The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Implement hudud by force, he says Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:47 PM PDT OCT 28 — "Hudud needs to be implemented by force!" I was shocked to hear an academician, Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, utter those words at a recent Islamic forum on hudud. According to the academician who teaches at the National Defence University, time is running out and it looks like the non-Muslims will never accept hudud and Islam. As a Muslim myself, I felt ashamed and embarrassed by what he said at such a public forum. First of all, I would like to ask one vital question. If non-Muslims are not willing to accept hudud or Islam, why question their reasoning for it? The non-Muslims would have made their decision based on what they have seen, heard and observed. Can you blame them if what they've seen has been all negative? So, maybe what he should have said, instead of using force, look within and solve the internal problems before you start preaching outside. Any educated individual who has even a little bit of learned experience, Muslim or non-Muslim, will tell you that Islam is not, and never was, a religion of force. Free will and compulsion is something that is stressed upon in the religion and is stated all over the Quran. Surah Al Baqarah states that: "There is no compulsion in religion. Certainly, right has become clearly distinct from wrong." And this is reaffirmed in Surah Al Ghashiyya: "(Muhammad), preach, you are only a preacher. You do not have full control over them." And again in Surah Qaf: "We know best what they say and you (Muhammad) cannot compel them. Remind, by way of the Quran, those who have fear of My warnings." He also, during the forum, said that hudud is the law of God and that is one of the reasons why it should be implemented even by force. Here, I would like to take the opportunity to remind him that these laws are men's attempt to understand God's decree in a particular context, and hence are man-made. Hudud and syariah rules are really just opinions of jurists from a long time ago (mainly the Abbasid period). This is known as fiqh, or jurisprudence. The laws that are being planned to be implemented today consist of what were made during this long gone period, which did not even resemble our modern society today. And the problems that arise are exactly the kind that we see today. We see it as something archaic, medieval and barbaric. Our society today has evolved way beyond the 8th century of the Abbasid period. And it is only natural to expect the laws to also evolve. Which brings me to the Islamic concept of Khilafat which decrees that a government needs to be ruled by the free choice of the people. And Shura, which means that anything that is to be implemented in a certain society needs to be done with the consultation of the people. Surah Al Shura states: "Those who listen to their Lord, and establish regular prayer; who conduct their affairs by mutual consultation; who spend out of what we bestow on them for sustenance, [are praised]." "The blame is only against those who oppress men with wrong doing and insolently transgress beyond bounds through the land, defying right and justice: for such there will be a penalty grievous." And again in Surah Al Imran: "So by mercy from Allah, [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him]." For someone with numerous academic qualifications and a member of several Islamic consultative organisations and agencies, he must surely know this. Then, in his rant, he goes on to say that it was never the intention of God to have in existence a multiracial country and that each country is intended for a specific race. By then, I just gave up in exasperation and concluded that no one could actually take the words of this man seriously. Thank God for that! * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 27 Oct 2011 04:32 PM PDT OCT 28 — Any tourist drawn to Malaysia for its beaches, nightlife or diverse culture would not bargain on finding another aspect of Malaysian life in her daily newspapers; a very public obsession with sex. Not just plain old heterosexual making out but sodomy, orgies and illicit sex tapes, to name a few. On any given day, one could be confronted with graphic details of the number of men present in another man's anus, or be inflicted with the supposedly moral advice to Muslim women in a polygamous marriage to have sex with their husband simultaneously. On a slow news day, sex tapes of anybody from a Customs officer to an air steward or a senior politician can be released to add a sexual punch to the news. If nothing else, even minor children of politicians can be accused of sexual harassment. Move on to the classifieds and they seem to be full of offers for seven-star Oriental man-on-man massages available right at your doorstep, or any other combination of sexual services that your imagination may conjure up. The agony aunt columns are also invariably full of lurid descriptions of women being treated despicably by their sex-crazed partners. What gives? Why is a relatively peaceful, middle-income, largely spiritual and charitable nation so obsessed with the outer fringes of sexual behaviour that would be more appropriate to the more outlandish and risqué part of the American pornographic industry? It seems even more astonishing given the fact that Malaysia is at the heart of Asia with its deeply conservative approach to sexuality across cultures and religion. In Malaysia, pornography is officially banned, films and advertising are routinely monitored for sexual innuendos even, and there is a large government department charged with policing the morals of its Muslim population. One could argue that where there is such a stark collision between tradition and modernity on one hand and between the three main races on the other, such interest in otherwise unmentionable sexual practices is inevitable. Young men and women transitioning from small towns to the big bad world of Kuala Lumpur have to grapple with the contrast between their conservative upbringing and the freewheeling nature of the big city where any kind of sexual service is available for a price. Malays, Indians and Chinese kids have to adjust their beliefs on intermarriage to the realities of living in such close proximity to each other. The stresses and strains of these clashes are managed admirably by young people as a whole by learning to divide their self into public and private personas. They learn to be more cosmopolitan and liberal in their outlook when at work or study, but at home they revert back to what their community and faith expect of them in terms of sexuality. But the consequence of leading this double life is often hypocrisy. There is a vicarious kind of pleasure in seeing the sexual escapades of other people in newsprint and the inevitable censure and opprobrium that follows. It vindicates their belief that their own peccadilloes need to be carried out behind closed doors and kept a tightly-guarded secret lest they meet the same fate as those on TV. There is also a sense that whatever these people may project as leaders, they have the same, sometimes outlandish sexual needs and desires as us ordinary folk. And then there are those like the Obedient Wives Club who figure that one way to project Islam as modern is to advocate the absolute limits of sexual behaviour that could possibly be condoned by the religion. Sex as news is the societal compromise Malaysia seems to have made. As long as sex is mentioned as part of real Malaysian life and not content deliberately designed to titillate (apologies), it can be as graphic as it needs to be. Sexual hypocrisy is the Malaysian way. No Debbie Does Dallas here, but Sodomy II in full graphic detail is all the rage. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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