The agnostic and wallahu'alam

This all starts from @nadirsyah tweets on 'humility' which I responded with the following:

@movanet: An agnostic was asked: Does God exists?He answered: wallahu'alam :) #mvqt RT @nadirsyah: Ungkapan wallahua'lam juga indikasi kerendahan hati

Twitter Link: http://twitter.com/movanet/statuses/162374826357559296


A bit of cultural background: "wallahu'alam" is a popular expression among muslim communities. It roughly means: only god knows. However, because it is so popular among predominantly muslim communities, even in those whose mother tounge and working language are not arabic, it becomes so common and also spoken by non muslims. People also tend to forgot that there is the word 'god' in there.

So the above joke have multiple meanings:

1. The agnost didn't realize that there is the word god. He equates the expression with "I don't know".
2. Agnosticism, in itself, embodies humility, which is also represented in the expression "wallahu'alam". Except that the term is imprecise because it introduces god as an agent, which runs counter to the agnost's belief system. Thus, for an agnostic, to say "wallahu'alam" is oxymoronic.
3. The agnostic is trying to say "I don't know". But since it would be politically incorrect to say so in a predominantly muslim community, he uses such term, realizing that there is god element in it.
4. The agnostic is trying to say: I don't know, but if god exist, then he would know (the he exist), but I don't know.
5. The agnostic is teasing his counterpart: if we are told to be humble and embraces humility, should we not practice it even to the very basic tenet of the religion: that which discusses the existence of god?

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