Islam in Aceh: Why non-Arab Muslims are cooler :)

(Non-muslims may not find that entry too interesting, you have my permission to zapp it!)

I just returned from the Friday prayer. And despite the fact that I didn't understand anything of the sermon (which was in Indonesian) except the 1-minute prayer at the beginning and in the end, I enjoyed it A LOT!
Not because that gave me the time to crack my toes (egyptian expression -- never mind) but because I actually had the occasion, once again, to admire the way non-Arabs practice their religion.

There is something particular about a religion that is in a foreign language -- the texts, the songs, psalms, sound.. almost like magic!

But apart from the aesthetic aspect, the understanding is more important, will you say: this is where the particularity of Aceh appears to my eyes. People here have a fantastic understanding of Islam, of the wordings of the prayers. I think that here there is the highest concentration of Al-Azhar uni grads after, well, Al-Azhar! I've had the chance to chat it out -- I swear -- in street Egyptian dialect with guys in remote villages, in places where no one speaks english.

They are so versed on religion, actually, that when i'm going for wodou2 at the mosque, I feel like the old man in the story with Al-Hassan & Al-Hussein (you know, the "akhi yaz3om annahou yatawada2 a7san menni...". And of course it get ultimately embarassing when, say at the office, they ask you to be the imam -- "Imam dari Mesir!" (Imam from Egypt) and i'm like (off-voice: "yeah right. Dude, I'm almost worried i'll mess up the tashkil"..). So i thank my parents for having given me a decent religious education!

There is also the fact that they were lucky enough to avoid doing what we did: Getting religion so much into the public sphere that they have diluted each other. Simple example: we use God's name so often, and in all kinds of expressions, that we no longer notice when we do. While I agree that it can be a good thing that we're thinking of religion as an integral part of life wel kalam da kollo -- but at some level, I feel that the "holiness" of some things is less strong if we use them too frequently! Saying Alhamdullilah here takes the full meaning of the expression: "thank you God", rather than just considering it a proxy for saying 'i'm okay'..

The Acehnese people maintain a very healthy separation of religion and 'earthly matters'; definitely not a la turque, but rather in a constructive and cooperative manner whereby life and eternity feed into each other, while remaining, thankfully, distinct.

Seriously -- thank God not all Muslims are Arabs!