19 Nov, 2008
The ISA detainees have since relented though. They now no longer perform their Friday prayers. They realise that the more they defy the government the longer they shall remain in Kamunting.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya (Teluk Bahang-BN), during his debate on the Supply Bill 2009, questioned if Lim was qualified to invoke the caliph’s name or the phrase. “You should not use these at your whim and fancy. Are you qualified to speak about the caliph? Even the phrase ‘amar ma’ruf nahi mungkar’ has been used in your posters all over the place.”
“It has not been ascertained if you or even Professor P Ramasamy is qualified to use them. The matter should be referred for clarification with the mufti who has to determine if you can use the caliph’s name and the phrase,” Hilmi added.
Permatang Berangan assemblyman and Penang Islamic Religious Affairs president Shahabudin Yahaya said Lim should not use the term ‘amar ma’ruf nahi mungkar’ as he is not a Muslim.
Debating the Supply Bill 2009 presented by Lim last Friday, Shahabudin said Lim and other non-Muslim assemblymen and MPs should stop using them on the banners put up in the state. “It means to avoid or shun wrongdoing, do good and to enhance one’s faith in Allah, and not to Jesus or to any ‘tokong’ (deity). You are not Muslim, so you should not use it,” he added. – The Edge
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What utter rubbish! Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin don’t know what they are talking about. Since when can only Muslims talk about the Caliph Umar or amar ma’ruf nahi munkar? This is sheer nonsense. Anyone can talk about propagating good and avoiding wrongdoing. This is not the exclusive subject matter of only Muslims.
Are they now going to make a police report against John Esposito? In the first place, have Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin even heard of Esposito?
John Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is also the director of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.
Esposito was raised a Roman Catholic and spent a decade in a Catholic monastery. After taking his first degree he worked as a management consultant and high-school teacher. He then studied and received a Masters in Theology at St Johns University. He earned a PhD at Temple University in Pennsylvania plus studied Islam and held post doc appointments at Harvard and Oxford Universities. He is well-known as a promoter of strong ties between Muslims and Christians and has even challenged the Vatican to make greater efforts to encourage such ties.
Esposito founded the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and is its current director. The center has received a US$20 million endowment from Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal to advance education in the fields of Islamic civilisation and Muslim-Christian understanding and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.
Esposito more than just talks about Caliph Umar and amar ma’ruf nahi munkar. His credentials can put both Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin to shame. Dr Hiimi and Shahabudin are novices in comparison. They should be ashamed to even talk about Islam considering they have achieved so little in the cause of Islamic propagation and understanding.
What Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin have failed to comprehend is that Islam is a message for all mankind. The Quran addresses mankind, not just Muslims. Muslims should, in fact, give the Quran to non-Muslims as gifts so that Islam can be better propagated and the message of Islam can reach all mankind, far and wide.
Malays have the impression that we should only preach to Muslims. If you just talk to Muslims sitting cross-legged on the mosque floor then what are you achieving? You are merely preaching to the already converted. It is the unconverted whom you should preach to even if only to make them understand Islam better and to eradicate the misconception about Islam and clean up the negative image that Islam has acquired over the last seven years or so.
We should be proud that non-Muslims find the message of Islam appropriate. When non-Muslims talk about Caliph Umar and amar ma’ruf nahi munkar we should hold our heads high. Instead of criticising Islam, non-Muslims are quoting Islam. This is something we should be elated about. Instead of condemning these non-Muslims we should be shouting far and wide that even non-Muslims are quoting Islam, even if it is just amar ma’ruf nahi munkar. So Islam can’t be all that bad as some people are trying to suggest.
Amar ma’ruf nahi munkar are not holy words. There is not even any magic in those words. It is merely Arabic for propagating good and avoiding wrongdoing. You can say it in Arabic. You can say it in English. You can even say it in Tamil or Mandarin. It does not matter what language you use. The meaning remains the same. And there is no taboo in saying it in Arabic as there is in saying it in any other language. It is just a language of choice and the choice of language is yours.
Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin are being very petty and silly. They should stop all this nonsense. People like these give Islam a bad name. They give an impression that Muslims are unreasonable and intolerant. And this invariably reflects on the religion and the religion is unfortunately faulted. And Muslims grumble when people criticise Islam whereas it is their actions that attract all this criticism.
What Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin should instead do is to take the government to task for not allowing the Muslim detainees to perform their Friday prayers. For a long time the Internal Security Act detainees have been fighting with the government to be allowed to perform their Friday prayers. But the government has persistently denied them permission.
On one occasion, the Kamunting detention camp authorities invited the Perak Mufti to talk to the detainees. The detainees demanded that they be allowed to perform their Friday prayers but the Perak Mufti scolded them. Cikgu Samad, one of the Kamunting warders, confirmed this and said that the detainees are very stubborn. They won’t even listen to the Perak Mufti, complained Cikgu Samad, and defied the ‘fatwah’ by still performing their Friday prayers amongst themselves.
The ISA detainees have since relented though. They now no longer perform their Friday prayers. They realise that the more they defy the government the longer they shall remain in Kamunting. Some have been under detention almost eight years now and it is not worth insisting you be allowed to perform your Friday prayers if it only means that you are going to spend the rest of your life in Kamunting and eventually die under detention.
Most of those under ISA detention are said to be Islamic extremists and are perceived as a danger to society. They are said to be intolerant of non-Muslims and that they wish to set up a regional Islamic empire that includes Malaysia, Indonesia, Southern Thailand, the Philippines, etc. And that is why they have been detained without trial in Kamunting.
I would imagine that, considering the so-called background of these detainees, the government would want to rehabilitate them by making them more tolerant of non-Muslims and less inclined to a regional Islamic empire. I was quite surprised when I attended my first lecture by an ustaz from JAKIM on 28 October 2008 and he condemned all other religions and their holy books. Isn’t this ustaz just spreading hate amongst Muslims and which will convince the ‘extremist’ ISA detainees that they are right in trying to set up a regional Islamic empire?
I, in fact, made a police report on this matter at the Sentul Police Station at 2.30pm yesterday to enable the government to investigate this matter. My police report also included the fact that the ISA detainees are being prevented from performing their Friday prayers. Over to you Dr Hilmi and Shahabudin! Let’s see how you handle this more important issue.
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