The Quran and the Bible do not contradict each other

In the name of God, the beneficent and most merciful.

“The Quran and the Bible do not contradict each other, except where the Bible contradicts itself.”

I shall begin this article by mentioning a quote from Albert Einstein. A scientist who did not discount the fact that there is a creator of the heavens and the earth.

“Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” ~Albert Einstein

Current situation right now

The world we live in right now, 2000 years after prophet Jesus and 1400 years after prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon them both) is wrought with many challenges to our faith and our decent and moral way of life.

Worldly distractions, temptations and other detractions that make us stray from the right path abound.

But I hope all of mankind would believe in God and be steadfast in following the way in which God has decreed for us.

This world is not permanent. We are transient beings

First and foremost, I’d like to remind myself and to everyone in this world that this world is not permanent. Everything shall come to pass.

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19)

“From the (earth) did We create you, and into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again.” (Quran chapter Ta-Ha. 20:55)

From these 2 similar message from both the Bible and the Quran, we can understand that everything comes from the Creator and to Him shall all things in this world be returned to.

It is with this basic belief that a person has peace in his heart; no matter whatever greatness that has been bestowed on him, or whatever calamity that has befallen him. Because the believing person knows that all these that he faces will all come to pass. Nothing is permanent.

Search for the Truth

The topic at hand is a rather huge undertaking for me as a student of knowledge who has just started to get deeper into his own faith in God. But nevertheless, I strongly believe in writing this out as a way of laying out my own thinking and also to help others out there who are searching out for the truth. May this article reach your heart to get you to search out for the truth yourself.

The need to recognize other religions in this planet

Because the world has become smaller with the advent of high speed communication, mode of transportation and other speedy contraptions; it has become common knowledge to everyone that there are many religions out there, calling out to mankind to acknowledge and to worship God the creator of the heavens and the earth.

There are of course people who reject the idea of God in totality. I will of course address this in another article, to try to explain that rejecting the “idea” of the existence of God is illogical. As a quick insight to this, picture a key.

The question is this: Who made the key, and for what purpose is the creation of this key?
another similar question that every human being asks him or herself: Who made me, and what is the purpose of my existence?

In the bible, there is an answer to this:

“Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

In the Quran, there is a similar message to that in the Bible:

“I have only created jinns and men, that they may worship Me.” (Quran chapter Adh Dhariyat [The wind that scatter] 51:56)

What does the word “Islam” mean?

At this point I think it will be good to educate and remind everyone in the world the meaning of the word “Islam” in the English language. Islam is an arabic word and it is derived from the root word سلم which means submission to the will of God. It also means peace.

Islam means submission to the will of God.

A person who does Islam, is called a Muslim.

In English, a person who does an action, a suffix “er“ is added to the verb. For example:

Work > worker

Travel > traveller

Recite > reciter

but we don’t say Islam > Islamer

In Arabic, the prefix “mu” is added to the verb. As an example:

سفر (safr = travel) >مسافر (musafr = traveller)

Azan (the call to prayer)  >  Muazan (the person who does the call to prayer)

Islam (submission to will of God)  >  Muslim (the person who submits to the will of God)

All religions in this world calls out to us to do good and acknowledge the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Most people after realizing that there are many religions out there, will come to the conclusion that all religions are the same. All of these religions are calling out to mankind for the very things that are already in the basic human natural instinct; that is to do good, have good moral values and to acknowledge that there is a greater power that creates the heavens and the earth.

This basic human instinct is actually ingrained in us all. Ever since we were born. In Islam we call this the state of Fitra.

Fitra means in the pure, sinless, faultless and with the basic understanding of moral values and the acknowledgement and submission to the will of God (Islam).

Prophet Muhammad said, “No child is born except on Al-fitra (Islam) and then his parents make him Jewish, Christian or Magian (Zoroastrian), as an animal produces a perfect young animal: do you see any part of its body amputated?”
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23, Number 441

Some people may also say that all religions have the same goal, it is just that the way to reach the “end goal” is different.

If all religions have the same end purpose but their means to reach this end purpose all differ from each other, which one should we follow?

A skeptical mind will definitely think that all these religions are all man-made! If they are man-made, why then should we follow a man-made religion?

