DECEMBER 31 — First, whatever I say here, it’s clear that Minister of Education Maszlee Malik should have chosen a phrase other than medan dakwah when urging religious teachers from Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah to continue serving in East Malaysia.

Given our country’s religio-racialised climate, it was almost certain that people would interpret Maszlee’s remark exclusively as an aggressive call for Muslim proselytization.

For example, a top community leader in Sabah read the phrase as a call towards making Sabah and Sarawak a "battleground for Islamic evangelisation”; at least one columnist began recounting the history of Islamisation in Malaysia and worried out loud that Maszlee’s statement may lead to the replacement of secular education with Islamic teachings; an evangelical organisation in Sarawak even strongly denied the very possibility of alternative meanings to dakwah i.e. it can only mean a rallying cry for Islamisation and a treat to freedom of religion and that is what Maszlee meant it to be. Full stop.

Again, I’m all for selecting more "cordial” words and phrases given the sensitivities of many Malaysians, and obviously Maszlee has a lot to learn as a newly-minted politician in one of the most important ministries in Malaysia Baharu.

Having said that, in the spirit of education, perhaps it helps to bracket the belief that any of use of the term dakwah by necessity means evangelisation cum proselytization in the most militant manner.

The irony is that — the political sensitivities of non-Muslims in Malaysia notwithstanding — if I forcibly insist (without debate) that a certain religious term must possess one and only one meaning, then isn’t that rather unhelpful to unity and mutual understanding?

Because it’s clear from a little bit of research that dakwah can be used in a variety of ways.

Literally meaning "issuing a summons” or "making an invitation”, the term dakwah when used by a Muslim leader to his followers can, depending on the context (and even geographical region!), denote any of the following: