Prelude – An Inspiration of Disappointment Pour-Out
As titled above,I will touch on the failure of Muslim, as I am particularly very saddened and disappointed with the circumstances cornering Muslim all around the world in the societal and individual manner. In this prelude, I will highlight two major inspirations as of my purpose of typing this article: -
1) Reading the 2nd book of Syed Akbar Ali, titled Malaysia & The Club of Doom*. The star symbol means The Collapse of Islamic Countries. He shed many lights in discovering Failed State of Islamic Countries, as well as Malaysia.
2) My recent debate with an ex-Muslim, who then introduces me to this site, Faith Freedom International. You can access the site with following address; www.faithfreedom.org. Our arguments refresh me with the problems, sickness and hatred from Non-Muslim toward Muslim Nations. Notwithstanding the fact that Muslims are troublesome ummah, The Quran and deen of Islam are not to be blamed.
Therefore, we can shift to major purpose of this article. I am doing this for awareness of my fellow Muslim regardless of geographical location, the needs to fix Islam image. This is also a result of pent-up disappointment towards Muslim behavior despite there are obvious, foolproof references ever, the Al-Quran. Despite the many criticism & resentment falls over Muslim, we are unchanging of our fate. Before we move into 2nd chapter, I need to make clear of something; the facts & figures in this article will be primarily based on the Syed Akbar Ali book, others would be derived from Internet. I will also include my personal observation.
Malaysia – The Closest for Good Example of Failed Muslims
Now we are talking. Even though Malaysia is declared Islamic country, I do not personally believe so. My reason, the constitutional law is adapted from British common law. Furthermore, the Democratic systems are not cited anywhere in the Al-Quran. I think the declaration of Malaysia as Islamic Country is just a cheap joke, ill-augured politically-motivated as to gain certain masses support. I think the idea is oblivion. How can a country yell it is Islamic country when it seconded the Al-Quran? The Syariah law that is based on Al-Quran, Hadith, Ijma’(consensus) & Qias(analogy) are underrated.
To give some surprise, in December 2005, Govt. sponsored and passed a new law called Islamic Family Law Bill, in which some section are copied from the British law-based Marriage and Divorce Act. Don’t believe me? Here is the evidence. Section 58 of the Islamic Family Law is a duplicate of Section 76 of Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) Act 1976 (Act 164) & Rules.
Firstly here, Section 76 from British law:
Section 76. Power of Court to order division of matrimonial assets.
(1) The court shall have power, when granting a decree of divorce or judicial separation, to order the division
between the parties of any assets acquired by them during the marriage by their joint efforts or the sale of any such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.
And here our Islamic Family Law:
Section 58. Power of Court to order division of harta sepencarian.
(1) The court shall have power, when granting a pronouncement of talaq or when making an order of divorce, to order the division between the parties of any assets acquired by them during the marriage by their joint efforts or the sale of any such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.
If you notice, only minor changes are made like using the Arabic word talaq instead of ‘divorce’ or the Malay word harta sepencarian instead of ‘matrimonial assets. Million of Malaysia’s Muslims are duped into thinking Islamic Family Law as rightful and super duper when it was actually erroneous. The point is, why create purported religious laws by borrowing from laws which are deemed to be Christian laws? It is ironical that after all the fuss the same Western law had been adopted to help create two separate legal systems. This serve as our first Failed Muslims case.
Muslims in Malaysia are often seen as lazy, poor, stupid, doing trivial stuff, etc. So much negativity, so much hatred is thrown at us. Now, why is this? We have Islam, the deen of perfect life, so why we failed? The answer is easy, because we do not read & do not understand the Quran very well. In fact, this answer is mother answer to all problems faced by Muslims. Let me take one example. Quran has urged that non-muhrim of man and woman not to be together in secluded place. Why?
Because when man & woman in secluded area together, there is no knowing what will happen next. Driven by desire (nafsu), temptation from third party (devil, demon) or whatever you call it, chances, who know what is happen next? But the youth disregard it, so of late we see an increasing amount of sexual assault, the catch of young couple berkhalwat, the mass distribution of video of previously said case, involving a majority of Muslim people. According to some statistics, from 2000 to 2005, there are 100% increases in adultery case! When Allah actually makes our life easy, we underestimated it. From surah Taha, Allah did mention that Al-Quran is not to cause any hardship: “We did not reveal this Quran to cause you any hardship” 20:2.
Not only religion naivety curses those of Muslim youth, but also at levels of politician and elderly. For example, in the case of Saiful – Anwar sodomy, there are no mentioning that the accuser doing the swearing in Al-Quran, it suppose to be the accused to do the swearing to defend himselves. In that swearing, Saiful make 2 major mistakes, the mispronunciation of Watallahi and admit wrong date (Aug 26 before correct it to Jun 26). It looks like Allah will clearly show who is the false when you play with His religion. Saiful is a munafiq (a concept given to those who ostendingly admit to know about religion). Is that now we can see that there is nothing happening to both party? Because there is fallacy, so nothing happen. Following the incident, the swearing become quickly famous, and the prominent political leader also followed it to stave off accusation thrown at them.
[63.2] They made their swearing (or admittance) as a shield (to save their life and wealth from being killed or seized), hence they barricade (thyself and others) from follow the correct Path of Allah.
Our ummah is also dirty and unclean. We made comparison with South Korean. The Quran talks about ‘aamilus solihaat’ or righteous works. The South Koreans have established a cycle of aamilus solihaat. These must be preceded by a willingness on the part of the people to cooperate and help each other. They must agree to abide by so called secular laws which say that no rubbish must be thrown into the rivers. They have inculcated a good value system which teaches the majority of their population to wash their hands after using the toilet.
They must have disciplined Civil Servants whose duty is to implement those laws fairly and efficiently. Unfortunately this circle of aamilus solihaat has so far eluded the Islamic countries. One cannot avoid noticing that most Muslim countries are still dirty and unhygienic, including Malaysia. Its public toilets are filly. If one can spent their time at toilet and observe, many highly educated Muslim will walk out without washing their hands.
As the last example, some religious folks came out with the idea to arrest and jail people who have deviated from their religion. When they get strange ideas like this, it will invariably involve money. This idea created opportunities to award multi mullion Ringgit contracts to lucky religious folks to build a Pusat Pemilhan Akidah or Faith Rehabilitation Centre to reform the so called religious deviants whom they were going to arrest. So they built one at Jelebu in Negeri Sembilan. Then they found out that because religion is a state matter in Malaysia, involving state legislation under the respective Sultans – they could not move ‘deviants’ freely across state boundaries. For example you can’t arrest a deviant in Selangor & jailed him in Jelebu.
The end result was that the Faith Rehabilitation Centre in Jelebu fell into disuse and disrepair. The chair, tables and electrical fittings were stolen or ‘went missing’. This is stupidity. The Quran allows freedom of belief. The Federal Constitution also guarantees freedom of religion. Why arrest anyone for being a deviant? To sum it all in one word, the Islamic countries often embark on really useless religious escapades, waste money in the process, get themselves tied into knots and then spend even more money sorting out the mess.
The Failed State – The Definitions and Characteristics
Failed State has various definitions. This is one or two I derive from the book. “A state if failing when its government is losing physical control of its territory or lacks a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Other symptoms include the erosion of authority to make collective decisions, an inability to provide reasonable public services, and the loss of the capacity to interact with the international community”. Another definition says a State is failing when there is “extensive corruption and criminal behavior, inability to collect taxes or otherwise draw on citizen support, large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, sharp economic decline, group-based inequality, and institutionalized persecution or discrimination. Below are twelve characteristics of Failed State:
1. Mounting Demographic Pressures
2. Massive Movement of Refugees and Displaced Persons
3. Legacy of Vengeance – Seeking Group Grievance
4. Chronic and Sustained Human Flight
5. Uneven Economic Development along Group Lines
6. Sharp and/or Severe Economic Decline
7. Criminalization or Delegimitization of the State
8. Progressive Deterioration of Public Services
9. Widespread Violation of Human Rights
10. Security Apparatus as “State within a State”
11. Rise of Factionalized Elites
12. Intervention of Other States or External Actors
Malaysia, if not all of the above-listed characteristics, possess most of the factors such as no. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 (in Perak?), 8, 9. Malaysia also had following failure: Restrictions on the free flow of information, the subjugation of women, a low valuation of education, and inability to accept responsibility for individual or collective failure.
This will be my last paragraph. So I am going to include my personal observation:
1. I had a friend who has vast knowledge about Islamic knowledge. He shed a lot of light when there is anything I ponder, of doubt or uncertainty I have towards Islam. Despite that, I lost my faith in him when I see his holding hands with his girlfriend. This is another – individual failure. Those who cakap tapi tidak serupa bikin. When I ask him, this is the answer, ‘As a youth, we need to rejoice. It is ok to be holding hands now, it is only small sin. Furthermore, she was the one who are holding my hands. Anyway, we can always repent because Allah is the Acceptor of Repentance”. I am very sorry for this guy. I am sorry because he took Allah for granted. What if the time during his maksiat, Allah punish him with death sentence? There was large hypocrisy in Muslim world.
2. It’s laughable matter when you indulge deeply in Quran knowledge, just to find out that there are so many fallacy, so many deviant and naïve out there. For example, Muslimah wear of tudung. The wear of tudung is compulsory-imposed by Allah to woman: Following are verse from Al-Quran and Hadith from Prophet Muhammad:
a) [33.59] Wahai Nabi, suruhlah isteri-isterimu dan anak-anak perempuanmu serta perempuan-perempuan yang beriman, supaya melabuhkan pakaiannya bagi menutup seluruh tubuhnya (semasa mereka keluar); cara yang demikian lebih sesuai untuk mereka dikenal (sebagai perempuan yang baik-baik) maka dengan itu mereka tidak diganggu. Dan (ingatlah) Allah adalah Maha Pengampun, lagi Maha Mengasihani.
b) Rasulullah bersabda: “Bahawa anak perempuan apabila cukup umurnya, maka mereka tidak boleh dilihat akan dia, melainkan mukanya dan dua tapak tangannya hinnga pergelangan. (H.R. Abu Daud)
c) [24.31] Dan katakanlah kepada perempuan-perempuan yang beriman supaya menyekat pandangan mereka (daripada memandang yang haram), dan memelihara kehormatan mereka; dan janganlah mereka memperlihatkan perhiasan tubuh mereka kecuali yang zahir daripadanya; dan hendaklah mereka menutup belahan leher bajunya dengan tudung kepala mereka; dan janganlah mereka memperlihatkan perhiasan tubuh mereka melainkan kepada suami mereka, atau bapa mereka atau bapa mertua mereka atau anak-anak mereka, atau anak-anak tiri mereka, atau saudara-saudara mereka, atau anak bagi saudara-saudara mereka yang lelaki, atau anak bagi saudara-saudara mereka yang perempuan, atau perempuan-perempuan Islam, atau hamba-hamba mereka, atau orang gaji dari orang-orang lelaki yang telah tua dan tidak berkeinginan kepada perempuan, atau kanak-kanak yang belum mengerti lagi tentang aurat perempuan; dan janganlah mereka menghentakkan kaki untuk diketahui orang akan apa yang tersembunyi dari perhiasan mereka; dan bertaubatlah kamu sekalian kepada Allah, wahai orang-orang yang beriman, supaya kamu berjaya.
From this reference above, we can conclude that the real, approved wear of tudung must close everything, except for face and hand to wrist. But, how of Muslimah Malaysia attire? That is why Muhammad says this: Sesungguhnya sebilangan ahli neraka adalah perempuan yang berpakaian, tetapi telanjang yang condong pada maksiat dan menarik orang lain untuk melakukan maksiat. Mereka tidak akan masuk syurga dan tidak akan mencium baunya. (Hadis riwayat Bukhari dan Muslim), I aware that this article would welcome many pleasant and unpleasant comment. The unpleasant would be ‘ingat dia bagus sangat ke’, ‘mesti dia pun ada buat salah juga’. However, you need to remember that Quran urge people to wipe away bad assumption. Read my thought with logic alone, throw away all the prejudice. Only certain prophet are maksum (protected from sin), but at least, we need to be sincere with ourselves. With this, I try to make my llife & yours better.
As a conclusion, thanks your for reading my article. Do what you can to rejuvenate Islam image. See example from Nabi’s victorious age. Every single thing you know about Islam & Al-Quran would greatly helps. Islam & Al-Quran are not to blamed for gloomy, failed Muslim life. Again, Jazakallahu Khairan.
LET'S MAKE A DIFFERENT
1) Reading the 2nd book of Syed Akbar Ali, titled Malaysia & The Club of Doom*. The star symbol means The Collapse of Islamic Countries. He shed many lights in discovering Failed State of Islamic Countries, as well as Malaysia.
2) My recent debate with an ex-Muslim, who then introduces me to this site, Faith Freedom International. You can access the site with following address; www.faithfreedom.org. Our arguments refresh me with the problems, sickness and hatred from Non-Muslim toward Muslim Nations. Notwithstanding the fact that Muslims are troublesome ummah, The Quran and deen of Islam are not to be blamed.
Therefore, we can shift to major purpose of this article. I am doing this for awareness of my fellow Muslim regardless of geographical location, the needs to fix Islam image. This is also a result of pent-up disappointment towards Muslim behavior despite there are obvious, foolproof references ever, the Al-Quran. Despite the many criticism & resentment falls over Muslim, we are unchanging of our fate. Before we move into 2nd chapter, I need to make clear of something; the facts & figures in this article will be primarily based on the Syed Akbar Ali book, others would be derived from Internet. I will also include my personal observation.
Malaysia – The Closest for Good Example of Failed Muslims
Now we are talking. Even though Malaysia is declared Islamic country, I do not personally believe so. My reason, the constitutional law is adapted from British common law. Furthermore, the Democratic systems are not cited anywhere in the Al-Quran. I think the declaration of Malaysia as Islamic Country is just a cheap joke, ill-augured politically-motivated as to gain certain masses support. I think the idea is oblivion. How can a country yell it is Islamic country when it seconded the Al-Quran? The Syariah law that is based on Al-Quran, Hadith, Ijma’(consensus) & Qias(analogy) are underrated.
To give some surprise, in December 2005, Govt. sponsored and passed a new law called Islamic Family Law Bill, in which some section are copied from the British law-based Marriage and Divorce Act. Don’t believe me? Here is the evidence. Section 58 of the Islamic Family Law is a duplicate of Section 76 of Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) Act 1976 (Act 164) & Rules.
Firstly here, Section 76 from British law:
Section 76. Power of Court to order division of matrimonial assets.
(1) The court shall have power, when granting a decree of divorce or judicial separation, to order the division
between the parties of any assets acquired by them during the marriage by their joint efforts or the sale of any such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.
And here our Islamic Family Law:
Section 58. Power of Court to order division of harta sepencarian.
(1) The court shall have power, when granting a pronouncement of talaq or when making an order of divorce, to order the division between the parties of any assets acquired by them during the marriage by their joint efforts or the sale of any such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.
If you notice, only minor changes are made like using the Arabic word talaq instead of ‘divorce’ or the Malay word harta sepencarian instead of ‘matrimonial assets. Million of Malaysia’s Muslims are duped into thinking Islamic Family Law as rightful and super duper when it was actually erroneous. The point is, why create purported religious laws by borrowing from laws which are deemed to be Christian laws? It is ironical that after all the fuss the same Western law had been adopted to help create two separate legal systems. This serve as our first Failed Muslims case.
Muslims in Malaysia are often seen as lazy, poor, stupid, doing trivial stuff, etc. So much negativity, so much hatred is thrown at us. Now, why is this? We have Islam, the deen of perfect life, so why we failed? The answer is easy, because we do not read & do not understand the Quran very well. In fact, this answer is mother answer to all problems faced by Muslims. Let me take one example. Quran has urged that non-muhrim of man and woman not to be together in secluded place. Why?
Because when man & woman in secluded area together, there is no knowing what will happen next. Driven by desire (nafsu), temptation from third party (devil, demon) or whatever you call it, chances, who know what is happen next? But the youth disregard it, so of late we see an increasing amount of sexual assault, the catch of young couple berkhalwat, the mass distribution of video of previously said case, involving a majority of Muslim people. According to some statistics, from 2000 to 2005, there are 100% increases in adultery case! When Allah actually makes our life easy, we underestimated it. From surah Taha, Allah did mention that Al-Quran is not to cause any hardship: “We did not reveal this Quran to cause you any hardship” 20:2.