That will surely be FOLLY!

Surely we can’t be following the ways of ALL these religions without questioning them. The only logical question that comes to our mind is:

which is the TRUE path to reach God? How do I know that what I am following is not man-made? Can you prove it?

Produce your proof if truly without doubt your religion is not man-made and completely from God almighty.

Because our topic focusses on the Quran and the Bible, I will only be discussing on the 2 religions that use these books.

Christians hold on dearly to their Bible as the true words of God and they believe that no one will enter paradise unless they be Christians.

People of the Jewish faith also hold their Bible as the true words of God. They too believe that none will enter paradise unless they be Jewish.

Do note that both of these faiths use the same books.

The Jews say: “The Christians have naught (to stand) upon; and the Christians say: “The Jews have naught (To stand) upon.” Yet they (Profess to) study the (same) Book. Like unto their word is what those say who know not; but Allah will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment.(Quran, chapter Al Baqarah [The cow] 2:113)

To understand what I mean by quoting this verse from the Quran, watch this dialogue between a Jewish rabbi Tovia Singer and a Christian Dr. William Lane Craig.

 

What do Muslims say about this?

God says in the Quran:
“And they say: “None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian.” Those are their (vain) desires. Say: “Produce your proof if ye are truthful.” (Quran Chapter Al Baqarah [The Cow] 2:111)

Examining the 2 Holy books: The Bible and the Quran

The Bible is regarded by Christians all over the world as the true words of God. Inside it contains the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.

Christians do not believe in any other book to guide them in this world and the hereafter. Because of this, most Christians  do not know much about Islam, let alone the contents in the Quran.

The Quran is regarded by all Muslims all over the world as the true word of God. Inside it contains the last revelation from God and it is regarded by Muslims as the Final Testament.

Why do Muslims regard the Quran as the Final Testament? This is because Muslims believe in both the Old and the New Testament that was originally bestowed upon prophet Moses (Musa), prophet David (Dawud) and prophet Jesus(‘Isa). Peace and blessings to them all.

And prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings to him) was given the final revelations from God through the angel Gabriel (Jibreel) as a rahmah (mercy, compassion) and guidance for all mankind till the end of time.

Before I begin a humble surface examination of the 2 books, I’d like to clear a few common misconceptions about the Quran and get it out of the way first.

Common misconception about the Quran

1) The Quran is not a book. “Quran” means “Recitation”. Quran is something that you recite and listen to. For example, you can only play and listen to music. The sheet music that you see is just a representation of that music. The Quran has been preserved and protected for 1400 years not through storing of the physical book, but through the memorization of all the 114 chapters in totality. Letter for letter. And today, there are millions of Muslims who have memorized the whole Quran. And each Muslim also has at the very least one chapter memorized and that is the first chapter called Fatiha (The Opening).

2) Translations of the Quran are not to be taken as the authentic Quran. As I have presented in my previous article with regards to translations, we must acknowledge that any translations of the Quran done by man inherently come with the translator’s own perception of the meaning of the Quran. It does not necessarily convey the true original meaning of the Quran. Why so? This is because Arabic is a very rich language. A single root word in Arabic can convey multiple meanings. Muslims are exceptionally particular on the authenticity of the Quran. Translations are not considered the authentic Quran. Any ambiguity that arises from these translations should be resolved by referring back to the original source which is in Arabic.

to be continued..

Reconciling Christianity and Islam

I feel a certain dire need to put out an article on this because of an incident that happened to me about a month ago.

I was having desserts with 2 Singaporean friends who happen to be Christians. One of them asked me who or what do Muslims worship?

I have to thank her for asking me about my religion. I could at least, in that limited time explain to her who Muslims pray to.

And this is why I have a compelling need to write this. It is surprising to me to find out that a lot of Christians do not know that God in the bible is the same God that is in the Quran.

Allah  is the proper noun for God in the Arabic language. This is how the Arabic writing looks like in the Quran: اللهُ

In the Arabic translation of the bible, اللهُ  is also used for the word God.

For example in the first verse of the first chapter (Genesis) in the bible:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

In the Arabic bible, this is how it looks like:

فِي الْبَدْءِ خَلَقَ اللهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ.

