The thousands of Malaysian students who are studying abroad are really an asset to their country and their country should be proud of them. You have only to walk around the area of Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo to be immediately impressed by the politeness and good manners of the students from Malaysia, who have crossed the globe and come to the heart of the Muslim world to learn about Islam. Or you could walk outside the Faculty of Medicine in Alexandria and be equally impressed by the cheerfulness and the serious attitude to study of the many Malaysians who have come to study Medicine in Egypt. Ramadan is a good time for us all to reflect on the image of Islam we present to the world. This week being the week in which Malaysia celebrates its National Day on 31st August is a good chance to think about Islam there and how that nation of twenty seven million people has a profound effect on the world of Islam. Standing just across from the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, for example, the Malaysian Islamic Arts Museum teaches us something very important about Islam. Opened in 1998, it is not just the beauty and the cleanliness of the modern building which reminds us all of the beauty and the cleanliness which is at the heart of Islam. Nor is it just the professionalism with which the exhibits are displayed which serves to remind us that Muslims are called to be hard working, honest and professional in all that they do. In fact, a visit to the Islamic Arts Museum, the largest in South East Asia, is to take a journey through the Muslim world. What is especially captivating is the way that Islam is presented as a truly universal religion. There is indeed one of the world's largest scale models of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah, as well as jewellery and artifacts from the Arab lands, but the Museum puts Islam within its proper context, reminding us that Arabs make up just eighteen per cent of the world's Muslims. Malaysia's neighbour Indonesia, for example, has more Muslims than all the Arab countries put together. It is a lesson that the Western world needs to be reminded of again and again, but no Arab or Muslim armies ever visited Indonesia and Malaysia. Islam was brought there by honest Muslim traders, whose lives made such an effect on the local people that the locals wanted to be like them. Islam was spread through South East by the good example of Muslims, living good lives and showing that in all things they were seeking to please Allah. What a wonderful way that would be of changing people's attitudes about Islam today! Instead of seeing Islam as a religion of terrorists and fanatics, the world would see it as a religion in which people find complete happiness by submitting to the Will of Allah alone. The Museum has twelve galleries. Instead of concentrating most of its efforts, as many similar museums do, on the legacy of Persia and the Middle East, there are also galleries dedicated to China and South East Asia, as well as an impressive gallery which displays the significance to the Muslim world of India. These galleries also reflect the multi-cultural nature of Malaysia itself, which even though it has a Muslim majority of about sixty per cent of the population, is nonetheless home to citizens of Chinese and Indian descent. The building itself is the star. Craftsmen from Iran and Uzbekistan have managed to create tile work and plasterwork of exquisite beauty. The white open spaces and marble floors give visitors the chance to relax and reflect as they wander through other galleries dedicated to Glass & Ceramics, Woodwork, Metalwork, Textiles, Jewellery and Arms & Armour. No Islamic Museum could neglect the influence of the Ottoman Empire on our world or on the artistic heritage of Islam, and there is a beautifully reconstructed interior of an Ottoman Syrian room dated 1820-1821. Space is also used very cleverly by the use of scale models throughout the building, showing mosques from Arabia, Central Asia, China and South East Asia. It is perhaps typical of the professionalism and attention to detail of Malaysia's Muslims that even the Museum shop and restaurant are a joy to behold, excelling most of their counterparts throughout the world. In wishing Malaysia's Muslims, then, a happy National Day and wishing every blessing of Ramadan on their nation, we can all step back and learn something for our own lives. Will this Ramadan be just another Ramadan amongst many others? Will we fast from morning to night for a whole month and then carry on with our lives when Ramadan has finished as though nothing had really changed? Or will we accept this Ramadan for what it is – a gift to Muslims. People throughout the world would love the chance to put the past behind them and to make a new start in their lives. They would love to turn a page on past mistakes and try to start living as they know they should. Well, that is the gift which Ramadan offers us. Muslims read in the Holy Quran in Surat Al-Ma'idah: "This day have I perfected your religion for you, Completed My favour on you and chosen for you Islam as your religion." 5:3 We can either let the days of Ramadan pass us by, as they always do, reaching their conclusion at the end of the holy month with our fasting and good deeds complete, or we can seize each one of them, taking to heart those words of the Qur'an as if they were being addressed to each one of us today. Maybe if we did that, the mighty powers of this world would sit up and take note of the message of Islam which swept through South East Asia by the example of simple, honest men and women. Let Malaysia's Muslims remind us all to take time out this Ramadan to think where we are going. British Muslim writer, Idris Tawfiq, recently spent two weeks in Malaysia and Singapore talking about Islam as part of a Speaking Tour. You can visit his website at www.idristawfiq.com.
