Muslim TV
I accidentally changed the channel on the TV to channel 1 and there was a Malaysian Muslim worship. In the corner was a woman who was doing sign language when ever someone spoke. Only the men were worshipping. They separate the men from the woman during worship. Maybe only the men gather like this for worship. I honestly don't know.
Kelly had no interest in watching so she started flipping but found nothing of interest so she left and I flipped back to channel 1.
Today is some kind of Buddhist holiday and the family is performing various Buddhist prayer rituals either at the family alter or at the road side burning pieces of prayer paper. There is a special table setup with fruit that has been prayed for.
As I am watching the worship on TV, Kelly's sister Tee comes over the mutes the volume. The volume was at a normal level. She has never done this before while I watch TV but I'm guessing that the sound of Muslim worship is inappropriate during a Buddhist worship period.
The Buddhist Chinese are annoyed by the local Muslim mosques who broadcast their worships over loud speaker twice per day, the first time at 6 am then again at 6 pm.
As I'm watching this worship service in silence I see Kelly's father walk by and he gives me a really strange look as if to say "what the hell???"
I family member from Thailand is visiting and she sat on the couch reading her book while I was watching. Sometimes the camera focused on this young boy who seemed worried the camera was filming him instead of praying. It made me laugh each time and the Thai family member just looked at me strange. She thought I was laughing at the Muslims and I was actually just laughing because the boy looked so worried about the camera.
Later everyone dropped to their knees and prayed then when the prayer leader said a certain thing, everyone bent over putting their hands and forehead to the floor. Everyone but a few people ... but one by one the stragglers bent over until everyone had their head to the floor.
Each time a straggler bent over I laughed. I thought it odd that hundreds of people would bend over at the same moment except for 5 people. Then 1 by 1 those 5 people bent over. Each time I laughed the girl from Thailand looked at me like I was doing something offensive like laughing at the Muslims again but I was really laughing because I didn't understand why these 5 people should deviate while the other 500 people were all in sync.
She finally couldn't take my laughing anymore and left. She doesn't speak English and I don't speak Thai so I couldn't explain myself.
Each person had their own matt to sit on. Of course it is not that comfortable to sit on the floor but I have to say that it seemed like good exercise. You stood up, bent over, kneeled down, bent over, sit up, then repeat. Good for stretching out your legs and back!
Christians like to go out and convert other people but apparently Muslims and Buddhist have no interest in increasing their ranks thru conversion. I once asked my Muslim friend if I could join him to his Mosque. He got angry and said "What are you going to there? Just stand there and watch us pray??!!" He was very against it. I had never seen Muslim worship so I was visualing something closer to Catholic mass. My Catholic friends love when I join them to church. The Jahova Witness love for new people to attend their Church. It is the same with Mormons and other types of Christians ... unless it's like a Chinese Christian Church.
I had a Chinese Christian roommate once and I asked if I could visit his Church with him but he said it was only for Chinese. That made sense. I would be out of place especially if they spoke Chinese. I didn't think Christians would discriminate by race but obviously some do. I'm guessing there are all black Christian churches that only accept black members.
All of the people at this Mosque on TV were Malaysian by race. I saw no whites, no blacks, no Asian. I wonder if they discriminate against race too. What would they think if their Mosque was suddenly filled with black Muslims, Asian Muslims or White Muslims? I'm guessing they wouldn't like it and would move to stop it.
I see a lot of Chinese Buddhist alters. I wonder what would happen if I was Buddhist and I tried to worship at one of these alters with the Chinese. I'm betting they would get angry. They are just not used to seeing a white Buddhist.
Next I would like to figure out the meaning and rules of women covering their hair. I have a friend who owns a local Malaysian hawker stand. I like to go there to eat sometimes. She's about 45 years old and a Malaysian Muslim but she does not cover her hair. I asked her why and she said that she will someday. She's just not ready yet.