Notice the characters I underlined? It is the same Arabic word used in the Quran for God.

Thus everyone must know, that in Islam, Muslims worship Allah, the same God that Christians and the Jews refer to in the bible.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all what we call “Abrahamic” faith. They have their roots from the beginning of time when God created Adam and until prophet Abraham when he called on his people to stop praying to idols which they had created by their own hands and to acknowledge and worship only ONE God. The creator of the heavens and the earth.

Monotheism was preached by all the prophets since prophet Adam (peace and blessings upon him).

So back to Monotheism. This is the common teachings in the 3 holy books.

In the Jewish Torah:  “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God”  (Isaiah 44:6);

In the Bible: “The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29);

In the Quran: “He is God, the One and Only” (Quran 112:1).

Monotheism is not only the unifying factor in these 3 religions. All the prophets mentioned in the holy books from the Jewish faith and Christianity are found in the Quran. For example the prophets Adam, Jonah, David, Solomon, Noah, Lot, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Moses  are all found in the Quran.

The major difference between the 3 religions is when Jesus is not in the teachings of the Jewish faith.

Only Christianity and Islam believe in prophet Jesus and his miraculous birth. A Muslim cannot call oneself a Muslim if one does not believe in prophet Jesus (peace and blessings on him).

Thus far, I will present some verses and teachings from all the 3 different faiths and hopefully shed light on how they are truly the same between the 3 religion. But because this article is about reconciling Christianity and Islam, I will inadvertently not mention much about the Jewish Faith. Though the old Testament used by the Jews are also found in the Christian Bible.

Unifying factors between Christianity and Islam

The unifying factors between this 2 religion can be found in the teachings in both the holy Bible and the holy Quran. There are many but I shall list down a few:

Humbling while Praying by Bowing Heads to the Ground:

“Abraham fell his face…” (Genesis 17:3).
“Moses…bowed his head…” (Exodus 34:8).
“Jesus…fell on his face and prayed…” (Matthew26:39).

Muslims pray in the same way. Just go to any masjid in near your hometown and observe. Muslims are actually continuing the teachings of the prophets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/galleries/salah/

At this point, the question I have for Christians is this: why is the prophet’s practices and teachings in the holy Bible not followed?

Not bowing to statues/images:

“Thou shall not…any graven image…(Exodus).
Muslims do not bow to statues, images or anything except God.

Now at this point I want to show you the contrast between a typical Catholic church and a Masjid.

many statues and images in a Catholic Church

[caption id="attachment_1095" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="inside a typical Masjid. No images or statues"][/caption]From here, I have another question, why do Christians have statues and images in churches and in their homes? Why are the teachings in the bible not followed?
A point to note is the contrast between the interior of the church and that of the masjid. Muslims have been following the teachings in the Quran which is similar in the Bible. This is nothing new, Muslims are simply following the teachings of the prophets in the scriptures.

Decoration of Trees:

It is forbidden in the Bible (Jeremiah 10:2-5).
Muslims do not decorate trees.

Christmas tree. Well decorated.

Yet another question from me. Why do many Christians have decorated trees in their homes and some churches even have this, and hold events around the tree? Why are the teachings in the Bible not followed?

Everlasting Covenant:

God made everlasting covenants with Abraham and his descendants.
Muslims still keep this covenant; they circumcise their sons at birth.
The Jewish faith also require their sons to circumcise at birth.

Yet another question. Why are Christians not following this requirement in the Bible?

Disapprove Homosexuality:

“…the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah..He overthrew those cities…”  (Genesis).
Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam.

Another question is this: This is clear in the bible. But why are there homosexual priests and archbishops today? Why do Christians allow this?

Wine drinking prohibited:

“…drink neither wine nor strong drink…” (Luke 1:15).
Muslims do not drink wine or alcohol ever.

Why are Christians allowing the drinking of wine, even if its in small amounts?

Catholic priest with a chalice for mass wine

Pork is forbidden:

God ordered Moses: “And the swine is unclean to you…” (Leviticus 11:7). Jesus never ate pork in his life.
Muslims never eat pork.

Jewish faith prohibits the followers from eating pork.

