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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Why condemn IS beheadings when Malaysia’s Islam just as violent - Zaid

Why condemn IS beheadings when Malaysia’s Islam just as violent - Zaid
Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim has made a name for himself as a politician with Islamic credentials. He is able to balance the image of a democrat with fairly liberal and progressive ideas with an image as a religious man.
He even wrote a book The Asian Renaissance, where he extolled the (yet unseen) dream of a modern state, one where governance is predicated on democracy and sits alongside Islamic ideals of compassion and justice.
Islamic scholars and politicians never fail to paint the picture of perfect justice in an Islamic state, even though there is not one modern country in the 21st century that has the hallmark of such perfection.
Our Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak has also made a name for himself in the modern world. He reaffirmed Malaysia’s status as an Islamic state. Although not as outwardly “Islamic” in outlook as Anwar is, our Prime Minister is also well respected by the Muslim body politic in Malaysia and elsewhere.
His frequent and highly-publicised trips to the Holy land and sponsorship of many elderly Muslims to the Haj and Umrah are well received. His image as a modern and moderate Muslim leader received support from no less than US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who have put him in their books as one the world’s leading Muslim leaders.
So what do these two well-known Muslim leaders from Malaysia have in common? Not much, except for their well-publicised statement that IS (the Islamic State) does not represent true Islam. Najib said Islam is a peaceful religion, and Anwar said almost the same thing a few days later.
Anwar Ibrahim
Najib said we have to follow the Quran and the sunnah, and that by doing so we will be practising the true Islam. Anwar urged Muslims to view Islam “holistically”, suggesting that IS is not following the correct form of Islam, even though they have the same Quran and sunnah.
Since both Anwar and Najib have not visited IS-controlled areas, have embassies in those countries or have spoken with IS leaders, it’s fair to say that their viewpoints stem largely from the jihadists’ gruesome beheadings of foreign journalists and aid workers in recent weeks.
They probably watch too much CNN or Fox News. Cutting someone’s head off is not alien to Islam. Saudi Arabia (Malaysia’s spiritual brother and some say funder) carries out public executions after Friday prayers. Why are IS’s beheadings deemed to be cruel, violent and unIslamic, but not Saudi Arabia’s?
I am sure that the legal process involved in IS trials before these punishments are carried out are rudimentary at best, and that in Saudi Arabia the judicial process is played out in a glistening and modern courthouse. But I doubt the evidential rules and the decision-making process differ that much.
All the same, I am against violence whether it’s carried out by a member of the United Nations or a self-styled Islamic Caliphate. I am against violence in all its forms. While I welcome Najib’s and Anwar’s concerns about Muslims using Islam to commit violence in IS-controlled areas, I urge them to look closely at home as well, at the violence being committed in their own backyard.
Cutting someone’s head off may be unacceptable but isn’t it fair to ask how Malaysia is any different? IS leaders say those who don’t accept their decisions violate religious tenets and commit the offence of insulting the religion, which means their position is no different from religious leaders in Malaysia.
Are public beheadings and executions cruel and violent because they are against human nature? Or do they impinge on some humanistic values? If the answer is yes, then that too can create problems.
IS could very well argue that God’s laws are perfect, and there is therefore no need to incorporate and embrace other world experiences, morality or value systems in determining the application of God’s laws. They would be as “correct” in their stance as Jakim and Jawi.
Just the other day, some smart UMNO cleric took issue with my writings on Islam. His argument was that God’s laws are perfect and therefore require no more points of view, interpretations or applications from other sources .The fact that their own understanding of what is perfect is flawed does not prevent them from using God’s to help them win an argument.
What about violence inflicted on a conscientious objector? I would have thought that denying someone his or her religious beliefs is the worst kind of violence. This is by humanitarian standards, of course. Sending someone such as Kamariah Ali of Ayah Pin’s sect to jail for believing in her conscience and practising her faith as she saw fit is worse than cutting someone’s head off. Kamariah Ali’s “crime” was in wanting the freedom to believe in Islam as she understood it, and not in the way that had been determined by the Government. But the Islamic state of Malaysia saw this as “deviant conduct” and imprisoned her.
In Malaysia, if an abandoned child is found and remains unclaimed after several weeks, the fatwa says the baby is deemed to be a Muslim. This means the baby is automatically disqualified from being adopted by a non-Muslim family. To make things more difficult, some Muslims are reluctant to adopt babies born out of wedlock. So where does this unfortunate newborn go? It looks to me that the Islamic state of Malaysia is just as violent, if not more so, than IS if it’s not even willing to defend a child’s integrity and safety.
In Malaysia, if a Muslim is born out of wedlock, this person will carry the weight of that for the rest of their life. Though they bear no blame for their status, they are not entitled to use their father’s name and will be forced to take on “bin Abdullah” as their surname on their identity card. This brands them as bastards in the eyes of the world.
The resulting stigma can injure them in many ways, for it can influence their employment prospects and even their search for a marital partner. Isn’t shaming an innocent for the entirety of their lives violent conduct?
To distinguish the Islamic state of Malaysia from IS, I am looking desperately for signs that compassion and justice, which Islam promotes, are plentiful here. But I do not see enough of them.
My remarks will anger some Muslims. They will say that I am a bad Muslim with the audacity of trying to change God’s laws. But I am not changing anything. I am merely questioning the understanding of these laws. If we cannot question them, then our clerics are no different from IS clerics, who just need to declare that God’s laws are perfect and kill all their opponents.
So before Najib and Anwar continue condemning IS, I hope they take a good, long and hard look around our country and the misery that Muslims suffer. If they truly want to showcase the true and peaceful Islam, they need to engage local Muslims on substantive issues regarding their faith. These two leaders must be prepared to talk about things that matter to the country, even if it means losing some votes in the process. -TMI

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