Advice for Alvin Tan and his Muslim haters

At the time of this writing, Alvin Tan’s Facebook page has been taken down.

He is naturally unhappy about the turn of events.

It was a “verified badge” page, he claims before firing off another expletive-laden post insulting description of Prophet Muhammad.

Strangely enough, he allows comments on his profile’s wall and one of the comments was especially racist and demeaning.

The person told him to pray to his gods before returning to Malaysia as his life will not last long on her soil. What a sad state of affairs.

We live in a world of media whoredom. People would do literally anything to get into the media, to have media spotlight shone upon them.

I remember the beginning of this shameless era. It was early 2000s and the controversial programme (controversial at the time, now it is simply the norm) Big Brother came on British TV for the first time.

Even though Britain is a liberal society, people were still shocked at the shamelessly degrading acts the participants performed simply to gain popularity.

I remember them being called “Z-list” celebrities, a most fitting moniker.

The turning point came the following year with 9/11. Islamophobia then came to be on the rise.

Islamophobia is a much needed mood in order for certain colonialist agenda to be fulfilled.

In the last 15 years or so, you will find a marked rise in anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

You will also find Muslim atheists, ex-Muslims and a variety of dissenters emerge from this scene.

While I fully respect their right to renounce and even criticise Islam, I have no respect at all for the low level of discourse to which they pander.

The Islamophobes are not better than Islamofascists when it comes to the subject matter itself. Superficiality helps ensure the hostility remains high.

For those who do not know still, what Tan did this time was shocking, even for him.

This was the man who offered his audience some bak kut teh for their buka puasa and then later gave his keyboard accompanied rendition of the azan.

Clearly out to shock you with his antics and his ability to break taboos.

This time, however, he took things to a new level.

He had himself photographed while defecating then, apparently when toilet paper ran out, used pages of the Quran to clean himself.

He was grateful that the “violent” book was useful to him.

What is my reaction to Tan? My initial reaction was utter shock. Not because of the gravity of his act as such.

After all, Islamophobes on the Internet love posting pictures of the desecration of the Quran.

One gets used to seeing the Quran stepped on, chucked into the toilet and even shoved up certain body parts.

This is not pre-Internet Malaysia anymore where we lived under our tempurung. We are now used to these things.

So as much as I did not like the picture story, I accept his freedom of expression.

If this is the way he chooses to express his discontent with the Quran in a crass and vulgar manner, then so be it.

He did not enter my home to steal one of my Qurans to do this so it really does not affect my Quranic experience.

However, I suspect he did not actually do it but rather used some “effects” to make it look real.

Having said the above, I will have to also express my disapproval towards his actions.

We do not live in an ideal world. In fact, the Muslim world is probably furthest from this ideal just now.

It has more than its fair share of irrational individuals who will stop at nothing to feed their lust for violence.

No less that the joker of the fascist pack, Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia president Abdul Rani Kulup has been reported by Sinar Harian to be appealing for funding in order to go to the US to accost Tan.

I’m sure a holiday while he is on his “mission” is not out of the question either. As I read, rationality takes a back seat when these issues arise.

It is also very disappointing to note that Tan is no “otak udang”, either. No, this young man was an Asean scholar and if you ask anyone who strives for one, you would know that it requires a lot of talent and even more industry.

I ask, why could Tan not channel his energy into a more polite and balanced critique of Islam and Muslims? There are many Muslims who would listen.

Finally, to the Muslims who were enraged at Tan’s latest stunt, I would say this: remember that it always better to take the moral high ground.

The Prophet himself was told to be patient with whatever is being said and to move away from such people in a beautiful manner (73/10).

This is his true sunna. We should also remember that it is we who are propagating Islam to the world.

This being the case, we must be stoic enough to accept the criticism of Islam and Muslims. Tan was a Petaling Jaya boy (SMK Damansara Utama).

I can only imagine his frustrations at having being denied the opportunity afforded to Malay Muslims.

We denied him the fulfilment of his potential so let us try to understand his frustration at least. We can overcome hate not with hate but with compassion and understanding. – November 17, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.