But I see girls as young 5 years old covering their hair. I wonder how many women cover their hair for a while then decide its not for them and stop doing it.
I worry a little about the covering blocking their peripheral vision while driving.
Kelly had no interest in watching so she started flipping but found nothing of interest so she left and I flipped back to channel 1.
Today is some kind of Buddhist holiday and the family is performing various Buddhist prayer rituals either at the family alter or at the road side burning pieces of prayer paper. There is a special table setup with fruit that has been prayed for.
As I am watching the worship on TV, Kelly's sister Tee comes over the mutes the volume. The volume was at a normal level. She has never done this before while I watch TV but I'm guessing that the sound of Muslim worship is inappropriate during a Buddhist worship period.
The Buddhist Chinese are annoyed by the local Muslim mosques who broadcast their worships over loud speaker twice per day, the first time at 6 am then again at 6 pm.
As I'm watching this worship service in silence I see Kelly's father walk by and he gives me a really strange look as if to say "what the hell???"
I family member from Thailand is visiting and she sat on the couch reading her book while I was watching. Sometimes the camera focused on this young boy who seemed worried the camera was filming him instead of praying. It made me laugh each time and the Thai family member just looked at me strange. She thought I was laughing at the Muslims and I was actually just laughing because the boy looked so worried about the camera.
Later everyone dropped to their knees and prayed then when the prayer leader said a certain thing, everyone bent over putting their hands and forehead to the floor. Everyone but a few people ... but one by one the stragglers bent over until everyone had their head to the floor.
Each time a straggler bent over I laughed. I thought it odd that hundreds of people would bend over at the same moment except for 5 people. Then 1 by 1 those 5 people bent over. Each time I laughed the girl from Thailand looked at me like I was doing something offensive like laughing at the Muslims again but I was really laughing because I didn't understand why these 5 people should deviate while the other 500 people were all in sync.
She finally couldn't take my laughing anymore and left. She doesn't speak English and I don't speak Thai so I couldn't explain myself.
Each person had their own matt to sit on. Of course it is not that comfortable to sit on the floor but I have to say that it seemed like good exercise. You stood up, bent over, kneeled down, bent over, sit up, then repeat. Good for stretching out your legs and back!
Christians like to go out and convert other people but apparently Muslims and Buddhist have no interest in increasing their ranks thru conversion. I once asked my Muslim friend if I could join him to his Mosque. He got angry and said "What are you going to there? Just stand there and watch us pray??!!" He was very against it. I had never seen Muslim worship so I was visualing something closer to Catholic mass. My Catholic friends love when I join them to church. The Jahova Witness love for new people to attend their Church. It is the same with Mormons and other types of Christians ... unless it's like a Chinese Christian Church.
I had a Chinese Christian roommate once and I asked if I could visit his Church with him but he said it was only for Chinese. That made sense. I would be out of place especially if they spoke Chinese. I didn't think Christians would discriminate by race but obviously some do. I'm guessing there are all black Christian churches that only accept black members.
All of the people at this Mosque on TV were Malaysian by race. I saw no whites, no blacks, no Asian. I wonder if they discriminate against race too. What would they think if their Mosque was suddenly filled with black Muslims, Asian Muslims or White Muslims? I'm guessing they wouldn't like it and would move to stop it.
I see a lot of Chinese Buddhist alters. I wonder what would happen if I was Buddhist and I tried to worship at one of these alters with the Chinese. I'm betting they would get angry. They are just not used to seeing a white Buddhist.
Next I would like to figure out the meaning and rules of women covering their hair. I have a friend who owns a local Malaysian hawker stand. I like to go there to eat sometimes. She's about 45 years old and a Malaysian Muslim but she does not cover her hair. I asked her why and she said that she will someday. She's just not ready yet.
But I see girls as young 5 years old covering their hair. I wonder how many women cover their hair for a while then decide its not for them and stop doing it.
I worry a little about the covering blocking their peripheral vision while driving.
posted by Patrick Coston at 10:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home