Do you know that a lot of our Malaysian Muslims were not happy with the letter sent by Steve Oh and published by MalaysiaKini yesterday?
The part that ticked us Muslims off most was some uncalled statements about our religious figures. Let me quote to you readers that particular part down below. Quote:
“The government should look into the irresponsible behaviour of these anointed religious leaders. Not long ago on the ABC Four Corners programme, the Perak mufti was seen uttering seditious remarks which are totally untrue. In the interview he said, among other things, "Now the rich... now who's having the rich economy in this country... the Indians and the Chinese. They bully the Malays, that we know... that I know."
And prior to that, he alluded to May 13 and implied that if non Muslims disturb his religion then there could be a repeat of the bloody riots instigated by politicians. We know how untrue and hurtful those false statements are. His interview can be watched on YouTube.
This man purportedly caused a commotion near a church last year when he circulated false information about Malays converting to Christianity. It is unacceptable that a religious leader can utter and spread lies against others in violation of his own religion, which does not condone lying and slander. His words also undermine the government's efforts in maintaining national unity. He should be stopped before he causes more harm to the community and the country's image abroad.”
To be fair, the Perak Mufti should not have said those words about our Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians but let us not blow it out of proportion. It was never meant to be seditious and certainly not one either. The Perak Mufti was only trying to make his case clear to the interviewer who probably knew nothing about our situation here in Malaysia.
The Perak Mufti was at the center of the commotion all right but he was not the one who started it. What he did comes naturally for any religious leaders. I’m sure priests and pastors would have done the same thing if they were in his shoes. I’m sorry Steve Oh but you have interpreted the incident all wrong. You should not have listen to your emotions when you wrote that letter in the first place.
As matter of fact, the non-Muslims here in Malaysia should ponder upon the Perak Mufti’s worrying concerns with utmost consideration. You can call us Muslims however you like. You can call us stupid. You can call us imbeciles. You can call us fanatic morons. You can even call us crazy. We don’t mind name callings because we are so used to it. But mind you, please do not go any further than that. Please do not play with fire.
Many of you folks out there may think that UMNO and PAS are irreconcilable. Many of you folks think they can never see eye to eye. Well, I got news for you. You are dead wrong. Islam can bring those two together. Efforts to concoct slanderous remarks, news and accusations about Islam would only bring UMNO, PAS and every other Malaysian Muslims even closer as a unified Ummah. Frankly speaking, I would be more than happy to see that happened. Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda would even be happier. We common Malaysian Muslims have been praying for that ever since we were taught about Islam by our parents and religious teachers.
Would you like to see that happen too?
If yes, please go ahead and make our dreams come true. We would thank you folks later when that happened. :-)
By the way folks, I have decided to include the YouTube video mentioned in Steve Oh’s letter down below so that everyone can see what this is all about in the first place.
| This video maybe offensive and inappropriate from some folks. Viewer discretion is advised |
Before I go, I would like to remind all Malaysian Muslims especially those in that Sisters in Islam organization to ponder upon the following Hadiths.
Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported:
Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was asked about the best of deeds. He observed: Belief in Allah. He (the inquirer) asked: What next? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Jihad (struggle to the utmost) in the cause of Allah. He (the inquirer) again asked: What next? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Pilgrimage accepted into the grace of the Lord.
Hadith number in Sahih Muslim [Arabic only]: 118
Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, reported:
The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: No servant (and in the Hadith narrated by 'Abdul-Warith, no person) is a truthful believer, till I become dearer to him than the members of his household, his wealth and the whole of mankind.
Hadith number in Sahih Muslim [Arabic only]: 62
Related Post:
Tired of Malaysian politics?
Tired of Malaysian politics?
Technorati Tags:
9 comments:
Hi Saidul,
I am afraid I have too much thing to do plus you say it may be offensive to some and also very likely the video would be in Bahasa Malaysia. I can speak BM quite fluently and can understand what others say, but for better or worst, I somehow prefer English. So I am unable to verify whether the comment you said offended Muslims was not said by the Mufti is true or not. However, I think the title of this post "Please do not play with fire, Malaysians" says a lot of thing. I do realise not all Muslim are alike, but the fact is many things have caused Muslims to kill, burn churches, blow up non-Muslims and Muslims alike. It is hard not to have the view that many (NOT ALL) have a tendency to violence.
How often have you seen Christians burning mosques, blowing themselves and other innocents up, etc. Perhaps there had been cases, but surely not to the extend we are seeing today the havoc some Muslims (again I stress NOT ALL) are wreaking upon the world and the innocents (including Muslims)
Peter a.k.a. enviroman
Enviroman Says
(floods in England, polar ice and ice caps at moutain peaks melting, I think more severe and frequent hurricanes in US, rain when it is supposed to be a dry season in my country, someone from Queensland recently contacted me if I noticed the weather changing. I replied when I was young I had to sleep under the blanket, but now I sleep topless. If I remembered, he said it is freezing in tropical Queensland and now he has to sleep under a blanket. Please folks, take good care of our one and only Spaceship Earth which have no lifeboat. It may not affect us severely now, but it has every chance of severely affecting our future generations. Then they will have lots to be "thankful to us)
Hi Saidul,
One more thing. How can this remark "And prior to that, he alluded to May 13 and implied that if non Muslims disturb his religion then there could be a repeat of the bloody riots instigated by politicians." be considered as playing with fire? Are Muslim as sensitive as this?
