2010...

New year has come ! Goodbye 2009, welcome 2010 ! Hahaha... 2009 had been a blissful year, although the ups and downs were there, but it's life, right ? But how about 2010 ? Who knows.. Well, like Eleanor Roosevelt once stated, "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why its called the present." So, happy 2010 everyone !

I sent a new year greeting to over 500 contacts through Yahoo!Messenger and Windows Live, and all of the replies were the same, friendly greetings of New Year, but one of them really piqued my interest. Lemme share it.

"PERHATIAN WAHAI UMAT ISLAM..!! Bila smpi 31 dsember,brape rmikah yg brsedia mraikn thn baru??ttpi sdrkh mreka bhwa tlh difatwakn oleh Sheikh al Azhar,Sheikh Tantawi,Sheikh Yusof al Qardhawi..dan ulama2 kontmporary bhwe myambut Thn Baru bererti mymbut ulangtahun hari jd tuhan yahudi & kristian.Bagi mrk yg x tahu,hukumnyer fasiq(dosa bsr),ttpi bg yg dh thu..hukumya MURTAD.. Astaghfirullah.."

When I read this, I went like "What the ****?" Was this fella serious ?

First of all, we, the people around the world use the Gregorian Calender, the 12-month based calender, since it was accepted worldwide, and plus, the Muslims also use the Islamic calendar.

The person who sent me the above message is seriously narrow-minded. Did he seriously think that we celebrated the New Year based on the Christian and Jew's belief ? No, we celebrated the New Year because it means the coming of a new year, in this case, 2010. We're living in a world based on the 12 months calender. We do activities, work, daily routines on a 365 / 366 days, but in our heart, we're Muslim, we pray, we fast in Ramadhan, we celebrate Eid, Maal Hijrah cause that is who we are. For me, never in my mind I celebrated New Year for the sake of Christian / Jew's belief, but for the coming of a new year, schooltime, and who knows what more to come. We celebrate to share the joy of the celebration, just as the other religions did with us during Eid-ul Fitr, and just as we did with them during Christmas, Chinese New Year, and Deepavali. We celebrate those festivals because of the joy it brings, the unity amongst ourselves, especially in Malaysia, where different races live in harmony. Not because we Muslims worshiped their God/s and follow what they preached. There are some Muslims that despise their brothers and sisters of Islam who join the other to celebrate religious festivals, but they need to note something, like during Christmas, not all Muslims, at least for me, was celebrating as a remembrance for Jesus's birth, but to join the joy the festival brought. What I like about Christmas are the songs played on radios, the movies with deep moral values, and also the decorations in malls and shopping complex, and not religion-based interests.

Right... This is just an opinion of mine. Being my second language, I don't think I represent my opinion smoothly, but you might as well roughly get my idea. If any of the words might upset, disturb, or hurt you, I'm deeply sorry in advance, but this is my own words and I stand strong by it.

Well, that's all for now. Cheers.