among so many things to share.

semalam terbuka cerita lama tentang satu company yang aku turn down offer kerja. aku memang suka kerja luar sebenarnya. suka kerja organizing events dan yang seangkatan dengannya. so company neh company buat event la. owner dia singaporean, non muslim. masa dapat call asking me to come for an interview, sukalah hati aku kan. dengan seronoknya, aku pun menuju ke destinasi dengan hati yang berbunga-bunga.

permulaan interview sangat bagus. aku semakin seronok. walaupun pejabat macam kecil, tapi tengok macam promising je. orang yang interview aku pun best. dan kacak bahahahaa.

tapi towards the end situasi jadi tak seronok. in an interview, there will be a part di mana dia akan tanya if aku ada soalan ke tidak. since he already informed me that staff akan pakai shirts provided, so no particular dress code to adhere, aku tergerak hati mahu tanya if the shirt is long sleeved or what. maka di situlah terbongkarnya permasalahan utama. dia kata tak. dari riak muka dia, aku dapat sense something was not right so i gave the second question, "can i wear a long-sleeved inner inside?" his answer was: well, we want to standardize - with a disapproving tone. 

and ada part dia seperti kurang gemar aku mahu bersolat. katanya seperti tidak adil, seperti aku curi tulang. not directly saying no, but that was how it sounded to me. at that moment, i think he already sensed that i was quite religous - and then he preached me about it.

"i'm a buddhist, you know. but i don't go to temple everyday. and talking about covering up your body, well as you can see our receptionist is malay and muslim. and she's not even wearing tudung but she's okay with it. so i don't see what's wrong with short-sleeved shirts". something like that, he said.

and listening to that, i smiled. i knew that arguing or making abrupt gestures or replies would just make things worse. so this is what i said to him (as what i can recall), "it is not the religion which is at fault. it is the practitioners or believers, whatever you call it. there's a difference between being born as a muslim and trying to be a good muslim, by practising islam as the way it is supposed to be. i don't know much about your religion, but i respect whatever your belief is and you should respect mine. there's never a bad religion, just bad humans. about your receptionist - that's her decision in life. who am i to say a thing or to pass any judgment on her, right?"

aku senyum. and he smiled. he stopped preaching me - so it was good. and i got the job. they offered me but i turned it down because i was not sure if he really would allow me to practise Islam accordingly, in many ways. 

aku bukanlah orang yang layak memberikan penerangan tentang agama pada orang yang jahil. aku pun masih mencari ilmu. tapi aku rasa, apa sekali pun pegangan seseorang, jangan dibenci dan dimarahi. befriended them. attract them on how wonderful your religion has shaped you. ketika dikhutbah oleh dia begitu rupa, aku tak marah. sikit pun tidak. mengapa marah sedangkan kau tahu mereka itu jahil dan batil? bukankah kalau kau melenting mempertahankan agama kau - membuatkan kau mempamerkan bahawa agamamu penuh amarah dan kekerasan? 

aku tidak reti berdakwah dengan marah. in fact, aku tak reti pun berdakwah. aku pun tidak sempurna. ibadat aku apa je pun. aku cuma berpegangan bahawa hormat itu perlu. dan bukan salah mereka melihat Islam dengan cara yang salah, because we allow them to see that way for such a long time. mereka tak salah, kita yang harus berubah. 

Rasulullah S.A.W. tidak pernah berkasar dalam menyeru umatnya menerima Islam. biarpun dipalit najis tetap tidak pernah baginda meninggi suara. kata mahu ikut sunnah nabi, tapi kenapa amalan ini yang kita tolak?

aku tidak marah ketika itu. lebih kepada malu. kerana orang Islam sendiri yang mencalitkan pandangan sebegitu buat si jahil dan batil. jadi siapa yang lebih jahil dan batil sebenarnya? 

seorang teman pejabat menceritakan kisah ini pada aku. betapa aku berharap masih ada manusia semulia Rasulullah S.A.W. Lau kana bainana - Andai Rasulullah masih ada, pastinya dunia ini lebih baik. :)