Not only religion naivety curses those of Muslim youth, but also at levels of politician and elderly. For example, in the case of Saiful – Anwar sodomy, there are no mentioning that the accuser doing the swearing in Al-Quran, it suppose to be the accused to do the swearing to defend himselves. In that swearing, Saiful make 2 major mistakes, the mispronunciation of Watallahi and admit wrong date (Aug 26 before correct it to Jun 26). It looks like Allah will clearly show who is the false when you play with His religion. Saiful is a munafiq (a concept given to those who ostendingly admit to know about religion). Is that now we can see that there is nothing happening to both party? Because there is fallacy, so nothing happen. Following the incident, the swearing become quickly famous, and the prominent political leader also followed it to stave off accusation thrown at them.
[63.2] They made their swearing (or admittance) as a shield (to save their life and wealth from being killed or seized), hence they barricade (thyself and others) from follow the correct Path of Allah.
Our ummah is also dirty and unclean. We made comparison with South Korean. The Quran talks about ‘aamilus solihaat’ or righteous works. The South Koreans have established a cycle of aamilus solihaat. These must be preceded by a willingness on the part of the people to cooperate and help each other. They must agree to abide by so called secular laws which say that no rubbish must be thrown into the rivers. They have inculcated a good value system which teaches the majority of their population to wash their hands after using the toilet.
They must have disciplined Civil Servants whose duty is to implement those laws fairly and efficiently. Unfortunately this circle of aamilus solihaat has so far eluded the Islamic countries. One cannot avoid noticing that most Muslim countries are still dirty and unhygienic, including Malaysia. Its public toilets are filly. If one can spent their time at toilet and observe, many highly educated Muslim will walk out without washing their hands.
As the last example, some religious folks came out with the idea to arrest and jail people who have deviated from their religion. When they get strange ideas like this, it will invariably involve money. This idea created opportunities to award multi mullion Ringgit contracts to lucky religious folks to build a Pusat Pemilhan Akidah or Faith Rehabilitation Centre to reform the so called religious deviants whom they were going to arrest. So they built one at Jelebu in Negeri Sembilan. Then they found out that because religion is a state matter in Malaysia, involving state legislation under the respective Sultans – they could not move ‘deviants’ freely across state boundaries. For example you can’t arrest a deviant in Selangor & jailed him in Jelebu.
The end result was that the Faith Rehabilitation Centre in Jelebu fell into disuse and disrepair. The chair, tables and electrical fittings were stolen or ‘went missing’. This is stupidity. The Quran allows freedom of belief. The Federal Constitution also guarantees freedom of religion. Why arrest anyone for being a deviant? To sum it all in one word, the Islamic countries often embark on really useless religious escapades, waste money in the process, get themselves tied into knots and then spend even more money sorting out the mess.
The Failed State – The Definitions and Characteristics
Failed State has various definitions. This is one or two I derive from the book. “A state if failing when its government is losing physical control of its territory or lacks a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Other symptoms include the erosion of authority to make collective decisions, an inability to provide reasonable public services, and the loss of the capacity to interact with the international community”. Another definition says a State is failing when there is “extensive corruption and criminal behavior, inability to collect taxes or otherwise draw on citizen support, large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, sharp economic decline, group-based inequality, and institutionalized persecution or discrimination. Below are twelve characteristics of Failed State:
1. Mounting Demographic Pressures
2. Massive Movement of Refugees and Displaced Persons
3. Legacy of Vengeance – Seeking Group Grievance
4. Chronic and Sustained Human Flight
5. Uneven Economic Development along Group Lines
6. Sharp and/or Severe Economic Decline
7. Criminalization or Delegimitization of the State
8. Progressive Deterioration of Public Services
9. Widespread Violation of Human Rights
10. Security Apparatus as “State within a State”
11. Rise of Factionalized Elites
12. Intervention of Other States or External Actors
Malaysia, if not all of the above-listed characteristics, possess most of the factors such as no. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 (in Perak?), 8, 9. Malaysia also had following failure: Restrictions on the free flow of information, the subjugation of women, a low valuation of education, and inability to accept responsibility for individual or collective failure.
