal banyak sangat tentang Yahudi ni sampai tepu otak. Huhu.
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Saya jumpa seorang Jew buat kali pertama kot di San Diego, Julai 2008. Ok je, saya rasa mungkin sentimen berbeza kot…hurm…
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i am impressed.
tapi jujurnya kadang2 rs ragu2 dgn jews.. ntahlah. macam bersangka buruk je saya. hmm..
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salam kak…biar betul ada org jew yg x mahu mengakui jew… 🙄 saya telah salah anggap bahawa org jew semuanya sama…mahu memusuhi org islam… 🙄 baguslah akak ni…kakaklah idola saya…wasalam…
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