McPork in Japan

Why do Christians eat pork? It is clearly stated in the bible that Pork is forbidden. Some Christians will say that the teachings of Paul in the new Testament says its permissible to eat pork. Paul who was never a disciple or a companion of Jesus. He even persecuted the Christians! So why are his “visions of Jesus” in his dream made out to be the truth?

Jesus himself said as recorded in the holy Bible:
¹⁷Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

What does this say? It clearly says that Jesus’ teachings are not against the teachings of the prophets of the past, like the teachings of Moses. Jesus did not come to change the law. Not even the slightest bit. Now if Jesus says this himself, why then do Christians hold the teachings of Paul in greater honor than Jesus? Who is a better person; Jesus or Paul?

Who IS Paul really? Is he really one of Jesus’ disciples? Or did he himself proclaim a disciple of Jesus? Did he really know Jesus like how the 12 disciples knew Jesus?

Clearly there is a clear contradiction between the Old and the New Testament.

Listen to what Joel Osteen, a Christian Minister is calling on his congregation in this conference to stop eating pork.

Anyway, here’s another interesting thing that’s a bit more current.

There are a lot of debate happening now in the Western world on whether the word Allah should be substituted for the word God in the bible. A lot of Christian ministers and leaders in these English speaking countries are up in arms against it. They would only recognize the letters “G” “O” “D” that make up the word God. But why be so vehement about it?

Take for example a certain Catholic priest called Father Jonathan Morris. An American who’s native tongue is American English spoke adamantly against the usage of Allah instead of God to refer to the creator of the Heavens and the Earth. The Creator whom all Jewish, Christians and Muslims worship to.

Watch this video and open your mind against his bias towards the English language, so much so that he marginalized the Arab Christians who has been using the name Allah to represent God in the Arabic Bible.

And then in the later part of the interview he makes his point that he doesn’t know whether Muslims worship the same God as Christians do. And he also make the insecure statement to mean that Allah that Muslims worship is the same God that Muslim terrorists call out to.

Why I say insecure is because these terrorist who claim themselves Muslims are actually against the teachings in the Quran and the teachings of prophet Muhammad. Also, they are minute number of people among the populations that call themselves Muslims. For Father Jonathan Morris to give such a statement boldly is truly shortsighted.

Again I must explain why I say his statement is shortsighted. Everybody in this world must know that even in the Christian population in this world there are many acts of terrorism that are happening. Why are they not hyped up in the media?

There are many people who may be swayed by Father Jonathan Morris when he said what he said. Most of them I would hazard a guess would come from America. The mass media there is forever portraying and highlighting the terrorist acts by these so called Muslims. Why are the terrorist acts done by the Israelis on the Palestinians not heard of much in the UK and in the US?

But of course this is out of the context of this article. So let’s move on.

After saying all that, my point is this. Everyone in this world should know that prophet Jesus (peace and blessings to him) and his people during his time spoke Aramaic. Thus his scriptures and his books were all written in Aramaic.

Aramaic is a sister language to Arabic and Hebrew.

If you watch Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”, you can hear the actor portraying Jesus crying out loud “Elahi!” when he was hung on the cross.

"elahi.."

In Hebrew the word God is Elohim.

The original Bible was most definitely in Aramaic. However it is a fact that the original Bible in Aramaic during Jesus’ time can longer be found. However some parchments from the Dead Sea scrolls that were found, were written in Aramaic describing the sayings of prophet Jesus.

The bible now 2000 years after Jesus time has been translated into many languages. The most widely used language now is English.

We have to understand the events that happened to the translations of the Bible since 2000 years ago.

To put it simplistically:

Aramaic (original) translated to Greek and later translated to Latin and much later translated to English in most countries right now.

Please forgive me for this is a simplified historical layout. I have not mentioned all other languages that the Bible has been translated into. But just know that it has been translated into many languages through the ages.

Keep in mind that the original Bible during Jesus’ time which is in Aramaic, can no longer be found.

Lost in Translation

I like this movie. But it has nothing to do with my article here. Just that I liked the phrase “Lost in Translation”.

Everyone must of course know that if you translate a sentence or a passage from one language to another, the original meaning can not really be truly expressed.

