[Ramadhan Series] Day 8 : Your God is not in Taiwan

That sentence came out from one of my Taiwanese friend. I was shocked. Totally shocked. I was speechless that she said something like that. Not once, not twice, but three times in a day on different occasions.

Me and my friends had a beautiful summer day and we had a lot of things happened. One of our friends was having her birthday and we will try Hijab. But before we celebrate her birthday, my Taiwanese friends were having a BBQ outside school. I was not invited. I understand because they knew I'm fasting this month. But even if I'm not fasting, I will not going to be invited as well because they had pork for BBQ. So, after they finished, they went to school and we got ready to celebrate our friend's birthday.

In the birthday celebration, they brought the pork and beef BBQ for one of our friends who didn't come along with them. Me and Riza (my junior in ITS, also form Indonesia and Muslim) don't eat pork and not eat anything that afternoon because we're fasting. But, suddenly one of my friend (the naughtiest one) told me something like this...

"Hei Intan..Riza.. you have to eat this pork! It's delicious. You know, your God is not in Taiwan. Your God is in Indonesia. He will not know you eat this!"

I was totally shocked... I didn't give any explanation. I was just speechless... and Riza, he also speechless. He just laughed.

I knew she was just kidding. But, I did really shocked of what she told me.

Then, my other friend asked me about Islam. Why we did fasting, how we pray, and why we had to pray to Mecca (she said Arab, not Mecca). After I explained all of those things... my naughtiest friend said it's incredible for Muslims to do fasting in Ramadhan from before sunrise to sunset. Then, she said again...

"You know... you don't have to do fasting in Taiwan. You can eat this cheese cake from her birthday. Your God is not here, Intan."

My second attack. I was totally shocked again. I couldn't believe she said something like that again.

and... I just didn't respond what she said.

So, after that... we were heading to lab because some of us want to try Hijab like me. I was very happy about it so I brought all of my beautiful Hijabs to school days before.

Funny things happen in my lab and my naughtiest friend ever said to me that I have no hair and that's why I covered it up with my Hijab, haha I always said to her that I have hair and she didn't believe it/ Some people also. That's why this day I showed to them my hair ( no boys there). They were just shocked to see my hair. hahahaha

But when my naughtiest friend saw my hair...she said..

"Intan...it's so beautiful. I want hair like you. You don't need to use Hijab. You are beautiful without Hijab. Your God is not here."

And this time...I counter-attacked.

I said to her that

"My God is everywhere. He can see everything I did wherever and whenever the situation is. I will always use this Hijab and do fasting and not eating pork. "

 She just laugh and said "Okay...okay..."

I knew all of these things are actually jokes. She didn't believe in God, that's why she said something like that. If she believe in particular religion, she will know that God is everywhere, no matter what religion she believe. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

She din't believe in God and any kind of religions, just like many Taiwanese. They went to temple, but not believe in particular religion. I don't know how to explain that.

Within this experience, I realized that they don't have any understanding about God. It is proven in another day when my friend asked me about Satan or Shaitaan.

Of course it seems weird for us who live and grown up in the religious environment, where believe in God is necessary, and meet people who didn't believe that God is exist. So, what we need to do if we got this kind of experience?

I can say... try the best to explain about Allah and Islam to them, a little by little. Don't try to give them all information in one occasion. It will make them "can't believe it". Try to explain based on their curiosity in one occasion to another. But, don't push to hard.

Da'wah is not only about in front of many people all at once. But, in front of one of your non-muslim friends is also a da'wah, isn't it?

Wish what we did is what Allah stated in Al-Qur'an.
Allah knows the best.
Allah knows every little intention in human's heart.

Jazakallahu Khairan Katsiran.