This will be my last paragraph. So I am going to include my personal observation:
1. I had a friend who has vast knowledge about Islamic knowledge. He shed a lot of light when there is anything I ponder, of doubt or uncertainty I have towards Islam. Despite that, I lost my faith in him when I see his holding hands with his girlfriend. This is another – individual failure. Those who cakap tapi tidak serupa bikin. When I ask him, this is the answer, ‘As a youth, we need to rejoice. It is ok to be holding hands now, it is only small sin. Furthermore, she was the one who are holding my hands. Anyway, we can always repent because Allah is the Acceptor of Repentance”. I am very sorry for this guy. I am sorry because he took Allah for granted. What if the time during his maksiat, Allah punish him with death sentence? There was large hypocrisy in Muslim world.
2. It’s laughable matter when you indulge deeply in Quran knowledge, just to find out that there are so many fallacy, so many deviant and naïve out there. For example, Muslimah wear of tudung. The wear of tudung is compulsory-imposed by Allah to woman: Following are verse from Al-Quran and Hadith from Prophet Muhammad:
a) [33.59] Wahai Nabi, suruhlah isteri-isterimu dan anak-anak perempuanmu serta perempuan-perempuan yang beriman, supaya melabuhkan pakaiannya bagi menutup seluruh tubuhnya (semasa mereka keluar); cara yang demikian lebih sesuai untuk mereka dikenal (sebagai perempuan yang baik-baik) maka dengan itu mereka tidak diganggu. Dan (ingatlah) Allah adalah Maha Pengampun, lagi Maha Mengasihani.
b) Rasulullah bersabda: “Bahawa anak perempuan apabila cukup umurnya, maka mereka tidak boleh dilihat akan dia, melainkan mukanya dan dua tapak tangannya hinnga pergelangan. (H.R. Abu Daud)
c) [24.31] Dan katakanlah kepada perempuan-perempuan yang beriman supaya menyekat pandangan mereka (daripada memandang yang haram), dan memelihara kehormatan mereka; dan janganlah mereka memperlihatkan perhiasan tubuh mereka kecuali yang zahir daripadanya; dan hendaklah mereka menutup belahan leher bajunya dengan tudung kepala mereka; dan janganlah mereka memperlihatkan perhiasan tubuh mereka melainkan kepada suami mereka, atau bapa mereka atau bapa mertua mereka atau anak-anak mereka, atau anak-anak tiri mereka, atau saudara-saudara mereka, atau anak bagi saudara-saudara mereka yang lelaki, atau anak bagi saudara-saudara mereka yang perempuan, atau perempuan-perempuan Islam, atau hamba-hamba mereka, atau orang gaji dari orang-orang lelaki yang telah tua dan tidak berkeinginan kepada perempuan, atau kanak-kanak yang belum mengerti lagi tentang aurat perempuan; dan janganlah mereka menghentakkan kaki untuk diketahui orang akan apa yang tersembunyi dari perhiasan mereka; dan bertaubatlah kamu sekalian kepada Allah, wahai orang-orang yang beriman, supaya kamu berjaya.
From this reference above, we can conclude that the real, approved wear of tudung must close everything, except for face and hand to wrist. But, how of Muslimah Malaysia attire? That is why Muhammad says this: Sesungguhnya sebilangan ahli neraka adalah perempuan yang berpakaian, tetapi telanjang yang condong pada maksiat dan menarik orang lain untuk melakukan maksiat. Mereka tidak akan masuk syurga dan tidak akan mencium baunya. (Hadis riwayat Bukhari dan Muslim), I aware that this article would welcome many pleasant and unpleasant comment. The unpleasant would be ‘ingat dia bagus sangat ke’, ‘mesti dia pun ada buat salah juga’. However, you need to remember that Quran urge people to wipe away bad assumption. Read my thought with logic alone, throw away all the prejudice. Only certain prophet are maksum (protected from sin), but at least, we need to be sincere with ourselves. With this, I try to make my llife & yours better.
