Recently, the Fatwa Council of Perlis declared that reverts to Muslim could retain their father name or family name. For me, it is a great development for our Muslim community as it shows the universality of Islam; that it is relevant to all people in this world. But then, the Religious Advisor to the PM questions this move citing reasons such as the current system is good enough and 'causing awkwardness and lead to incomplete assimilation'.
Current system is good enough? Well, that's clearly an overstatement. There's still a lot of thing to be improved. People interested in embracing Islam are facing various difficulties and challenges. This is shared by Muslim reverts I known at Islamic Information Service.
Leading to Incomplete Assimilation? Assimilation to what? Assimilation to Malay? Heck, people embrace Islam to become a Muslim not a Malay! For me, Muslims with names like Lim Jooi Soon and Shah Kirit Kalikulal Govindji is not awkward at all. We interacted normally and jovially even. It is not impeding in any way. In my humble opinion, they served as a reminder of the universality of Islam and that God created people in different tribes and races for us to get to know each other.
Granted, names which reflects principles of religions other than Islam or carry bad meanings should be changed. But this should not lead to a blanket ban in retaining their old names.
Labels: Islam