For example, Japanese likes to say よろしくお願いします　”yoroshiku onegaishimasu”. In English the literal translation to this is “please cooperate with me”. However, the real meaning among Japanese people is actually much more than this. In this 2 words, the Japanese can actually make it to mean many things. In English it can roughly translate to “please remember me” or “please help me”, or “please treat me well” and more! But do keep in mind that this is very difficult to express accurately in English because those 2 simple Japanese words has a greater meaning for them.

Now to relate back to the holy Bible, the original Bible written in Aramaic can no longer be found. It is lost or destroyed. What happened was translations of it was made into Greek. Imagine how the meaning of the original text can easily be lost in translation.

After 2000 years, what we have now are the copies of the Holy Bible translated into many different languages. The most popular being the English translations.

In contrast, the Quran which was revealed 1400 years ago is still the same Quran found today. 1400 years after prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings on him) died. Millions of people from all over the world memorize the whole Quranic scriptures from cover to cover. These people who memorized all the verses in the Quran if they are to hear anyone making a mistake when reciting the Quran they will immediately point out the error.

After stating these facts, I would like to emphasize that Muslims have to believe in the original Bible as well as the original Torah as part of the tenets of belief in Islam. However, Muslim are not able to accept the Bible or Torah in its entirety now because it is no longer in its original text. However we do acknowledge that there are remnants of the true teachings of the prophets as well as God’s words in those 2 holy books.

In the next article I will make a case why Muslims consider the Holy Bible today cannot be taken as the true words of God in totality.

Think Fast iPhone game is now available on the iTunes AppStore!

Finally Apple has approved my submission and the game is now live on the iTunes appStore starting today.

Check it out now!

Ainu Museum in Shiraoi Hokkaido

Went to Shiraoi to visit the Ainu Museum.

The Ainus are Hokkaido’s aborigines. Their language is dying. They do not have any written language. Only spoken.

They have suffered quite a bit under the Japanese rule.

read about them here

tatoos on their hands

ladies tattoo their lips for beautification

Poroto Lake

Poroto Lake

Wearing the traditional Ainu garb

21 June 2009

Shiraoi, Hokkaido Japan

Screenshots for Think Fast brain game

Think Fast is almost ready to be submitted to the iTunes app store.

But before that, here’s some screenshots of the game!

  

I think this game need not have its game instructions translated into different languages.

Mathematics is a universal language. The Arabic numerals and the mathematical operators are being used everywhere in the world.

Wadaiko

It has been a very long while since my last post.

Anyway, here are more posts on what has been going from the month of May this year onwards!

Went to an introductory session on Wadaiko. Japanese drums and dancing Oni.

Japanese drums

Prancing demon

I had to have a go at the big one!

The molds are made of clay. The finished mask is made of Japanese paper

Location, Odori, Sapporo

May 31 2009

Think Fast mobile game on your iPhone/iPod Touch soon!

Yes! After much thought and seeking out help from great people from another part of the world, I am very happy to announce that Think Fast will soon be available on the iPhone and iPod Touch!

More information will be put up here. The game will also have its own page soon.

Later.

The origin of the word alamak II

In my previous post, I had two theories about this. The first theory was that the word “Alamak” came from the Japanese. The second theory was that the word came from the Malays.

Before I proceed, please be aware that all these that I have written here are based on wikipedia entries as well as from my personal experience with the Malay language, customs and traditions. Please note that wikipedia entries can be a bit dubious. You are very much welcomed to give your comments if you disagree with me.

After searching around for clues, it seems that the second theory is the most likely one. I found out that the word “Alamak” is very much likely to come from or influenced by Sanskrit rather than Arabic. I am not sure why people who speak Kristang claim that “alamak” originated form their language, but I beg very much to differ!

Why?

Let’s look at the chronological history of the lingua franca in this part of the region, the Malay Archipelago. This region includes Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malayarch.jpg

 

SANSKRIT: THE LANGUAGE OF THE OLD MALAY LAND

Malay is currently spoken in Singapore, Malaysia, Sumatra and Brunei. Bahasa Indonesia is spoken in Indonesia. Both Malay and Bahasa Indonesia originate from the old Malay language. The “birthplace” of the Malay language is said to be the Riau Islands.
Today, much of Bahasa Indonesia’s vocabulary are quite distinct from the current Malay language spoken today. However a lot of basic words are similar between the two languages. That’s good because I speak Malay and it is not too much of a problem for me to have a simple conversation with speakers of Bahasa Indonesia.