As a conclusion, thanks your for reading my article. Do what you can to rejuvenate Islam image. See example from Nabi’s victorious age. Every single thing you know about Islam & Al-Quran would greatly helps. Islam & Al-Quran are not to blamed for gloomy, failed Muslim life. Again, Jazakallahu Khairan.
LET'S MAKE A DIFFERENT
6 comments:
I agree with most of your points however, Malaysia never was declared an Islamic State except by a few idiotic Ministers. Islam is however declared the official religion of the country. That is it.
Overall, you have given a good summation of the current state of Islamic affairs. The problem is that Muslims nowadays are only concerned with worldly affairs, that is the bottom line. Islam is manipulated to conform to their requirements through and through. They act as if they are going to live forever. As far as women are concerned, Islam has made it so very easy for them to reach heaven, but despite that women will be the majority of hells residents. Why? Because they are claiming equality. Many of them do not realise that according to Islam, they have been given so much more benefits and chances to reap 'pahala' than men. Take for instance, if a woman combs the hair of her child, she gets 1 'pahala' for every strand of hair that is combed. Just imagine how many thousand 'pahala' she gets everytime she does it. But men get none when they do so. They are obviously only interested in worldly and material things.
Islam is a way of life, not just merely a religion. The time will come when many will realise this.
Wasallam...
Some munafiq ministers? I guess their brain must be tainted by parties ideology.
You are right. Allah plans for what is best. It is deplorable that since of late, many woman start argue to claim similar equality to those of man. Now, if, you look carefully, these woman have a similarity. In America, woman become imam to lead solat which the majority of makmum are man. In Malaysia, we have Zarina Mahathir and Sisters In Islam often voicing their concern if any amendment of Islamic Law could subjugate Muslim woman.
There are many verses in Al-Quran that state each man and woman are given their own specialties. If one really studying and understand the Quran, they will no longer argue about each man and woman shares.
The civilization and life style of Islam is now hanky-panky as secularized, westernized law are seen as more acceptable. E.g Muslimah do not shy to hold hands with their boyfriend, but asked about marriage, they totally reject poligami. Now which is which is allowed and not allowed in Al-Quran? Awake my ummah..
Salam
I think its problematic for you to try to show failed muslim state from your various examples of lack of Muslimness in Malaysia, e.g. from the similarity between old colonial laws and current islamic family law. Also, it is disturbing that you try to show how far muslims have fallen from the deen (where you say Muslims no longer read the quran) and you link this to men and women being found in close proximity in malaysia. Or that muslim women do not cover accordingly. This shows that to you and many men women are still the ones who bear the burden of custom and tradition, while men can enjoy the freedoms and liberties of modern life with all its joys of being able to study what I want, to go where I wish, to move about in public as a free person, to engage in politics and governance issues and to live without fear of harassment and violence merely because I am a woman and am expected to act a certain way,without reference to who we are as individuals.
I think there are far worse and far more obvious examples of a state which has failed to live up to Islamic precepts and ethics of good behaviour. (corruption, so called islamic laws, and even the civil laws as well that actually oppress half of society i.e. women, total abuse of power by the state authorities etc etc etc)
The fact that you would focus on an issue like filthy toilets as well, shows you lack perspective. Sorry if that sounds harsh, I think what you say is many times interesting but you should back up your claims with better examples that relate to our modern and complex world right now.
I myself am not a Muslim but I was well enlightened by the huge leaps and bounds being done by Muslim practitioners trying to fight for equality and justice in the modern world, for men and women.You can read about this here: http://www.musawah.org/
As your blog is called Teropong Zaman I think you should read the many papers and articles about the principles of Islam as it ought to be applied in the world today on the Musawah website. Malaysian Islamic philosophy is stunted I think, when I compare to the many many global movements looking at reenvisioning Islam for the Future.
I was so inspired by Prof Mohamad Syed who talked of the moral obligation of all muslims to change the injustices that are being done now in the name of their religion.
Thanks for your writing. Keep up your hard work.
Runan
This shows that to you and many men women are still the ones who bear the burden of custom and tradition, while men can enjoy the freedoms and liberties of modern life with all its joys of being able to study what I want, to go where I wish, to move about in public as a free person, to engage in politics and governance issues and to live without fear of harassment and violence merely because I am a woman and am expected to act a certain way,without reference to who we are as individuals.
