THE PHILOSOPHY OF BAJU MELAYU GEEC 1052 TASK 3: DIGITAL PRODUCT BY MUHAMMAD NURHAKIM
INTRODUCTION......................................................... TYPES OF BAJU MELAYU.......................................... PHILOSOPHIES OF BAJU MELAYU.......................... CONCLUSION............................................................... REFERENCE................................................................... CONTENTS:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Assalamualaikum and Hi everyone. It's me, Muhammad Nurhakim bin Mohd Azmi. I was born on 22 April 2004 at Hospital Segamat, Johor. Currently, I'm a student of PPISMP PAI JUN 2022 at IPG Kampus Tawau. I love to read books during my free time. My passion is in education as I'm happy to teach people. My goal is to do the best in my life.
As a proud Malaysians, we already know that our country is unique because its people are of various races, religions, and nationalities. This has created a diversity of customs and cultures from different races, each of which has its special features. This culture, which has been traditionally practiced since ancient times, includes aspects such as customs and traditional clothing. INTRODUCTION
The Malays, primarily men, have their own culture in traditional clothing, which is the wearing of Baju Melayu. In general, Baju Melayu or literally called Malay dress refers to a loose shirt worn with long pants and is usually styled with a skirt-type called sampin cloth tied at the waist and a jet-black or dark-colored headgear called the songkok on the head. Malay dress is usually worn when going to perform congregational prayers, Friday prayers or to attend general religious occasions in the mosque.
Baju Melayu is also synonymously worn particularly when celebrating Aidilfitri and Aidiladha Eid Day. Moreover, Baju Melayu is suitable to be worn at formal events such as weddings and festivals. In fact, it is not a big problem for other races than Malays like Chinese and Indians to wear Baju Melayu because it is chosen to be the national costume of Malaysia.
However, the design of Baju Melayu continues to change along with time which also changes the structure of the original design of Baju Melayu itself. This issue has caused the erosion of traditional values that have been applied for centuries from the time of our ancestors. Most of today's civilized society only knows how to wear it to look stylish so that it can be photographed without caring about the meaning and philosophy behind wearing this traditional dress which is closely related to the philosophy of Islam.
TYPES OF BAJU MELAYU BAJU MELAYU CEKAK MUSANG BAJU MELAYU TELUK BELANGA
To begin with, Baju Melayu has 2 types of fabric cutting, namely Baju Melayu Cekak Musang and Baju Melayu Teluk Belanga which originally comes from Johor. There is a significant difference between both types of dresses which can be clearly seen at the collar. For instance, Baju Melayu Cekak Musang has a raised stiff collar known as the cekak musang collar or literally called fox’s leash while Baju Melayu Teluk Belanga has no collar, but consists of a small loop at the top of one side to fit a singular kancing which is similar to the collars of Baju Kurung that worn by women. From another perspective, both Baju Melayu has similarities in designs consisting of buttonholes and three pockets on the front.
WHAT ARE THE PHILOSOPHIES OF WEARING A BAJU MELAYU?
First thing first, the philosophy of wearing a Baju Melayu is found in the buttonholes part of the dress. On one hand, The Baju Melayu Cekak Musang is designed with five buttonholes on the front. The five buttonholes are typically fastened together by dress studs called kancing or sitat. Those buttonholes designed are not only intended to meet the needs of users or follow the latest trends, but they symbolize the five Pillars of Islam. If we look closely, out of the 5 buttons on the dress, 2 buttons are slightly separated at the top, while the other 3 are at the bottom.
Thus, the 2 buttonholes that are separated on the top refer to the first and second pillars of Islam, which are saying the 2 words of shahadah and performing obligatory prayers 5 times a day. Meanwhile the 3 buttonholes below refer to the remaining 3 pillars of Islam, which are fasting in the month of Ramadan, paying zakat fitrah, and performing Hajj for those who can afford it. Many people in the community, especially men today, they only wear 3 buttons and leave the other 2 on the pretext of being cold due to the hot weather. If they continue to practice this way of wearing buttons, it means that the philosophy of upholding the five pillars of Islam cannot be achieved.
On the other hand, Baju Melayu Teluk Belanga has only one buttonholes on the front which refers to monotheism, which means believing that Allah S.W.T is only and is the only god who has the power to govern this world.
Next, the second philosophy of wearing a Baju Melayu is found in the front pockets. Baju Melayu Cekak Musang and Teluk Belanga each have 3 pockets on the front of the dress which one is at the top and 2 more at the bottom on the left and right. The three pockets on the front of the dress are not only serve to place items such as wallets and handkerchiefs, but also symbolize Islam, faith, and kindness. Indeed, the three elements are the main aspects and the basis for the formation of a Muslim.
Last but not least, the wearing of Baju Melayu is said to be incomplete without the wearing of sampin. Basically, the sampin is a skirt-type decoration that is made of songket, tenun cloth, or the kain sarung. The philosophy from the use of sampin means a person's determination to protect his lust for women. Wearing a sampin below the knee means that a person is married while wearing a sampin above the knee means that a person is unmarried or who is married but wants to marry again.
CONCLUSION To sum up, it is pretty clear that the Muslim community of the past was very careful and emphasized religious philosophy in every aspect of life including in the design of Baju Melayu. This proves that traditional clothing is an important element for a race as a symbol of identity and cultural heritage from generation to generation. Therefore, it is hoped that the community can work together to ensure that the young generation in particular can dignify the wearing of Baju Melayu so that the traditional culture that has been left by the ancestors from the past will not be submerged by technological progress otherwise will continue to advance along with the modernization of the times.
REFERENCE: Ismail, S. Z. (2006). Pakaian cara Melayu: Perkembangan dan evolusi pakaian alam Melayu. Suhaimi. (2019). Asal-usul dan makna setiap bahagian baju Melayu. Tenas Effendy. (2005). Ungkapan tradisional Melayu Riau. Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka. Baju Melayu. (2022). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baju_Melayu