This Muslim is not satisfied with Malaysian living conditions, ok?

On MSN Malaysia today, I read about a Chinese man who is protesting the conversion of his 15-month-old baby to Islam by his recently converted estranged wife. In the article, it’s stated that the government is working on legislations that will help iron out problems between Muslim converts and their non-Muslim families. This is said to symbolise “an olive branch to Malaysia's minority ethnic Chinese and Indians, who are uneasy over rising "Islamisation"”. I really don’t know what to think about the problem between the Chinese man and his wife, being as uninformed and uneducated about the legal matters and workings of the civil and shariah laws as I am, but I do understand the grievances on both sides.

My gripe: Rising Islamisation?

That term always draws a balk from me.

I’d go to restaurants and wonder whether I can eat the chicken and beef, even if no pork or lard is served. I would wonder if the chocolate bar I’m eating contains any non-halal ingredients, or if that multi-vitamin capsule is made of gel from bovine sources that comply with Muslim food standards.

Sometimes, work colleagues would totally ignore me during lunch time when they’re going off to someplace non-halal (I guess they’d feel bad telling me I can’t have lunch with them today ‘cos they have a hankering for pork chop burgers, but really, I’d rather know the real reason rather than imagine that they hate my company).

I’d go to a swanky shopping mall that has no Surau for me to pray at, forcing me to either go elsewhere or go home (who needs by business anyway, right?) or miss my compulsory prayers. And where Suraus are provided, often they’re too small to accommodate everyone rushing to do their 5-minutes prayers in the time allocated for prayer times that are closer together i.e. Maghrib and Isyak, at around 7.30pm and 8.30pm respectively (depending on the position of the sun in the sky). If I came at 8pm, there’s a very good chance that the line for ablution (rinsing of the face and limbs before prayers) will snake around the Surau, and after that, a tussle for the limited prayer clothing followed by the hunt for floor space on which to conduct prayers. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to finish the Maghrib prayer just before the call for Isyak prayers.
*Tip: Movie premiere days and Jusco Member Day sales are the worse days to procrastinate with prayers. It is advised that one be ready in prayer clothing 5 minutes before estimated prayer time during times like these!

During work days, I have to do my early afternoon prayers during lunch break and the late afternoon prayer after official office hours to avoid raised eye-brows at the office (especially with those in HR). Guess it’s a good thing I don’t smoke, ‘cos social smoking in the stairwell might actually add about 20-30 minutes of “skiving” per work day!

I wear the head scarf, but have to “modernise” the style so that it will be more acceptable to non-Muslims and even some non-practising Muslims and Malays (this way, I don’t come off as “backwards and close-minded”).
I tried wearing my headscarf the traditional way once in a while to the office, since I won’t be going out meeting clients on that day. Heads swivelled or I’d get quizzical looks from colleagues. I would think my brain still functions the same way no matter how much clothing there is on my body and head… who’s close-minded now?

I have to bear with it when non-Muslims complain about the call for prayers in the early morning, or any other time, for that matter. When someone decides to mock Islam in their songs, we're supposed to roll with it, or risk branded as being too sensitive and prone to give extremist terroristic reactions and views!

Believe it or not, Muslims don’t have it all that easy in Malaysia, especially if they want to integrate with non-Muslims in the city or at a non-Muslim dominated workplace. We don’t have that much freedom to practice the religion as freely as we want to (within acceptable reason, of course. I’m a practicing Muslim, not a repentant ex-sinner who’s trying to make up for a lifetime of wrongdoings!), and have to be extra-cautious in simple daily activities. I realise that my gripes are trivial compared to what the aforementioned Chinese man, and a few others we’ve read about in the news, struggles with amidst this so-called “rising Islamisation”, but I believe that this type of problem is sporadic and can be worked out over time, rather than epidemic. Think about the struggles of millions of Muslims against the few people who cannot accept that their loved one has converted to a different religion. Anyway, I’m sure not that many people are too keen to willy-nilly convert to Islam given all the "nuisances" I just described?