If you whole-heartedly understand the roles of man and woman as cited in Al-Quran, you wont argue about the advantages or disadvantages of both man and woman. There is no such thing as perfection; man and woman complete each other. Both party are given particular responsibility and accountability, both man and woman suffer their own hardship. E.g here if a husband failed to influence her wives to wear tudung, the he suffer her sins. But if a woman failed to follow her husband order(as long as it do not clash the rule of Islam), then Allah would not redha her bcoz 'keredhaan Allah kepada isteri datang dari suami'. Islam is a fair way of life. Both man and woman will be awarded and punished strictly on what they done.
The fact that you would focus on an issue like filthy toilets as well, shows you lack perspective. Sorry if that sounds harsh, I think what you say is many times interesting but you should back up your claims with better examples that relate to our modern and complex world right now.
What you say is right. But even issues of low-perspectives need to be addressed. Everything that is considered small can boom and become a big issue. Cleanliness and hygienic are emphasized in Islam; so when practitioners of Islam are not adhered to such act, it would be shameful. The Muslim has both dedicated doa masuk and keluar tandas, but they don't have doa basuh tangan, i believe? Actly, this filthy toilet issues reflecting to bigger issue, i.e the Muslim even fail to follow common sense; it should be common sense to wash your hand after using the toilets. The Al-Quran and Islam are both scientific.
Malaysia is NOT a true muslim / islamic country.
Why?
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1. Abundance of night clubs, discos and karaokes especially in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor. Zouk KL and Modesto is where anak muda melayu ramai melepak, especially uni students.
2. Rampant gays or homosexuals. Look at our TV shows, promoting 'perangai pondan' through men's behavior and clothing. Even in uni campus also have 'pondan gangs'. 'Aksi gay' seems to be the 'in' thing in KL nowadays. :(
3. The Casino in Genting ...
4. Plenty of 4D, Sports Toto outlets in our towns. Melayu jugak yang ramai pergi, even Pak Haji.
5. Alcohol - 'arak' is even sold in 7-Elevens, hotels, steak houses and the hypermarts like Giant, Teson and Carrefour.
6. Prostitution Den or 'sarang pelacuran' can be found in many cities and towns in Malaysia.
7. Too many sex-related products in Malaysia like tongkat Ali, kacip fatimah, etc. Malaysians are obsessed with porn and sex. They are also one of the highest users of Viagra. Even kopi dan teh also to enhance sexual performance! Patutlah Melayu paling ramai jadi perogol dan terlibat dalam sumbang mahram. Dalam Quran pun kata benda yang memudaratkan dan boleh mendatangkan benda seperti Zina patut diharamkan. So Malaysia should STOP promoting these products.
8. Perangai of many people here - unislamic perangai like pengotor, perasuah, pengumpat, incest (sumbang-mahram), perogol, gila seks, bodoh-sombong, malas.
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Tudung, purdah, janggut, jubah, serban or turban is just a matter of clothing.
No point to have janggut panjang and serban if every weekend visit pondan belakang chow kit ...
No point in jilbab labuh if in the end buka kain on Youtube ...
Until we get rid of points 1-7 and change OUR ATTITUDE (point 8), THEN barulah Malaysia can proudly say that its an islamic country.
Wallahualam.
@anonymous
i could not agree with you less. But mostly, your number is just a smaller proof of unIslamic Malaysia. First thing first, we do not practise Quranic/Islamic law. This logic alone already sais that Malaysia IS NOT AN ISLAMIC COUNTRY.
To elaborate, i agree from your point 1 to 6. But your point 7 is opt to debatable. The tongkat ali & kacip fatimah is not merely for sex-enhancement purpose. It was for your own body. But even if sex is a primary purpose, is it wrong to take, for example a married couple? It do not matter as long as it is 'halal'. This tongkat ali is low-perspective issue, but if it could help to be beneficial to husband-wife relationship, why not?
I also agree with your points 8, but felt a little bit indifferent. Why? Because it has been talked over and over again. The Malaysia Muslim still largely possess Third-World thinking. Solution? Goes back to Al-Quran and Hadith.
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