The Interview

Assalamu'alaikum . . . Wah . . . lama betul saya tak menulis! I have been busy with my assignment and alhamdulillah it's done now. Harap-harap dikurniakan Allah markah yg bagus, amiin... Hari ni (Jumaat 280907) tak de kelas. But I have an important 'event' that is an interview with a reporter from BBC Radio Devon. She is doing some research about multi faiths. Jadi beliau nak interview beberapa students Muslim di MARJON ni (memandangkan Muslim majoritinya senang dicari di MARJON). Tak lama pun interview tu, just about 1 and half hours. Before the interview, beliau (Jane) ada bagi soalan yang akan ditanya. So boleh la kami (3 of us) be prepared. Berikut adalah soalan-soalan yang ditanya & jawapan saya yang tak seberapa (tp dah diedit grammarnye (ternervous sikit time interview, ayat pun tunggang langgang, hihihi ;p)

• What are the benefits of having a strong faith? What does faith means to you?
• There are lots of benefit of having a strong faith, for example, it acts as your guidance and it makes you realize the aim/purpose of your life. Faith, literally means a belief that you hold, and personally for me, faith means everything for me. It gives you the answer to everything such as why this happened to you, not to other people, why some people are rich and some people are poor and so on.

• What is it like being a Muslim in Plymouth - are there any difficulties, what are the good things?
• There are not many difficulties, I would say. It's just that when we go out to the town during the night, we would usually being called names & laughed at mostly by the teenagers. But it's not a big problem now. I think I'm used to it now.
  

• To discuss Ramadhan, its significance, whether fasting, prayer etc is more difficult when the majority of people aren't doing the same thing.
• I think the significance of Ramadhan is to differentiate other beliefs' fasting practices. For example, in Christianity (Catholic), on Fridays, the believers fasting by not eating meat. In other beliefs, the believers fast, but they can drink but not eat; or they can break their fast at a time that they decide on themselves. But in Islam, we start fast from the sun rises till the sun sets. We cannot eat, drink and involve in sexual activities. Fasting also disciplines us because we have to constrain ourselves from doing non-beneficial things. We are encouraged to read the Holy Qur'an and do good deeds. Fasting also makes us feel the hardship that poor people face, like hunger.
  
• Its not hard at all to fast when other people are not doing the same thing. This is when the strong faith comes in, again. If we have a strong faith, nothing is hard for us to do what is being told. It's vice-versa. But I believe it is quite important to have people of the same faith besides you so that you get the support and motivation to practice the belief.
  

• How much would it mean to local Muslims to have an official mosque?
• It would mean a lot! This is because a mosque is a place where all Muslims can meet, pray together and have discussions. It is also a place that can strengthen our relationship as we can meet regularly.

• Has the perception of Muslims changed in the light of terrorist attacks etc.? How can this be countered by both the wider community and the Muslim community themselves?
• Hurm...I think some people stare at us. But we as Muslims never agree with terrorism as the teaching of Islam doesn't have this. It is certainly not in Islam. However, we do get the negative effect of terrorism. Its not fair. We all are blamed for something that we don't commit.
• I think the misunderstanding can be countered by having forums or discussions so that this issue will be clear. These will help people to understand what is the real teachings of Islam.

• Can you explain briefly on how women is treated in Islam.
• Basically people will think that women is treated unequally mainly because we have to cover up and wear scarf. We are actually treated as princesses. We have to cover up as our beauty is only for our husband, not everyone. Our Prophet also taught us that we have to put our mother first before our father. By covering up we also show our modesty as we don't show our beauty and body to everybody. We also have the right to have education; ot's up to us whether we want to grab the chance or not

• Do you feel local people are interested in finding out more about your culture and beliefs?
• I think so. It's a human nature to know something that they don't know. Even if they are not interested, we still would like to tell them about the real Islam. This is because I believe that many people still do not know about our belief; some think Muslims worship a black box in a desert (Mecca), & kiss the ground 5 times a day!
  

• Drinking alcohol - do you feel left out?
• Not at all. There are other ways to enjoy ourselves. Besides that, by looking at the students' behaviour in Marjon here especially after they had parties, I'm very thankful that I don't drink. They usually shouting here & there, and bottles are scattered around. And we all know that alcohol has more negative effects than positive.

• As students, why did they decide to study here?
• Because the opportunity for me to travel in Europe is bigger than other places. Besides that, I don't like Science and Maths!
  

Sebenarnya byk lagi soalan Jane (yang beliau 'chip' in), tapi saya tak ingat. Lupa pula nak rekod interview tu. Seronok jugak menerangkan tentang agama yang dicintai ini pada orang lain. Saya belajar byk benda, seperti bagaimana nak menceritakan agama dengan bahasa yang mudah bagi yang tidak memahami apa itu Islam. Pemilihan perkataan pun amat penting. Nasib la interview dlm bahasa Inggeris, jadi memang kena fikir dulu baru cakap. Saya berdoa agar penemuramah itu dikurniakan taufiq & hidayah oleh-Nya, amiin.

Sesiapa yang mahu memberikan pendapat/jawapan pada soalan-soalan di atas amatlah dialu-alukan. =)