[English below]
Assalamu’alaikum
Banyak banget yang tanya bagaimana sih rasanya jadi seorang Muslim di Inggris? Susah gak menjaga sholatnya? Susah gak makan makanan halal? Susah gak untuk menghindari pengaruh sosial yang tidak islami?
Well, jawabannya susah susah gampang 😀
Menjaga Sholat
Kalau ditanya susah gak menjaga sholat? Masalah menjaga sholat sebenarnya bergantung pada pribadi masing-masing karena itu berhubungan dengan faktor keinginan hehe. Ketika tidak ada keinginan untuk menjaga sholat, sudah pasti akan langsung menjawab: susah!
Beberapa bulan lalu, tepatnya bulan September, saya tiba di Inggris untuk melanjutkan studi. Memang, pada awalnya, saya saja bingung ini sholat menghadap ke mana karena tidak ada petunjuk arah kiblat, usaha pertama yang dilakukan ya menggunakan aplikasi yang dapat membantu menunjukkan arah kiblat, saat itu saya mengombinasikan beberapa aplikasi untuk make sure kalo arah yang saya tuju memang benar. Oke, kalau posisi di rumah mungkin lebih gampang untuk sholat, nah kalo diluar? Di minggu pertama tiba, saya sempat sholat di riverside park dengan alas jaket dan wudhu dengan sebotol air mineral yang saya bawa (saya juga kebetulan bawa mukenah waktu itu) karena sama sekali clueless di mana tempat sholat yang proper. Di minggu-minggu selanjutnya akhirnya saya menemukan lokasi-lokasi masjid yang bisa saya kunjungi di sekitar city centre. Alhamdulillah
Untuk di kampus, sudah disediakan dan difasilitasi dengan sangat baik, jadi sangat mudah kalau sedang ada kelas, terkadang keluar sebentar untuk sholat karena waktu sholat yang agak mepet dan bertabrakan dengan jadwal kuliah. Selama mau usaha, insyaAllah ada jalan dan mudah!
Makanan Halal
Untuk makanan halal, Southampton (daerah tempat saya tinggal) termasuk tempat yang sangat jarang makanan halalnya dibandingkan kota-kota lain di Inggris. Namun, bukan berarti gak usaha juga buat nyari yang halal kan 😀 Karena sudah kepikiran masalah ini, saya sudah bersiap membawa beberapa kaleng sarden dari Indonesia dan beli hanya buah dan ikan di Inggris lol. Setelah mulai terbiasa dengan transportasi dsb, saya pun mulai mengunjungi beberapa tempat, alhamdulillah di dekat kampus ada restaurant Turki halal juga beberapa restaurant halal lainnya. Oke, restaurant sudah, tapi masa iya makan itu terus? Pengen masak juga sih. Sesuai rekomendasi dari ibu dosen saya yang lebih dulu ke UK, katanya supermarket di UK menyediakan daging dan ayam halal juga kok, ada sectionnya sendiri Berangkatlah saya dan ketemu! Eh, ternyata di daerah city centre juga ada satu jalan yang dipenuhi dengan toko penyedia bahan makanan halal, bahagia kuadrat judulnya 😀Sekali lagi, yang penting usaha nyari! haha
Pengaruh Sosial
Yang namanya kuliah, pasti donk kita punya teman sekelas, yang juga beragam. Karena kampusnya internasional, mahasiswanya juga multikultural. Cara mereka bersosialisasi pun berbeda. Beberapa minggu setelah perkuliahan, beberapa teman lokal melontarkan ajakan pada teman sekelas untuk nongkrong supaya lebih kenal. Waktu yang diusulkan pun cenderung malam dan ngajaknya ke pub pula haha. Pertama, bisa sih ditolak, karena ‘sungkan’ saya pun menolak dengan alasan entah apa waktu itu –” Ajakan selanjutnya, saya mulai mengajukan penawaran dan menjelaskan kondisi saya di mana saya tidak diperbolehkan untuk minum alkohol, eh ternyata mereka mudah mengerti, tau gitu dari awal dibilangin aja. Akhirnya selanjutnya mereka lebih memikirkan kebutuhan kita, mulai dari segi waktu juga makanan halal atau vegetarian yang disediakan hehe. Sekali lagi, usaha!
