Whisky Timah and the Prophet’s daughter: Is there any connection as some idiots think?

A locally brewed whisky has won accolades overseas and a silver medal in an international competition in 2019. But here, on home ground, it has received brickbats.

A few urban-based misguided and misinformed half-baked politicians have kicked up so much dust as if it was a matter of life and death. While these urbanites are frothing in the mouth, the kampong Malays take life easy and lead their lives as they have always done – live and let live, minding their own business.

The kampong Malay doesn’t drink whisky, and he understands it is haram to drink. He doesn’t care who else drinks because others drinking whisky does not disturb his own lifestyle or affect his way of life.

But some narrow-minded and not-that-smart politicians have worked themselves up into a frenzy because this award-winning whisky was named Timah. We have been referring to tin as timah for ages ever since tin was discovered, and no foolish person in the past had associated that name with a person. It was understood that the word referred to a metal – tin. Suddenly timah, it seems, is short for Fatimah – not for any Fatimah but for the Prophet’s daughter Fatimah. How ridiculous can one get!

The image of a person on the label of the whisky bottle is taken as an insult to Islam, offending the Muslims. How on earth did this happen? We’ve come across thousands of images that can resemble many personages from the past. Nobody has made a fuss about them. So what if a person sports a beard and wears a skull cap. How does he insult Islam? Will the scatterbrains clarify how this particular image on the whisky bottle specifically insults Islam?

Is the dignity of Islam reflected in what a person wears and how he looks – many wonder in amazement!

Fatimah is an Arabic name; it is not an exclusive name for Prophet Muhammad’s daughter. It is an ordinary name. Indeed, previously several relatives of Prophet Muhammad had the same name. It is a name that was common throughout the Arabic world.

It is also a female name commonly used among Roman Catholics, particularly in the Portuguese-speaking and Spanish-speaking world. Most people would have heard of the Lady of Fatima and many Catholics make a pilgrimage to her sanctuary in the town of Fatima in Portugal in reverence.

Christians had the good sense not to associate this Fatima with the Timah whisky! They won’t be that foolish to link a revered person to something they may despise. They respect and maintain the high esteem these figures are accorded.

But not so with these few fanatical Muslims in Malaysia who are hell-bent on causing mischief. Out of the thousands of Fatimahs all over the world, how did these bigots and idiots associate the daughter of Prophet Muhammad with the whisky? That is a million-dollar question! What ingenious method did these perverts employ to associate Prophet Muhammad’s daughter to the Timah whiskey? Shame on them for stooping so low for political purposes!

If there was only one Fatimah in the world, then you can rightly and accurately associate this person with the whisky. But there are thousands of them and how, pray tell, was the Prophet’s daughter picked solely to be associated with this whisky?

Normally, revered figures are associated with things that represent purity, that are just and right, and which reflect moral values. But here, these perverts associate the Prophet’s daughter with something that is evil, sinful and forbidden. Aren’t they aware that by doing so, they have sullied the name of the Prophet’s daughter and insulted Islam?

And yet, they blame the producers of Timah for the insult. The guilty ones misrepresenting the issue and creating uneasiness and stirring up religious conflict are these obnoxious characters parading as defenders of Islam! These are not Muslims who, according to Islam, should be setting the example for unity among the communities and harmony in the way of our life. These are the disrupters and spoilers who spew venom and lie for their personal gain in politics.

Lest we Malaysians forget amidst all the needless hullabaloo that focuses on the inconsequential, can we say that the local whisky producer is just selling its concept of ‘adventure’ and not mere liquor, just as the famous watch maker is selling ‘prestige’ and not mere Rolex watches.

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

1. Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
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