Malaysia's Religion: Freedom of Religion

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Many religions in Malaysia have their followers. There are no restrictions on the choice of religion in the country, since the constitution enshrined the right of every citizen to his freedom. You can learn about religion in Malaysia, confessions and their features from this essay.

Religions

The state religion in Malaysia is Islam, that is, it is the most common religion. According to the latest data, the majority of people in the country are Muslims, slightly fewer Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and a very small part of the population professes Taoism, Confucianism and other Chinese traditional directions. A small proportion of the population adheres to Sikhism and animism.

Malay Indians are mostly Hindus, some of them are Christians and Muslims. A small part of Indians are Janaists and Sikhs. Most of the Chinese in Malaysia are Buddhists, the rest are Taoists. It should be noted that there are small groups (communities) of Chinese Muslims.

Bumiputra are the indigenous people of Malaysia, they adhere to the Muslim faith, and a very small part of them isanimists.

Islam

As noted above, the main religion of Malaysia is Islam, it is practiced by almost 65% of the country's population. It appeared in this area in the 13th century. Islam came here along with merchants from India. Gradually, it began to take a dominant position among other religions.

Continuing to consider the question of what is the main religion in Malaysia, it is necessary to mention the following. In the country's constitution, according to Article 160, all ethnic Malays, being born, are recognized only as Muslims. This religion is central to both Malaysian culture and daily life. It manifests itself in all spheres of activity of citizens. The famous holiday of Uraza-Bayram here is called Hari Raya and is the most important for all Malay Muslims.

Usually Muslim women in Malaysia cover their heads with a headscarf - a hijab, called tudung here. However, the peculiarity of this country is that wearing a headscarf is optional. It is difficult to imagine, for example, in the Arab countries. Here, the absence of a tudung from a Muslim woman is not condemned in any way, much less punished. However, there are places where wearing a headscarf is mandatory - this is primarily a mosque, as well as the International University of Islam. This religion in Malaysia, although it is the main and very important, is somewhat different from the Islam that is followed in the countries of the Middle East.

Buddhism

Buddhism is the country's second religion in terms of the number of believers. Mainly hisfollowers is the Chinese population of Malaysia. Buddhism appeared on the Malay Peninsula in the distant II century BC. e. It was also brought here by merchants from India. Before Islam came to Malaysia, Buddhism was the main religion and occupied an important place in the lives of the locals. This religion has left a mark in the culture of the country, so many architectural features have developed in the country precisely because of it.

Today, despite the fact that Buddhism is not the main religion in Malaysia, it has a large number of followers. A paradoxical fact, but most Europeans consider Malaysia a Buddhist country.

Christianity

Believers in Christ make up about 10% of the country's population. They mostly live in the east of Malaysia. It is assumed that Christianity appeared here even before the Portuguese began to conquer the peninsula in the 16th century. However, it should be noted that most of those who profess this religion formed closer to the 19th century.

Christianity is very widespread among the indigenous people of the country, in addition to this, there are many Christian immigrants from other Asian countries, for example, Indians. Many churches of this religion have been built in Malaysia, mostly Catholic, but there are also Protestant and Orthodox ones.

Hinduism

Almost 7% of the Malaysian population are adherents of Hinduism. The main part of them are ethnic Tamils, immigrants from southern India. In what is now Malaysia, theyappeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as workers on plantations. Subsequently, many remained to live in the country.

In 2006 and 2007, by decision of the government, several Hindu temples were demolished in order to carry out new developments in the country. This led to a big outbreak of discontent, rallies and protests. The government explained this by the fact that the temples were located on state land, and there was no religious overtones in their demolition. After much debate, the conflict was settled. Currently, Hindu temples are not being demolished, but new ones are being built.

As can be seen from the above, Malaysia, in addition to the richness and beauty of its landscapes, culture and customs, is also very diverse in matters of religion.