Masalah gampang atau egak sebenernya bergantung usaha dan niat kita aja. Justru semenjak tinggal di sini saya mulai sadar kalau selama di Indonesia saya terlalu ceroboh dan merasa aman juga nyaman dengan segala yang disediakan. Tanpa bingung memikirkan halal tidaknya makanan yang saya konsumsi. Apa iya itu ayam atau sapi yang dijual di pasar halal semua (disembelih sesuai dengan aturan Islam)? Duh, entah Di sini mau beli cokelat aja pake diperiksa ingredients nya (sangat lebih berhati-hati). Terima kasih MUI yang sudah berusaha memeriksa segala sesuatu untuk masyarakat Indonesia. Semoga saja pemeriksaan yang dilakukan benar-benar berkala dan benar-benar membantu kami atas terjaminnya makanan halal yang masuk ke tubuh kami.
Wallahu a’lam bishawab
[English]
Assalamu’alaikum
Many people asked me to share a story about being a Muslim in Britain. Is it hard to do salah (praying)? Is it hard to find and eat halal food? What about the local culture?
Well, the answer is both hard and easy
Salah
Being asked about the praying matter, I can only say that it depends on individuals since it has something to do with our desire to do it or not, lol. When there is no will to do it, we will easily say: it is really hard to do!
Several months ago, in September to be exact, I arrived in England to continue my study. Of course, at the beginning, I was confused where the Qibla direction is. The first attempt that I did was installing some mobile apps that can show me the direction. At that time, I tried to combine several apps to make sure that I face the right direction when I’m praying. Okay, it is easy to do praying at home since I can perform wudu (a ritual of washing (ablution) several parts of our body before praying) well and have a proper place to pray. However, it becomes really hard to do it outside (since I was a newcomer at that time). In the first week, due to an outside activity, I did my prayer on the riverside park with my coat as a mat because I didn’t know more proper place to do it around that area (Muslim needs to do prayer 5 times a day and there is also the prescribed times to do it Fajr—near dawn, Zuhr—just after midday, Asr—late afternoon, Maghrib—just after sunset and Isha—after dark). I did wudu with a bottle of still water that I brought, fortunately, I brought my prayer clothes. The week after, I finally found several mosques around the city centre. Alhamdulillah
In campus, I can do prayer in a more than decent Muslim prayer room. We, Muslim, are well-facilitated by our campus so that it is really easy to pray even we still has a lecture. Sometimes, I just leave the class for a moment to do it in the prayer room because we don’t have much time in winter since the daytime is shorter but in summer, we have a longer daytime which is really convenient to wait until the class is over. Well, I can say that where there’s a will there’s a way, InsyaAllah
Halal Food
Southampton is one of the cities around the UK that has less halal food (compared to other big cities with more Muslim population). However, that is not the reason to prevent me to find halal food Before coming here, I have thought about it and prepared some canned sardines from Indonesia and in my first week in the UK, I bought and ate fruits and fish only lol. After being accustomed to the transportation here, I started to visit several places around campus and city centre. Alhamdulillah, I found halal Turkish restaurant near campus and some other halal restaurants Okay, I found some restaurants yet I still want to make my own meal :p As recommended by my previous lecturer who has been in the UK before me, I went to a supermarket that provides halal meat as well, and found it! Halal meat and chicken! There is one special section for halal stuff in supermarket, alhamdulillah once more, where there’s a will there’s a way
Local Culture
Well, I’m a student in a multicultural classroom. The way we interact and socialise, of course, is different. After several weeks of our study, some of my local friends asked the member of the class to chill out in the university pub. The time suggested was also really late in the evening. I can turn down the first invitation (sorry about it guys :p) but I couldn’t bring myself to do it when another one is coming 😀 so, I tried to explain my condition about being a Muslim I am forbidden to drink alcohol and any food contains it. Besides that, I am only allowed to eat halal food (no pork! For other kinds of meat are allowed if halal-slaughtered) Fortunately, my friends are really considerate and the next time we are going out, we always choose the convenient time for everyone, and of course, convenient restaurant with halal food or vegetarian meals. Once more! We only need to try
It is easy or not is just a matter of our will and effort. The good thing about being Muslim in the UK, for me, I began to realise that while in Indonesia I was too careless. I feel secure and comfortable with everything supplied, especially food, without having further consideration about the food I consumed, is it halal or not? Are those chicken or beef sold in the market are halal (halal-slaughtered)? Well, I don’t know Here, in the UK, I need to be more careful before buying food, even for chocolate, I need to look at the ingredients first. Thanks, MUI (Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body) who always try to make sure that Indonesian people eat halal food. I hope that the examination for food and any other things in Indonesia is done regularly so that it can help as on the assurance of halal food we eat
Wallahu a’lam bishawab
by: Navila Roslidah