I’ve always wondered why my father chose this name Mohd Muslim. It is normal, of course, to have the Mohd (for Mohamad) in front of the other name. But why Muslim? Well, one reason could be that he expected me to be pious, religious. Yeah, he did have the idea of sending me to Al Azhar Egypt and with that I’d come back to become an Imam like him, or become a Kadhi or better still, the State Mufti. However, I am glad that he didn’t do that (send me to Egypt) and instead readily agreed to have me join the FMC in Port Dickson and pursue my choice career in the newly formed Air Force.
The other reason could be to make me live up to that name. As a religious scholar himself, he must have been inspired by the famous scholars of the Hadith - Bukhari and Muslim. So naming me Muslim probably have something to do with his desire to make me pious, religious and well versed in Islam.
Related to that, I now could see that my father had visions of the future. I am now living in “his future” and I have seen the Islamic religion being misused for political expediency or to justify hatred between the two major sects - Sunni and Shi’a adherents. And also to justify the jihadist’s world view of the injustices done to the Muslims. Worst still, the Muslim world is way off the mark of being progressive, advanced in knowledge in science and technology; or the arts.
Now, Bukhari and Muslim were great Islamic scholars during the glory days of Islamic civilization where knowledge in science, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, architecture and the arts were renowned while the Europeans were still living in the dark ages. Unfortunately, all that changed with the decline of the various Islamic empires due to corruption of thought and other excesses; and the rise of the European powers and their inventiveness using knowledge gained through efforts of the Islamic scholars whose books and writings were translated into their respective languages. Muslim scholarship, regrettably, retreated into fundamentalism with the rise of wahabism especially in Saudi Arabia. Thus the progressive Muslim society during the days of Bukhari and Muslim became regressive in the century of the Industrial Revolution. Europe progressed while the Muslim world regressed (until today.)
God even endowed the Islamic countries with the precious commodities needed by the industries of the world -- oil and gas -- but unfortunately, greed and laziness made them “pawn” the wealth to western powers with the technology and financial shrewdness. The so-called knowledge transfer was ineffective at best and young Muslims failed to excel in spite of all the opportunities.
So my father probably had wanted me to know about Bukhari and Muslim and emulate them. Seek knowledge, the kind of knowledge that the Muslims in those days were free to explore and exploit. Well, I do know about Bukhari and Muslim; and I have been to Bukhara where the Imam Bukhari mausoleum is found. Imam Muslim, however, is from Nishapur, NE Iran. His grave is there too.
I love learning and believe that it’s never too late to learn. Thus at this age (74+) I am proficient with the keyboard and up-to-date with the latest in ICT. I design and maintain websites and blogs that even some youngsters don’t do or don’t know how to.
So I am living up to my name quite well, I think, except that the religious bit is a little wanting.
