In the latest series of cases involving blasphemy laws in Indonesia, a TikToker with more than than 2 million followers is found guilty and jailed for two years for saying an Islamic phrase before eating crispy pork skin.
I’m not Indonesian or Muslim, so I may have overstepped.
In my area, which has a large Muslim population, it is said by observant and non observant Muslims, as well as by non Muslims who hang in Muslim circles frequently. To the point that people say it when they cheers with alcohol. Where I am, it seems to be about as disconnected from true religious expression as wallah is. Perhaps that’s the sort of thing that happens more with a diaspora group, or I’m just surrounded by blasphemers.
Should I stop saying it in case I offend more religious Muslims?
Oh I can’t speak to what you should or shouldn’t do in order to respect religious muslims, and I may have been wrong in how I understood “bismillah” to be used in Muslim majority areas. I apologize for stepping out of my lane, my point was simply that in the US the phrase “amen” has become a general expression of assent and lost almost all of its religious connotation outside of when it’s actually being used during a prayer.
I’m not Indonesian or Muslim, so I may have overstepped.
In my area, which has a large Muslim population, it is said by observant and non observant Muslims, as well as by non Muslims who hang in Muslim circles frequently. To the point that people say it when they cheers with alcohol. Where I am, it seems to be about as disconnected from true religious expression as wallah is. Perhaps that’s the sort of thing that happens more with a diaspora group, or I’m just surrounded by blasphemers.
Should I stop saying it in case I offend more religious Muslims?
Oh I can’t speak to what you should or shouldn’t do in order to respect religious muslims, and I may have been wrong in how I understood “bismillah” to be used in Muslim majority areas. I apologize for stepping out of my lane, my point was simply that in the US the phrase “amen” has become a general expression of assent and lost almost all of its religious connotation outside of when it’s actually being used during a prayer.
That’s 100% what it’s like where I am, completely disconnected. We say it for bon Appetit, cheers, and sarcastic “lie back and think of England”