Review of Al-Ikhlas (A monologue in 7 acts re-introducing God)

Last night, on the 28th January 2010, I attended a special theatrical performance by Gene Sha Rudyn at the Abdul Gafoor Mosque. His theme revolves around the One-ness of God, from the Islamic point of view. The performance is open to the public. In attendance are both Muslim & Non-Muslim members of the public.

This performance is part of a series of events organised by the “Berita Harian 2 – Utusan Melayu *Daily News – The Malay Courier”. It has been described as follows,”… An event-based exhibition taking place from 12 January to 5 February 2010, Berita Harian 2 – Utusan Melayu; the surreal, the contemporeal, the cosmoreal features nine ‘progressive’ contemporary Malay artists of various disciplines selected by curator, Zaki Razak. The exhibition explores alternative means of artistic productions, aims to convey enquiries in regards to anthropology of ‘Melayu’and project issues that are deemed as taboos by the ‘Malay’ society. …”.

You may join the Facebook group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=211285213172.

The Facebook event page link for this performance is http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=302703235489&ref=ss

Gene, has been described, for the purpose of this performance as, “… A common man – not a scholar nor an expert – born, raised and living in a cosmopolitan society, takes us through his eventful past and, with his limited secular education and spiritual knowledge, raises questions about God and seeks answers. …”

Gene’s delivery of the topic, starts off with the question, is it OK in the first place, to perform a theatrical performance in a mosque. He mentions that, when he started this quest, a number of people questioned the validity of theatre, in Islam. He reasons with said people, to provide the relevant citations from Quran & Practices of the Prophet (AlHadith). Having dealt with this, he proceeds to plan the layout & delivery for his performance.

He go on to challenge existing methods of education for Islam and compares it to secular education as well. The part where he has an issue with, is by rote learning & by memorization. He cites verses from the Quran, especially Surah Muhammad, where there is a challenge by the Quran, to its Muslim followers, to challenge anything that is taught and also to challenge, Quran itself, as a sure way for a better understanding.

If there are opportunities for discussions with other religions, then, the Muslims should engage actively and not hide behind humility. Such humility is deemed as hypocrisy and Muslims should not be hypocrites where possible.

This is a small interactive game, the guy in black represents the audience on the left, while the lady in white represents the audience on the right, where a healthy group of at least 40 students from Katong Convent sat. There are four questions and five religions to match. Why don’t you try this and see the answers you come up with?

Next we have three representatives from the audience who are Christians, asked to read several verses & chapters from these 3 copies of the Holy Bible.

And the image below shows, the verses and chapters that was referred to.

While this may initially seem to be a possibly contentious issue, Gene reasons that the Holy Bible is using metaphors, to prove the One-ness of God. That we, as spiritual individuals are all children of God, shows that God is the AlMighty One.

Gene, further go on to explain how one gets to be a Muslim. At the most basic level, the following defines a Muslim:

1. Believe in God and that Prophet Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
2. Pray five times a day in the direction of the Kaabah in Mecca
3. Fast a full day during the month of Ramadan.
4. Pay the Zakat, also known as the tithe
5. Perform the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, if the the individual can afford and is physically able to.

As said above, this five pillars is the most basic to define a Muslim.

The next level for a Muslim is Iman which known as Faith. Iman is invisible from the public eye. It is the faith that defines each Muslim. The basics for Iman is as follows:

1. Belief in Allah;
2. Belief in the angels;
3. Belief in the revealed books;
4. Belief in the commissioned Messengers (peace be upon them).
5. Belief in the resurrection and the events of Qiyamah(Day of Judgement).
6. Belief in the predestination by Allah of all things, both the (seemingly) good and the (seemingly) bad.

The next level that all Muslims should strive to achieve is the level of Ihsan. Ihsan is the stage where, everything that the Muslim does, is an act of worship. Be it walking to school or work, working with colleagues, every daily item, is an act of worship.

Gene then ends the performance with a short QA session with the audience. By now, you would be wondering also, what are the answers for the first interactive game. The image below answers that.

The answers are as follows; B (Hinduism), D (Judaism), E (Zoroastrianism) & C (Islam). Additionally, as Judaism is also the pre-cursor to Christianity, they do share same spot for the second answer. So there you go, all the religions mentioned above, show towards the One-ness of God, which is what the whole performance from Gene Sha Rudyn is all about.

If you do have a point to differ, you can either comment on this post or you may send Gene an email at keelat@gmail.com.

About Gene Sha Rudyn.

Singaporean-Baweanese-Muslim Gene Sha Rudyn, born in 1968, began performing professionally in his late teens and joined the theatre industry in 1991, playing Tanggang in Si Tanggang at the Singapore Arts Festival Fringe and The Pauper in The Prince and The Pauper the following year.

Two landmark moments in his career were the 2007 six-state Malaysian kampung tour of Anak Bulan Di Kampong Wa’ Hassan and the 2009 mosque premiere of AL-IKHLAS (SINCERITY) – a monologue in seven acts re-introducing God, both unprecedented.

About Abdul Gafoor Mosque.

Masjid Abdul Gafoor is located in Kampong Kapor, which was an active business hub for Indian Merchants and for the mainly Baweanese workers who worked at the old race course at Farrer Park. The mosque was originally a building with timber partitions and a tiled roof built in 1846. 
Masjid Abdul Gafoor was gazetted as a National Monument in 1979. 
http://gothere.sg/maps#q:abdul%20gafoor%20mosque