A time for holy fun

Insights, motivation and entertainment from Islamic arts

By Nurhafizah Yusof
Pictures by Victor Lo

All work and no play certainly makes Jack a dull boy. Islam, says Hajiji Noor, realizes this and thus encourages lawful entertainment to allow Muslims to live a balanced temporal and spiritual life in perfect harmony with Allah. The minister of local government and housing says Islamic arts such as the nasyid (religious songs), berzanji (rhyming prose) and berkompang (musical tambourines) are inspirational, motivational and entertaining.

They give insights to Muslims in coping with the challenges of globalisation, according to Hajiji who notes that the internet has transcended social and cultural norms that could lead Muslims astray.

He is thus happy that the Kota Kinabalu city hall has recently staged an Islamic arts festival at the community hall themed “1Malaysia, 1Ummah (community)”. “A civilised ummah is one who appreciates Islamic arts,” he says.

The enthusiastic response from young people to the berzanji, berkompang and nasyid competitions of the festival has been gratifying to the minister. They come from the city as well as Tuaran, Putatan and Papar.

Muhammad Ali, 44, takes pride in composing the music for the winning naysid songs for two Tuaran teams in the traditional and modern nasyid contests. Mahabbah won the traditional nasyid with “Tamsil di Padang Pasir (Like in the desert)” and Muhammad came in first in the modern nasyid with “Musafir Cinta (Love traveller)”.

“I took one day to write the songs,” says Muhammad. “And they trained for a month to improve their voices and harmony to bring the songs to life with a touch of emotion.”

He is an administrative assistant with the Sabah branch of Malaysia’s commission of co-operative societies. His wife Intan helps with the nasyid training. They have a daughter Farha Fazliana, 13, who is already a keen nasyid singer and they expect their three-year-old son Alif Aswad to pick it up in time to come.

Farmer Kamarudin Hasim, 45, wrote the lyrics. He says “Tamsil di Padang Pasir” speaks of the sacrifices and challenges of Prophet Muhammad and his companions.

“It took me half an hour to write the lyrics,” he says. “I want young people to know and appreciate the history of Islam.”

“Musafir Cinta” tells the story of a lost soul trying to get back to Allah. “This is a tough one for me,” says Kamarudin whose songs won the 1996 nasyid competition at the national festival. “I took one and a half day to complete the lyrics.” – Insight Sabah