And how about the UMNO Muslims repeatedly threatening repeat of May 13 plus bathing the keris in Chinese blood be taken by Chinese? Isn't that inciting violence and a criminal offence?
Peter (Blog*Star)
Blogger Tips and Tricks
Hi Saidul,
This is not related to this post, but I have no time to try to find the relevant post and also don't know if you approved my comment about Muslims starting to infiltrate the West and the aim of converting the whole world to an Islamic state. Here is one I read:
""Muslim leaders openly declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark 's Muslim population grows large enough - a
not-that-remote prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim."
Don't know if you will pass this comment or respond to it as I don't see you responding to comments very often.
Peter (Blog*Star)
Testing Blogger Beta (now New Blogger)
Hi there Peter..
Let me do this one at a time.
"How often have you seen Christians burning mosques, blowing themselves and other innocents up, etc. Perhaps there had been cases, but surely not to the extend we are seeing today the havoc some Muslims (again I stress NOT ALL) are wreaking upon the world and the innocents (including Muslims)"
Malaysia have seen such incidents in the past. We Muslims have not forgotten what our past colonial masters (Portuguese & Dutch) have done to our mosques and suraus in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The Muslims were not not the only one wreaking havoc in the world today so please get your facts right. People of other religions are just as guilty.
"One more thing. How can this remark "And prior to that, he alluded to May 13 and implied that if non Muslims disturb his religion then there could be a repeat of the bloody riots instigated by politicians." be considered as playing with fire? Are Muslim as sensitive as this?
And how about the UMNO Muslims repeatedly threatening repeat of May 13 plus bathing the keris in Chinese blood be taken by Chinese? Isn't that inciting violence and a criminal offence?"
We Muslims are not fond of the May 13th incident. Believe me, we did not wish to see that happen ever again.
There were so many mysteries surrounding the May 13th incident. Even to this very day, we can't really be sure that the facts that we have been hearing were really true or not.
The main point is that we have to respect each others' religions. Sure, we can talk and discuss for the sake of learning more about other religions but please do not blatantly attack them.
Yes, what UMNO did was really wrong. They should not have done that. I do not have the full picture, Peter. But I was told by some of my UMNO friends that their leaders have to resort to such tactics because some other people had forced them to do so. InsyAllah, I would have more on this in the near future.
"Muslim leaders openly declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark 's Muslim population grows large enough - a
not-that-remote prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim."
Where did you get that?
Anyhow, even if it is true, I don't think that you should look at it negatively. The Christians and the Jews have been introducing and implementing their law and jurisprudence to the rest of the world for thousands of years. If they can do that, why can't we Muslims? :-)
Have a heart, Peter. Everyone deserves a chance.
"Malaysia have seen such incidents in the past. We Muslims have not forgotten what our past colonial masters (Portuguese & Dutch) have done to our mosques and suraus in the 15th and 16th centuries."
So the Mufti is warning the Portuguese and the Dutch. Why should he? Are there many Portuguese and Dutch in Malaysia who are threats?
The mufti is twisting the fact that all the chinese and Indians (who are all wealthy) here bullies the majority race.
This is annoying and it comes from supposedly a man of god! I am sure the ''Book may 13" did not blame religions as the cause-the mufti is inciting violence. Eeerie, this godly-man .
Never mind if this comment is not published, I am voicing this out certainly not because I am "playing with fire" as your title suggested.
Dear BennyLoh,
"The mufti is twisting the fact that all the chinese and Indians (who are all wealthy) here bullies the majority race."
Let us just accept the fact we are all big bullies here in Malaysia. We are not angels. We are mere human beings. Things should be okay when we do things reasonably using our intelligence but it would go all wrong when we start to follow our emotions.
BennyLoh, I'm members of an international and a local Muslim NGO groups. Let's not talk about international issues. Let's just go down into our own backyard.
My Muslim NGO group have received numerous complaints and some came with credible evidences that we do have cases of discrimination towards our Muslim workers in the private sector.
Let me just share with you one particular case. We have a big factory Towkay (so kaya one) who discriminates Muslims by deducting their salaries whenever his Muslim employees went for their Friday prayers. Take note that factory employees do not enjoy long break hours as normal office employees do. The deduction may look small but on a monthly basis, it definitely put a dent on the lives of our Muslim employees.
My Muslim NGO group however did not make much noise about this issue. We tried to solve this by arranging meetings with the big Towkay. We tried to reason with him. As of time of writing, we are still going nowhere.
You tell me now, wasn't that a clear cut case of bullying? :-)
You folks should follow our example. We know that this issue would create an outroar among Muslims, so we played it down and didn't make much noise about it simply for the sake of maintaining peace. We tried to solve it through peaceful means.