Refer here for quite a comprehensive list of words from both Malay and Indonesian that are similar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_Malay_and_Indonesian

 

The old Malay language evolved from Sanskrit. Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages in the world and was used by the people living in this part of the region a very long time ago. Sanskrit is the “lingua franca” for Hinduism and Buddhism circa 1500 BCE. We can safely assume from here that the old Malays embraced Hindu/Buddhism as their religion. Their customs and traditions were based on this religion as well.

Hinduism

Buddhism

 

The old Malay language that was based on Sanskrit was found to be around 682 AD. This was evident when a small stone was discovered by a Dutchman named M. Batenburg. That small stone had an old inscription written in Pallava/Vatteluttu (வட்டெழுத்து) script . Pallava is a writing system for Sanskrit.

 

It is also believed that the spread of Islam started in Aceh (Indonesia) much earlier in the 1200’s.

Islamic/Arabic influence in the Malay Archipelago however dated back to around the 1300’s as proven by the stone scriptures found in Terengganu, Malaysia.

Around this time, the writing system of the Malays had already switched from Pallava to Jawi script. Jawi is an adapted Arabic alphabet for writing the Malay language.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/malay.htm

Portuguese influence on the Malay language only became significant and ultimately forming the creole Kristang when they conquered Malacca in 1511.

Picture from the article in the Malaysian newspaper The Star.

 

A Formosa fort, a remnant of the Portuguese occupiers in Malacca circa 1511.

 

So why do I think the word “Alamak” originated from Sanskrit?

Alright, on its own, the word does not really mean anything. It is just a cry or a yelp uttered to express a sense of regret.

So let’s break that word up into its parts “ala” and “mak”.

The word allaa means (goddess) mother in sanskrit. अल्ला
Another word for mother in sanskrit is maatr मातृ
You can find out the translation from English to Sanskrit here.

In arabic, “Allah” means god and mother is called Om أم or Ommy أمي

In portuguese “ala” means wing. Also the portuguese word for mother is mãe or madre. Click here for a translation web service from google.
[On a side note:
Italian also uses the word "madre" to mean mother.
The French calls mother mère.

Notice that nouns in these few European languages that are used to represent mother mostly starts with the consonant "m" and followed by the vowel "a" or "e". similar to Sanskrit.

Not surprising because Sanskrit shares similar characteristics to the Indo-European languages.

An interesting pattern I noticed is that the consonant "m" is used for mother in Sanskrit, Arabic and various European languages.
Also the word for mother in modern Malay is emak. ]

Thus far, to say “alamak” to have come from Kristang and due to its Portuguese origin is a rather inaccurate assumption mainly because of the chronology of the arrival of the Portuguese on Malaccan soil.

 

Presently, that exclamatory word “alamak” is still being used in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and parts of Indonesia. Though in brunei, it is most commonly shortened to “alaa”.

A good question to ask is: when did the word “alamak” start to become popular?
I would say the word is as old as the Malay Language itself.

How come?

Because the current Malay language still has words that has their roots in Sanskrit. A lot of words in from the Old Malay (Sanskrit based) are being used in our contemporary Malay language.

Take a look at this excerpt from the wikipedia entry:

The text in Old Malay is:

svasti śrī śakavaŕşātīta 605 (604 ?) ekādaśī śu

klapakşa vulan vaiśākha dapunta hiya<m> nāyik di

sāmvau mangalap siddhayātra di saptamī śuklapakşa

vulan jyeşţha dapunta hiya<m> maŕlapas dari minānga

tāmvan mamāva yam vala dualakşa dangan ko-

duaratus cāra di sāmvau dangan jālan sarivu

tlurātus sapulu dua vañakña dātam di mata jap

sukhacitta di pañcamī śuklapakşa vula<n>….

laghu mudita dātam marvuat vanua …..

