Context of Quest

5.6.1 Context of Quest

It has been mentioned repeatedly that, there is no doubt about the way the contextual surrounding of an individual living in Brunei to be instinctively imbued with Islamic influence and ideas to the extent that it would be surprising to come across with a non- Muslim local who never heard anything related to the religion. For instance, the inclusion of religious subjects in the school curriculum offers the non-Muslims an avenue for the „innocent‟ acquisition of religious knowledge:

[E35.Muslim Dusun.I46]

I did not see Islam as a religion during my school days. I thought Islam was like any other school subjects, because when I had exams on Islamic subjects, I would memorise Al-Quran verse together with the translation, in the same way I would memorise the formula for areas of

a triangle, for example... [Trans.]

[E36.Muslim Dusun.I37]

Islamic subject at school is quite an intensive learning of the religion, actually. I remember studying about the Muslim prayer during my secondary school. There are so many things involved in the prayer, like the body movements and the verses you need to recite for each movement... [Trans.]

The above excerpts demonstrate the exact ways the school system in Brunei feed the population with religious information. This situation however might raise questions on why Dusun children never objected to the subjects that teach them the religion they The above excerpts demonstrate the exact ways the school system in Brunei feed the population with religious information. This situation however might raise questions on why Dusun children never objected to the subjects that teach them the religion they

on the educational values rather than the theological aspect of the religion. To consider an Islamic subject in such an educational way is actually a parallel approach that is also employed by European countries where the teaching of religious subjects in public

school is solely based on “text, events and personalities which may be given to study and learn” (Willaime 2007: 97).

Such educational approach in the teaching of Islamic subjects thus explains why the Dusuns rarely see the former as the theological representation of the religion. Rather, as illustrated by one of the above interview excerpts, the Islamic subjects are perceived as comparable to other secular subjects, which are similarly taught through the facts-and- figures approach. In fact, the Islamic subjects are regarded by many informants as among the subjects they can rely on in order to pass important school examinations for higher education or for promotion to higher occupational positions, as illustrated in the following excerpt:

[E37.Muslim Dusun.I4]

To gain a promotion, I needed at least 5 GCSE „O‟ Levels. So, I sat for two exams where one of them was Islamic religious knowledge and the other one was Arts. I took these two subjects because it was relatively easy to pass their exams... [Trans.]

Thus, it is clear that the knowledge on Islam which the Dusuns acquired from the education system does not reflect their sense of belief in Islam and its teachings. Instead, such knowledge only serves for educational purposes, if not to add more information to their existing accumulated background knowledge for them to Thus, it is clear that the knowledge on Islam which the Dusuns acquired from the education system does not reflect their sense of belief in Islam and its teachings. Instead, such knowledge only serves for educational purposes, if not to add more information to their existing accumulated background knowledge for them to

Evidently, in an event where the Dusuns experienced a religious crisis, it was inevitable for them to see Islam, rather automatically, as the solution to their crisis and that the existing knowledge on Islam suddenly became a vital support to their intention to convert to Islam. Such reliance on existing religious knowledge was reported by all informants of this study, and consequently causing the quest stage to become redundant. The absence of the religious quest in the conversion process of the Muslim Dusuns is best illustrated by the following interview excerpt:

[E38.Muslim Dusun.I14]

[Q: did you seek any guidance before you converted?] No, I did not. I remembered a few months before I converted, I saw a religious book that belonged to my Muslim brother lying on a table in our living room. I picked it up to read it. The book was about the Muslim prayer and reading it made me realised that I had not actually forgotten much of what I learned from school... [Trans.]

An interview with a primary school teacher also illustrates one of the reasons why she did not search before her conversion:

[E39.Muslim Dusun.I36]

I had been exposed to Islam in many ways. For instance, because the schoolchildren would recite the Fatihah verse every morning before their class started, and after listening to the recitation for many years,

I could actually recite the entire verse even before my conversion... [Trans.]

Thus, given the above arguments, it is fair to suggest that the culture-free definition of the quest stage could arguably be the acquisition of religious knowledge. The above arguments also demonstrate that the key component of context that supports the quest stage is knowledge, in a way that if the context readily precipitates knowledge, i.e. religious information, the acquisition of the knowledge would therefore become unnecessary and accordingly leads to the absence of the quest stage, as in the case of the conversion experience of the Dusun Muslim converts cited above. Thus, no matter how innocent the acquisition of religious knowledge is before the potential convert looks for a new religious option, the knowledge would carry similar weight and value as the knowledge acquired from a proper religious quest once the potential converts embarks on a conversion process.

Apart from public dissemination of religious knowledge, personal encounter experience can also lead to the absence of the quest stage. This is because personal encounter, as explained in depth in Section 5.4.2, provides the Dusuns the opportunity to learn about Islam through observation before their conversion, and thus adding more information to the existing body of religious knowledge that the converts already possessed. The following section explains this argument further.