Japan - Not Muslim Friendly!

Apparently, Islam in Japan is a new concept and pretty recent compared to most other countries in the world. Introduced in Japan around 1870. However, actual Muslim communities began to exist due to migration of refugees from Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, Kirghistan, etc during the World War 1. So it was actually after this period that small Muslim population began existing in Japan. This was when the first mosques were built (like around late 1930s).

However, in building these mosques there wasnt much enthusiasm from the Japanese Muslims. In fact, none of the Japanese Muslims took up the role of imam in these mosques.

During World War 2, there were Islamic Centers set up which actually played an active role in publishing of several Islamic books. However, neither were these centers run by Muslim, nor was their purpose to propogate Islam. It was merely to learn about the Islamic population they would deal with during war conquers. (mostly for military people)

The World War ended, and these centers disappeared.

The next time Japan heard about Islam, was during a period when there was a lot of fuss about oil in the Middle East! All the picturizations and media coverage did some help, but that died down too.

Also, I just read that japanese used to have a veiw that Islam was a 'weird religion for the under-developed world'. And in an interview, a famous Japanese writer said the followers of Islam 'worship the sun'.

First Japanese Muslim Organization came into being only by 1950s.

A random (not so accurate) figure of the Muslim population in Japan, is about a thousand. However, taking into account 'only' the practicing Muslims would bring it down to a few hundred.

Nearly 80% of Japanese population is said to be Buddhist. Only around 0.8% Christians. However, some resources say that only 1 out of every 4 people actually believe in any religion at all. Which brings the atheist population to nearly 85%. This in itself makes dawa'ah hard.

Communication is also a major barrier for Islamic Dawa'ah in Japan. Japanese being not one of the common languages opted for in the rest of the world.

Another problem, is their lifestyle. The bowing as a part of showing respect, and the fact that they like to have collective events most of the time. It makes it hard to break ties with them, without angering them. (some of them get offended very easy).

Bringing up children in an environment where they are not in the least bit exposed to what a Muslim's life is like. Not being able to witness any Islamic way of living. Twists the kids from the very start!

Also, there is a lack of availability of dawa'ah material, or any material for that factor on basic Islamic teachings. Especially, those with japanese translations.

Is it a surprise that Dajjal is to rise from the far east? We haven't managed to touch that end of the world effectively!!

Sharjah Book Fair

So this weekend turned out busier than my weekdays. Me along with two of my friends and a couple of other colleages volunteered to help at the Used Book Fair at Qanat-al-Qasba in Sharjah to help raise funds for charity for suffering children.

The stall we were at was basically shared between our college (Gulf Medical College Ajman) and Preston University.

The evening shift was nice and pretty much fun. The fact that it wasnt as hot, and there were more people, which kept us busy. The kids there were a lot of fun too. The mango milkshake I had at the cafe in front of our stall was too good as well. Compliments to wahdamuslima's mom for inviting us. Not to mention the dinner at Subway later on.

The morning shift was actually no fun at all. It was really really hot and sunny. That equals to a lot of sweat and ickiness by the way. Also, there was hardly any people, which made it pretty much boring as well. Also, our lunch arrived late. That made us bored, hungry and sweaty. Not a very good combination, if you ask me. The fresh orange juice later that day, from the same cafe kinda like made up for all that.

Something I found disturbing, was how interested the little kids were in the Islamic books but having been disappointed because their moms dint approve of them. We found a lot of them like that. Most of the mothers did not want to buy the cute little islamic books for kids, for their children. I cannot think of why not. The oddest one was this 6 year old kid, who came to us on his own to have a look at the books. We had a cute little book named "My Wudu Book" with nice illustrations. We asked him if he knew how to make wudu. He dint know what 'wudu' meant. That raised the question "Are you muslim?". He says "one minute" and runs to his mom to ask whether he is muslim or not. He ran back to us, and says "Yes I am Muslim". A kid his age ought to know more than just "I am a Muslim". I'm surprised there are parents who dont do this little for their kids. Perhaps its not all that big a deal to many, but he was in an islamic country. How did it happen that he never knew he was muslim?

On another note, while we were on our way to the cafe to have drinks, wahdamuslima came up with the idea that we strike a bargain with the lady outside the cafe (who was giving out the menu and stuff). She told her "We'll have drinks at your cafe if you'll read this" (or something like that) and handed her a bunch of duas for various occassions (which we were giving out to people at our stall). And the next day, she said she actually did read it (erm considering she wasnt muslim). So the next day, we gave her another book to read (on Islam) and she said she would. We should go back there sometime to see what she thought of the book.

Oh and on the evening of the second day, we were supposed to come back home with a friend. We were meant to take a cab from where we were to where her car was (she had joined us for shopping and took ride with another friend because she dint wanna drive I think). She pointed to the building near which her car was parked. We decided it was walking distance, and the walk would be nice (by the side of the corniche). And so we were off. When we finally got there, she had second thoughts. Maybe the car isnt actually where she thinks it is. Sure enough we reached the parking lot under the building, and her car wasnt there.I thought it was really funny that someone could forget where they parked their car and just kept laughing and laughing. Took sometime for her to figure out that it was at a similar spot but on the opposite side. Considering we had to walk a lot more to get to the car, we had dinner at this Italian Pizza place. After which we made our way to the other side of the bridge and walked and walked and walked, and yea we did find her car in the end. In the end, turned out it was a good thing for her, because she got to stay overnight with us, considering how late it was we dint wanna make her drive back all the way.

Yup, it was a pretty busy weekend.

New Blog

So yea I made a new blog for myself. Its a place where I get to be geeky. Where I will dump all the medical or science related stuff.

All you nerds out there.. check it out!!

I'm not quite proud of it enough to show off, because its new and it doesnt have much yet.

InshaAllah, I will try to make myself regular there.