śrīvijaya jaya siddhayātra subhikşa …..

Translation in Malay Language

The translation in Malay Language is:

Selamat dan bahagia! Dalam Shaka 605, pada sebelas

hari bulan terang dari bulan Waisyakha Baginda naik

kapal mencari untungnya pada tujuh

hari bulan terang dari bulan Jyestha Baginda berangkat

dari muara Tamvan membawa bala dua laksa dengan

… dua ratus pawang di kapal dengan yang jalan kaki seribu

tiga ratus dua belas banyaknya datang di Matajap

suka cita. Pada lima hari bulan terang dari bulan Asada

belayar mudik, datang membuat benua …

Srivijaya kota yang berjaya, yang bahagia, dan yang makmur!

 

English Translation for Malay Language version of the inscription

All hail and prosperity! In the year 605 of the Saka calendar, on the eleventh

day on the full moon of Waisaka, His Majesty took

a boat to find a living. On the seventh day

on the full moon of Jyesta, His Majesty

brings 2000 troops and

312 people in boats from firth of Tamvan, With 1312 foot soldiers

and came to Matajap

happily. On the fifth day on the bright moon of Asada,

they docked and open a country …

Great, prosperous and peaceful Srivijaya!

if you read that inscription on wikipedia above, and try to make a comparison between the Old malay (based on Sanskrit) and our contemporary Malay, you can find similar sounding words and meanings.

I’ll list some of them which I recognize here:

Old Malay (Sankrit influenced) >> Malay >> English

vulan = bulan = moon
nayik = naik = get on
samvau = sampan? = boat
duaratus = dua ratus = two hundred
sapulu = sepuluh = ten
sapulu dua = sebelas = eleven (interesting note Japanese way of counting is similar; ju-ni)
sarivu = seribu = a thousand
jalan = jalan = way/walk
dangan = dengan = with
sukhacitta = sukacita = glad
jaya = jaya = successful

 

The question that remains to be answered is why Alamak means “God! Mother!”

A very good question. I will update this post with my answer soon.

 

 

Now that the origin of “Alamak” has been more or less demystified, we are now back to the question:

How did the Japanese come to use the word あらまあ (aramaa)?

I feel the best reason is often the simplest one.
And that reason is simply trade.

Trading between Japan and Southeast Asia.

In my previous post I did mention that I did not come across or learn about any commercial activities between Japan and the Malay Archipelago in the 1600’s. After I trawled the pages in Wikipedia, I discovered that there were indeed some trade activities between them though it was rather brief.

During this period in the 16th till 17th century, a significant Japanese community existed in parts of Southeast Asia. These Japanese community/town were called Nihonmachi (日本街). I found that there were nihonmachi in Batavia (what is now known as jakarta) and as far as Makassar (part of Majapahit rule). Reid, Anthony. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990, 1993.

I think it best to reference the Nihonmachi in the Philippines. The Japanese had a presence in the Philippines even before the Spanish colonization. Official trade between the two countries was established through the Red Seal Ships system.

The Red Seal Ships system was necessary because this will help to differentiate the legal trading ships from the notorious ”Wakō” pirates; both from Japan.

It is also worth mentioning that many Southeast Asian ports welcomed these Japanese traders during the 16th to 17th century .

However, I did not find any article or pages of a book that has any mentions of a nihonmachi in Melaka(malacca) though.

I found it interesting to find out that these nihonmachi still persisted even after the closed-door policy Sakoku (鎖国)  of the Tokugawa shogunate was enforced. I think it is prudent to say that it is entirely plausible that these Japanese communities that existed in the Malay Archipelago had mingled well with the natives. They might also have travelled across and all over the Archipelago.

That brief period of time would be sufficient to transfer a lot of words that are peculiar to the Malay language to the Japanese Language. These Japanese traders would have brought with them these new vocabularies to their own land before Sakoku was enforced.

[Another side note:
Chawan (ちゃわん）= cawan (malay) = cup (english) ]

So that’s it! If you have any comments please write it in the comments box!

I’ve got it!

I believe I have found the most plausible origin of the word Alamak as well as the reason for the same word to be used by the Japanese.
I will soon post that article once I take a long break from coding my next game “carousel”.

