Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married

Islam permeates every facet of Malay life in the realm of values and behaviour. Changes in marital trends and family life in Malaysia and other South East Asian countries do not mirror those that have occurred in the West. Much of the research on single women in the West has only looked at single...

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Main Authors:	Jamayah, Saili, Abdul Rahman, Saili
Format:	Conference or Workshop Item
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	AC Collections. Series. Collected works
Online Access:	http://ir.unimas.my/3406/ http://ir.unimas.my/3406/1/Singlehood%20Phenomenon%20Understanding%20Professional%20Malay%20Muslim%20Women%20Who%20Have%20Not%20Married.pdf

id	unimas-3406
recordtype	eprints
spelling	unimas-34062015-09-17T07:35:43Z http://ir.unimas.my/3406/ Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married Jamayah, Saili Abdul Rahman, Saili AC Collections. Series. Collected works Islam permeates every facet of Malay life in the realm of values and behaviour. Changes in marital trends and family life in Malaysia and other South East Asian countries do not mirror those that have occurred in the West. Much of the research on single women in the West has only looked at singles based on their ‘civil status’ and failed to distinguish between single women who have never married and women who are divorced, widowed, separated or cohabitating. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 professional Malay Muslim women who have not married in Kuching, Sarawak, this research examines perspectives of these professional Malay women on being single and how singleness is interpreted among them. Although higher education, financial stability and career advancement are important for every woman, the research demonstrates that the pattern of their perspectives on marriage is consistent. The women did not vary significantly with respect to their belief in predestination regarding marriage and they hold to Qada (decree) and Qadar (destined), the fifth of the six fundamentals of Iman (faith) among Muslims. The words Qada and Qadar is a very broad concept; it brings the same meaning to some of the metaphorical statements given by the participants, such as: "Things happened for reasons”, “Blessing in disguise”, “Wisdom behind it”, “kun faya kun” (what will be will be). In the presentation, the intent is not to analyze the reasons for the growing rates of single Malay women in Malaysia; but to comprehend some explanations based on the women’s experience to the question: “why are they single?” and set out to understand “what went wrong?” It is apparent that although they enjoy their personal freedom, being single is not a personal choice. Rather, they believe in the concept of Jodoh (soul-mate as fated by God). This paper thus highlights how the Malay Muslim women vary significantly with respect to their decision in remaining single or to marry due to cultural expectations and religious values. 2012 Conference or Workshop Item NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/3406/1/Singlehood%20Phenomenon%20Understanding%20Professional%20Malay%20Muslim%20Women%20Who%20Have%20Not%20Married.pdf Jamayah, Saili and Abdul Rahman, Saili (2012) Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married. In: Paper presented at KONFERENSI ANTARABANGSA ISLAM BORNEO KE-5, 26 - 27 Jun 2012, Bridex Conference Hall, Brunei..
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building	UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	AC Collections. Series. Collected works
spellingShingle	AC Collections. Series. Collected works Jamayah, Saili Abdul Rahman, Saili Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married
description	Islam permeates every facet of Malay life in the realm of values and behaviour. Changes in marital trends and family life in Malaysia and other South East Asian countries do not mirror those that have occurred in the West. Much of the research on single women in the West has only looked at singles based on their ‘civil status’ and failed to distinguish between single women who have never married and women who are divorced, widowed, separated or cohabitating. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 professional Malay Muslim women who have not married in Kuching, Sarawak, this research examines perspectives of these professional Malay women on being single and how singleness is interpreted among them. Although higher education, financial stability and career advancement are important for every woman, the research demonstrates that the pattern of their perspectives on marriage is consistent. The women did not vary significantly with respect to their belief in predestination regarding marriage and they hold to Qada (decree) and Qadar (destined), the fifth of the six fundamentals of Iman (faith) among Muslims. The words Qada and Qadar is a very broad concept; it brings the same meaning to some of the metaphorical statements given by the participants, such as: "Things happened for reasons”, “Blessing in disguise”, “Wisdom behind it”, “kun faya kun” (what will be will be). In the presentation, the intent is not to analyze the reasons for the growing rates of single Malay women in Malaysia; but to comprehend some explanations based on the women’s experience to the question: “why are they single?” and set out to understand “what went wrong?” It is apparent that although they enjoy their personal freedom, being single is not a personal choice. Rather, they believe in the concept of Jodoh (soul-mate as fated by God). This paper thus highlights how the Malay Muslim women vary significantly with respect to their decision in remaining single or to marry due to cultural expectations and religious values.
format	Conference or Workshop Item
author	Jamayah, Saili Abdul Rahman, Saili
author_facet	Jamayah, Saili Abdul Rahman, Saili
author_sort	Jamayah, Saili
title	Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married
title_short	Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married
title_full	Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married
title_fullStr	Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married
title_full_unstemmed	Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married
title_sort	singlehood phenomenon : understanding professional malay muslim women who have not married
publishDate	2012
url	http://ir.unimas.my/3406/ http://ir.unimas.my/3406/1/Singlehood%20Phenomenon%20Understanding%20Professional%20Malay%20Muslim%20Women%20Who%20Have%20Not%20Married.pdf
first_indexed	2018-09-06T14:58:00Z
last_indexed	2018-09-06T14:58:00Z
_version_	1610870560654360576

Singlehood Phenomenon : Understanding Professional Malay Muslim Women Who Have Not Married

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