A CERTAIN level of interaction should be established before it’s fair for us to narrate stories related to the ethics and behaviours of others.

As reported from the leader of the Muslims, Umar Ibn Al Khattab, the following criteria must be found before you recommend or discommend a person, such as:

1) Being neighbours with someone. Because neighbours are supposedly more knowledgeable about the person living next to his or her home.

2) Having travel experience with someone, for travelling and being away from home reveals a man’s true essence.

3) Engaged in a business transaction with someone because dealing with money reveals the true personality of a person.

Today, we are witnessing a time when waves of hate speech, unspeakable writing and inhumane descriptions being hurled at the Rohingya.

They ran away from the massacres in their homeland and are now seeking refuge in our country. These are the same people whom we have previously treated with all dignity and mercy.

However, many Malaysians are fuelling hate recently in social media based on some unjustified accusations against the whole community due to wrongdoings of a few individuals.

This is devastating and may wipe all our previous noble deeds towards our fellow human beings and might distort our beautiful image in the eyes of the world.

The hatred doesn’t stop there. It has spilled over to attacking their ethics, behaviour and raising suspicions and doubts on established historical facts regarding the Rohingya.

Everyone is issuing judgmental statements based on widespread social media comments without being backed by concrete evidence and proof. Such irresponsible moves will not increase anything except for unrest and disharmony among the public.

There’s a saying: “Never judge someone’s character based on the words of another. Instead, study the motives behind the words of the person casting the bad judgment.”

In fact, through a simple observation I came to conclude that most of the said columnist, writers, and netizens have not had any personal interaction with a Rohingya.

Worse is that some anti-Rohingya videos are actually produced by Hindu terrorists in India containing scripts rewritten and twisted into hate articles.

Dear fellow Malaysians, particularly Muslim brothers and sisters, I feel that I must respond to such false contents to defend my country’s image and then stand up in the defence of the innocent accused of immorality.

I believe we have to differentiate between behaviours that surfaced due to unfavourable conditions forced upon people and the behaviours due to the traditional culture of the people.

Many don’t realise that the Rohingya’s apparent backwardness is imposed on them by the Buddhist government of Myanmar. In fact, they have been systematically stripped off from their rights of basic education, faced continuous process of de-legitimisation, institutionalised persecution and discrimination in all aspects of life for 58 years.

On the other hand, you may find some Rohingyas who have the privilege to live abroad, those who had the opportunity to a proper education.

As a result, they have proven to really excel in their respective fields, such as the late Sheikh Dr Muhammad Ayyub Muhammad Yusuf, the former imam of Masjidil Nabawi in Madinah, Dr Anita, a neurosurgeon in Switzerland, Yasir Arafat, a nuclear scientist in the US and Dr Hussien Johar, a professor at Curtin University Australia, and many others.

Even in Myanmar before the 1982 act (discriminatory citizenship law amendments) which deprived Rohingya from Burmese citizenship, there were hundreds of Rohingya, highly qualified university lecturers and professors serving in both state and union levels. However, most of them ended up in jail or killed or forced into exile.

Closer to home, let me share my experience with an educated Rohingya whom I been with for more than six years now, and blessed with two beautiful children. Through him, I have been privileged to get to know many other Rohingya in his family who possess similar qualities.

1) He is a devoted family man, filial towards his parents and elders, a loving, caring, and responsible husband and father.

2) He is caring and concerned towards his extended relatives, friends, neighbours and others living back home. He’s an important and respected figure to whom his extended family members look up.

3) He is a sociable, charitable, hospitable and a religious personality who brings ease and joy to whomever who knows him.

4) Has high regard towards our country, our people and government. He strives to become a constructive, positive and productive contributor to the society even though he’s not a citizen, even I feel guilty of being any less productive than him.

5) Being a regular traveller, I always find him promoting Malaysia everywhere he goes and often chooses Malaysia over anywhere else in the world.

6) As a businessman, 85% of his employees are Malaysians and some have been working with him for the last six years, as they enjoy working with him and their welfare are well looked after.

7) He is a trustworthy and principled man and in his line of work, he deals with people from all major races in the country. In fact, among his suppliers are Chinese and Indian companies but you can feel their genuine fondness with each other in their daily business interactions.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, just to give you an idea of how a Rohingya deserves our respect and honour.

If these qualities weren’t inherent in his customs, traditions and deep religious faith, what then?

I have also experienced the richness of the Rohingya culture and heritage, such as their hospitality towards strangers and guests, generosity, pure heartedness, hard work, piety and cooperation in social activities.

Of course, we also faced some highs and lows in our marital life just like any other couple, but we dealt with our own issues by saying “alhamdulillah”.

This uprooted community fled to us with only their faith and the clothes on their backs, away from certain death sponsored by Myanmar Buddhist terrorists.

Such a merciless and miserable inhumane conditions we have witnessed from 2012 until today. Don’t they deserve to have at least the rights to be judged by facts and concrete evidence? Please think before you write a remark about a fellow human being and share and spread false news about them.

Alhamdulillah our country has its rules of law. If there is any crime or wrongdoing committed by any individual residing within it, let the authorities deal with it accordingly. Fair and square.

Finally, I would like to leave you with few hadith (the sayings of Prophet Muhammad) to ponder upon during Ramadan. He said:

“Whoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah will remove from him one of the griefs of the Day of Resurrection. And whoever alleviates the need of a needy person, Allah will alleviate his needs in this world and the Hereafter. Whoever shields (or hides the misdeeds of) a Muslim, Allah will shield him in this world and the Hereafter. And Allah will aid His slave so long as he aids his brother.

“It was said to the Messenger of Allah: ‘Which of the people is best?’ He said: ‘Everyone who is pure of heart and sincere in speech.’ They said: ‘Sincere in speech, we know what this is, but what is pure of heart?’ He said: ‘It is (the heart) that is pious and pure, with no sin, injustice, rancour or envy in it. (Ibn Majah)

“The believer who mixes with the people and endures their harm has a greater reward than one who does not mix the people nor endures their harm.” (Musnad Aḥmad)

My fellow Malaysians, grab this opportunity to serve humanity and succeed with the pleasure of Allah the Almighty. – May 4, 2020.

* Umm Ubadah Dahlia Kamaruddin reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.