While brainstorming of which religion I should choose for this reflection paper, I was contemplating between Islam and Hinduism as both of them are most foreign to me. The week before Eid al-Adha holiday, I was invited by a Malay Muslim friend to his house for gathering with some other ex-classmates. So I took this opportunity to explore more on Islam. During the preparation for this paper, it coincided with Eid al-Adha and I thought it might be interesting to observe Muslim tradition during a festival to see how is it different from a normal day. As such I conducted two visits to the same mosque. I was privileged enough being able to visit a mosque, observing prayers, participating in the yearly Eid al-Adha celebration and interviewing a religious
The Muslims also have great respect to their God where the compound is kept very clean and tidy at all time. Religious authority seems to lie in the hand of the Imams who are treated with utmost respect all of the time. Imams lead the prayers, giving religious talks as well as taking charge of major events. Imams are regarded as the religious leaders who supposedly have vast Islamic knowledge and are expected to look after the religious needs of the community. From the Ustad that I interviewed, he told me that female Imams are very rare in the Islamic community throughout the world as traditionally, women are viewed inferior compared to men. As such gender equality in Islam society is not so well spread among the men and women, where men are given greater religious roles as compared to women. I also noticed some form of conservatism in Islamic traditions. This is evident through the segregation of men and women during prayers. In addition, women who are having their period are strictly forbidden to step into the mosque as they are considered as ‘unclean’. Thus, this shows that the regulations imposed on women are more than their male counterpart. During the slaughtering of the animals, a devotee told me that only men are allowed to slaughter these animals while women can only help out during the process eg: cleaning the venue and packing the meats. This could be due to the fact that men generally having greater energy than women so they fit the job. However, through this we can see the complementarity between the roles of men and women in Islamic teaching. In general, the woman’s sphere of operation is in ‘home’ while a man’s sphere is the outside world and the two roles complement one