So, please appreciate the little peace and quiet that we have here in Malaysia today.
Would you like to see Malaysia turn into Palestine?
"Tepuk dada, tanya selera"
There is nothing wrong with any religion, be it Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism etc. The problem arises from the wrong, twisted way in which each individual views the teachings of that religion. That includes every individual, whether he is a Mufti, Pastor, a religious scholar/teacher, or any person who professes a faith.
Based on the contents of the article published, it is very clear your focus and inclinations are bent towards violence and physical retaliations as means of the 'struggle' in the Hadith quoted.
Allah's or God's love for mankind and the universe (whom and which he created) may also be your choice of focus. If you believe and immerse in His love, then that love will transcend all boundaries and spill over to reach out to your fellow humans. Hatred and physical violence would not be a means to achieve those struggles.
And stay with the times, grow and mature with civilisation - plse do not quote what happened in the 16th and 17th centuries to back your arguments and justify your actions.
The Chinese 'towkay' is clearly violating laws in this country when he does not permit Muslim workers to have prayer times. Deal with him in the civilised, legal manner - report to Jabatan Perhubungan Perusahaan, Kementerian Sumber Manusia - certainly NOT viewing one bad apple and declaring you shall 'destroy' all apples!
Peace be with you.
Hello David..
"Based on the contents of the article published, it is very clear your focus and inclinations are bent towards violence and physical retaliations as means of the 'struggle' in the Hadith quoted."
If you are being oppressed by somebody, what would you do?
It would be great if we can use diplomacy to solve oppression but if we are not going anywhere through it then we would have to go out and fight. That doesn't mean that we are using violence to correct things. :-)
"And stay with the times, grow and mature with civilisation - plse do not quote what happened in the 16th and 17th centuries to back your arguments and justify your actions."
Only a godless secularist would talk like that and we Muslims are not godless secularists. There is no such thing as growing with time and the civilization in Islam. We were told to stick with our faith and religion at all times. People of other religions are also required to do the same according to their Holy Scriptures unless they have forgotten all about it. After all, secularism is the 'religion' of choice nowadays. Sex, money and power are too delicious to be ignored, eh.. Why bother about religion, eh.. Your sort of people are sick!
Pardon me for saying this but please bring your twisted argument some place else.
"The Chinese 'towkay' is clearly violating laws in this country when he does not permit Muslim workers to have prayer times. Deal with him in the civilised, legal manner - report to Jabatan Perhubungan Perusahaan, Kementerian Sumber Manusia - certainly NOT viewing one bad apple and declaring you shall 'destroy' all apples!"
Bring that matter to the Human Resource Ministry you say. We have done that really but they are not helping us on the matter. You should know very well that Dr. Fong Chan Onn is an engineer by profession. What does engineers know about human resource? He loves machines and filthy rich Towkays more than poor workers. No wonder many people cursed him lately.
We are not talking about one bad apple here, David. We are not saying that every Malaysian employers are bad either. Suffice to say that we have more than one bad apple. Thanks to idiots such as Dr. Fong Chan Onn.
Dear Encik Saidul,
You have obviously missed the key point of my comments. I am not a secular person, as you concluded rather hastily and emotionally. I fear the Almighty, but because I know and believe in Him as a God of love, compassion and mercy, I 'struggle to the utmost', and I 'pilgrimage to be accepted into the grace of the Lord' by walking a close walk with Him, focusing on His righteousness and practising/ working it as my own, such that on the Last Day, God willing, 'I shall have no fear, not shall I grieve'.
Specifically, one of the things I have allowed God to teach me is temperence of my tongue, and control of my human, primal emotions. I would not label and judge someone else as a 'godless secularist', neither would I call him 'sick', nor would I ask him to 'take his twisted arguments some place else'. And I am very proud and thankful of the blessings and works of refinement the Almighty God has upon me, allowing me to pour forth the same love and mercy to those around me - including you, Encik Saidul.
Islam also preaches peace, compassion, mercy. Isn't 'Maaf Zahir Batin' practised in the same vein of 'self-examination' and 'forgiveness for others'?
Take an analogy: if you get caught in a traffic jam caused by an accident, would your thoughts be kindness and care towards the injured, or venting your anger because you are 'oppressed', being stuck in traffic? One does not have to be 'justified by being right' at all times - the mercy and grace of Almighty God can and should prevail.
As for moving with the times, I am certainly not advocating conforming to the ungodly, wayward patterns of a decadent world. Again, in context, I was encouraging you to 'let go and forgive' the past acts of the Dutch/Portugese. You are certainly not advocating the practice of 'stoning to death', 'chopping off hands' and the like in this society, are you? Ever wondered why the Sisters in Islam have a slightly different agenda - the 'loathing for women, put in constant fear and an inferior status' has no place in these modern times. And God in His love and compassion is restoring the women folks.
Have you the capacity to be merciful, and to forgive? Or are you tied down and burdened with the bondage of hatred which is reflected in your writings, and actually brings so much misery upon yourself?
That's why I would like to end this comment with the same wish for you: Peace and Love be with You Always.
Post a Comment