religion and weddings

in the car today, my brother posed a question to me.

'how do we know our religion is the right one?we think our religion is right and the other ones are wrong.but the other ones think THEY'RE right and that we're wrong. so how do we know which one is really the right one?'

hohoho.. i was quite at a loss for words.he's NINE. when i was 9, i didn't even THINK to consider such things. i was more concerned with meeting my friends to play kejar2 in the evening or running after the mamak roti man whenever he came by to buy chicken rings.

hearing that question made me think. it's the sort of question that i thought was either:

a)the basis of other questions that lead to you not believing in any religion

b)never,ever,EVER asked or even thought of by you, and if someone else asks it, they must be weird or not alim/pious enough

or

c)a question you once asked yourself but never mentioned it aloud and quickly brushed it away from your mind


ahah,well my brother asked it, so i guess i thought wrong.


well,anyhoo,on a different note, i heard on the news that there was a mass wedding today. dozens and dozens of muslim couples nikah-ed beramai-ramai at the masjid, or was it a dewan?ntah,tak ingat. the extra perk?the agong was there.

would i want to get married in a mass wedding ceremony?would YOU want to? think of all the complications that could arise,with all the couples and the tok kadis and relatives all gathered together in one masjid or dewan. what if we lose the pengantin in the midst of all the people?what if someone steals our hantaran? what if the tok kadi we're assigned is an old, senile guy who forgets about nikah-ing us and goes missing? what if the groom doesn't cam his mother-in-law and goes and salam some other old lady? habislah.

oh, and what if, just maybe, we accidentally get married to the wrong person? you know la kan, for a malay wedding, when we nikah, the groom sits with the tok kadi surrounded by the witnesses while the bride sits quite a distance away, if she's there at all. sometimes, the bride just waits in her room. so, for all you know, the following could happen: the bride is sitting there, with all the other brides, while the grooms and the tok kadi's are across the hall.the akad nikahs are all said and sah, so then the the brides are led to their grooms so that can salam and cium tangan and all that. so the bride goes to where her groom should be sitting. and sees a different guy.

'awak siape?',she asks, puzzled. 'mane suami saya??'
'Eh', the tok kadi says, 'inilah suami kamu. Muhammad Arwan Shah'.
'APEEEE??tunang saya bukan yang ni!!',she cries. 'tunang saya name die SAZALI!!!'.

you never know. it could happen.