The origin of the word Alamak

Read my second post after much “research”!

About 20 years ago, I vaguely remembered asking my mother as well as my Malay language teacher how this word came about. I couldn’t really get an answer to it. And I left it at that. But now after living here in Japan, I can’t help but asking myself the same question again!

I find this an interesting topic. I’m not a “historical linguist”. If you are and you can back me up with more facts about this, it would be a great help.

The expression “Oh my goodness!” is being said by many people in the world using different words in different languages.

In Japanese, it’s あらまあ！(pronounced: a-ra-ma-a)
It doesn’t really have any literal meaning to it. Its just a word expressing an exclamation.

Interestingly, in Malay its “Alamak!”
This is a word that can be broken up to mean “alah” which is a lazy tongue pronunciation of “Allah” and “Mak” which means mother. Some malay people believe “Alamak” can also mean “oh dear mother…!”

That Japanese word or expression might have been assimilated into the linguistic repertoire of the malay language or it’s the other way around! Many theories abound. And for the purpose of this post, these are just my own.

First theory:

Alamak originally comes from the Japanese.

I say “originally” because I asked one of the Japanese teachers to find out from him whether he knew that word is old or relatively new. He said that word may have been used for ages. Maybe since the Edo period (1603-1867).

Now, there has been no recorded history, of someone from the Malay Archipelago back in 1800’s or prior to that, who have ventured into Japan. Nor has there been any official representative from Japan to the Malayan Archipelago during that period. (Well the archipelago I’m mentioning here will exclude the philippines for the purpose of putting forth my theory.)

Diplomatic missions to China, yes there were. The great Sultans from Melaka (Malacca) have sent emissaries to China and also established cordial relationship with that country in order to seek protection from the bullying forces of the Siamese Kingdom.

**On a side note, what I write here is what I have learned in the history books so far. This was back in the days when Singapore students like myself were studying relevant historical knowledge of their country and the neighboring states. By “historical” I mean prior to the 1700’s. Now, I believe students are studying recent histories from 1819 onwards. Students now don’t even know anybody else in the history books apart from Sang Nila Utama and Sir Stamford Raffles. All other historical events are just being glossed over . Now students are only conscious of their history from like 50 years ago. Why is that? Why are they shortchanged? Is this part of a greater political motive?**

Back in 1942 to 1945 when the Japanese wrested control of Malaya from the British and occupied the territories of Malaya, they set up Japanese language schools. Japanese teachers teaching the Japanese language in Malaya back in those war-time might have cried “あらまあ！” in exasperation with their students. I guess that word could have been one of the (many?) Japanese words that are left as a legacy in this part of the Asian world.

Thus that supposedly Malay word “alamak” may not be that old after all!

But how can that be? I remember a long time ago hearing my grandfather saying “alamak!” when he forgot the keys to his scooter. Could he have heard it from the Japanese back then? Was it made popular by the people back then to ridicule those Japanese occupiers as they trudge back to their ships to sail back to Japan. Or could that word “Alamak” been used ever since Islam was first embraced by the Sultan in Melaka (Malacca)?

That brings me to the second theory:

あらまあ！ comes from the Malays

Now this is also very interesting. Two “sub-theories” from this.

First:
The Japanese occupying force in Malaya back in 1942 to 1945 quite like that word “Alamak” (maybe its catchy) so they brought that word back home to Japan after the war and used it liberally among their fellow Japanese.

Second:
There were indeed sea-farers like the Orang Laut from the Malayan Archipelago who have travelled all the way to Japan during the Edo period. I presume this was possible after diplomatic missions to China were made and cordial relations were established. The Orang Laut or people from the Melaka Sultanate may have ventured towards Japan.

But could this possibly happen? As far as I know, the Japanese Shogunate had a closed door policy. During the Edo period, any foreign powers who landed on Japanese shores will be attacked, killed and completely destroyed. Maybe the Shogun made it an exception, seeing that these seafarers were unlikely to be from Europe. Also, the likelihood of the Japanese to venture out of Japan during the Edo period is close to nil because of the closed door policy. No Japanese who went abroad can come back and none from within can go out.

So that leads me to another question. What do you think?