My tkd class is growing bigger. I had two new students last Sunday, and the celebrity Ustaz told me that he wanted to register his three children. Could feel my lips stretched to my ears. I didn't expect the celebrity Ustaz to be so open minded. Yalah, I was quite worried if he's of the opinion that women should not teach or get involved in extreme things, I mean martial arts and other sports lah, but was glad when he came to see me during the training session.

scene 1
I used to attend a sekolah agama in some ulu banat place lah. When I was in form 5, I was the vice president of the silat and taekwondo society. On soprts day, I participated in both tkd and silat demo. I conducted the silat demo bcos I was the most senior student (acc.to belt). I stood in front the tetamu kehormat -guru besar, guru disiplin and one cikgu agama - and gave out the instructions. I heard the ustaz saying "apa tak ada budak lelaki ke yang boleh jadi ketua, apa pasal nak suruh budak perempuan, tak patut nih, salah ni, mengarut, maksiat". I was quite offended by the maksiat remark.

scene 2
I subscribed to my school's alumni mailing list. I send an email requesting my friends to donate their old tkd uniforms for the charity class. One guy replied my email and accused me of blindly following the buddhist monks way of defending themselves, bcos I learn tkd. He argued that women should not terjerit2 and terkangkang2 (this were his own words) while doing all the kicks etc, and bowing to our instructor or leader is definitely sesat! He blamed me for promoting the buddhist's theology and arts...kepala hotak engkau lah! The second part of his email, he mentioned about silat cekak, claiming it as the most ideal art of self-defense. If he replied my email privately (to me alone), I would simply ignore him but everybody in the mailing list received the reply so I had to do something. I looked into my usul fiqh notes to find the nas,dalil (evidence) for 'uruf or customary law - for the bowing tradition. And explained that tkd is not about menjerit and terkangkang (tak senonoh betul bunyi nyer). I compared tkd to other martial arts, and suggested that every martial arts has its own flaws and advantages. He kept quite...but my friends hentam him kaw2 in the mailing list, even the seniors hehehe.

scene 3
A friend from my univ said that practising tkd is against Islam, and we as Malays must jaga our heritage, our silat etc. Aiyoo, I'm so damned tired with these kind of people. Kenapa tak cakap aerospace technology tuh sesat, kan orang barat punya ilmu. Kenapa tak kata guna Microsoft software tu haram, bcos Bill Gates is a non-Muslims! In life, we might face these kind of stupid people, cakap berkobar-kobar, berapi-api, tapi isi elek, kosong, tak ada kefahaman. I hate these kind of people. So tai che kong, cakap tak serupa bikin.

conclusion
Tkd is not haram from the Islamic point of view, it is a kind of sports and if being practised accordingly (in accordance with syara' and syariat Islam) it will benefit you in every way. I don't want say a lot on this, bcos I know that my humble knowledge is not sufficient to provide further arguments...and even if I could provide 'em, I don't feel like writing it down in this blog bcos I'm so damned upset with people who think that martial arts is prohibited in Islam and sesat. In Islam if you speak of something that you do not actually practice, convey what you don't really understand and speak of lies you're truely a damned person. So watch your mouth, if you wanna say something make sure it is based on something concrete and reliable, don't simply label and accuse people!