Islam-as I say-tion: Believe only ‘as I say’, do only ‘as I say’, say only ‘as I say’ or else…
April 27, 2008
‘And you wreak your vengeance on us for no reason except that we have believed in the communications of our Lord when they came to us! O Lord, pour out upon us patience and cause us to die in submission to Your Will’ – Surah 7 verse 126.
_____________________________
In my ‘Addicted to love’ post, I had alluded to the plight of Kamariah Ali and the 3 others who made up the infamous ‘4 Apostates’.
This is Kamariah.
NST today carries an article by Raja Aziz Addruse entitled ‘Let’s have certainty in the law’ which narrates how in February this year, Kamariah was convicted of apostasy in Kuala Terengganu.
Note from the photo in NST how she is now forced to cover her head!
Actually, she was not convicted of apostasy.
In June, 2005, she was arrested whilst at the Ayah Pin village. Whilst at the Besut Syariah lower court, she had informed the syariah authorities that she had renounced Islam.
This utterance of hers became the basis of a charge under section 7 of the Terengganu Syariah offences act in that she had claimed to be not Muslim with a view to avoiding the jurisdiction of the Syariah Courts.
It is this charge that she had been convicted with in February this year.
Convicted, notwithstanding her having tendered evidence of a statutory declaration dated August, 1998 that she voluntarily renounced Islam. Convicted, notwithstanding her having tendered evidence of her affidavits filed in the civil High Court in Kota Baru in 2000 and the Federal Court in 2002 reaffirming that she had renounced Islam.
Her sentence of imprisonment following her conviction in February has been stayed pending her appeal to the Syariah Court of Appeal.
Raja Aziz opines that the civil courts generally have been ‘too quick to decline jurisdiction whenever the issue of Article 11 has cropped up’ whilst the Federal Court, in the context of the appeal by the ‘4 Apostates’, ’showed itself to be unequal to the task of discharging its most important constitutional function’.
I am in complete agreement with Raja Aziz.
However, even as we are quick to lay blame for the plight of Kamariah with the institution that was constitutionally set up to protect, amongst other things, the citizen’s free and unfettered exercise of constitutional rights, let us also recognise our own failings in this regard.
The case of the ‘4 apostates’ was well documented in the MSM from November, 2000.
The atrocity that was the complete destruction and decimation of the Sky Kingdom starting on the afternoon of 31st July, 2005 through to the following day was reported in all the media.
A state government took the law into its own hands and reduced all of
to this 
And throught all this civil society looked the other way!
What was the sin of Kamariah and the the Sky Kingdom people?
That they believed differently from you and I?
And why civil society’s silence?
To those who profess Islam, let me remind you that in Surah 4 verse 75, God Asks : ‘And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of God and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, those who say: Our Lord! cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper’
Is not our indifference to the fate of Kamariah no less self-deceiving than Pilate’s ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just person’ as he abandoned Jesus to the mob baying for the latter’s blood?
Is this the Islam Hadhari that our Prime Minister boasts of?
Is this the ‘Islamic State’ that Islamists clamour for?
Is this the civil society that we are?
April 27, 2008 at 5:43 pm
haris, the reason soceity looked aside and did not make comment was they have been intimidated by umno from making comments as per regarding Islam, freedom of worship is actually not adhered to by our brainles ones, as seen through our history, memali onwards, anyone not adhering to umno’s beliefs is blacklisted, as seen during the question and answer session during the first article 11 gathering. Even the other races are discriminated against when it application for permits for places of worship, why get into the spotlight and get blacklisted or worse. the policies of discrimination preached by the umnoputras is a joke, it has surprisingly not been commented about in the blogs, but quite a number of these hypocrates have drinking habits and are mean drunks, now the cat is out of the bag lets see what else happens.
April 27, 2008 at 6:25 pm
So where do we go from here? Man and God, men who think they are God. God and man, did God impose his will on man. All this while I thought God did NOT impose. You can believe what you will, but know that you cannot live without Me. Me, your God, my God, whose God, can we not let God decide?
April 27, 2008 at 6:45 pm
This’s what happened when religion is used as a political tool to control ordinary followers (nothing to do with race then) that include women, by the male elite class. Religion is only a cultural tradition which should be within the personal sphere of gaining true enlightenment to be a true and liberated human being personally. Hence it’s dynamic and thus not absolute. Only then one could be a better human being socially. Thus having all this kind of coercive ‘laws’, makes no sense; it’s about forcing followers not to think intelligently, wisely and rationally what is good and right for themselves. Before contributing to the good of society.
Besides, isn’t religion about being kind,just compassionate and humanistic? What they did to these Sky Kingdom followers that include Kamariah is fundamentally barbaric and unjust. These followers should not be punish at all and even severely just because the so-called Islamic laws think such belief is not the right religion for them. Only God can have that judgement for goodness sake; unless they go and commit vicious crimes and harm others! I don’t see these so-called laws and the Sharia “court” or PAS condemning the unjust and barbaric threat to kill a non-Muslim great activist such as Karpal; just for debating about Islamic state for goodness sake! This is the real maniacal and fanatical followers that the “laws” should punish instead! But it’s typical to have such followers; due to them never seeking that personal true enlightenment within themselves, but instead to follow blindly the “laws” literally and unwisely. And not to punish the Sky Kingdom followers who are not harming others but actually are preaching peace and equal respect to all religion and humanity! So I don’t see what’s wrong with such beliefs!
Nor do these coercive sharia “laws” ever condemn all the brutality and sadist macho-sm justified under Islam such as the barbaric widespread enough “honor killings” of supposedly deviant Islamic women and female children (never see them blaming the men!); or the ridiculously primitive laws such as the stoning of adulterous women in Iran or cutting off hands just for thievery in Saudi!Where is that compassionate, kindness and just spirit that should be uphold by any religion?
NOOR AZA OTHMAN.
April 27, 2008 at 9:06 pm
UMNO’s Islam is not a religion but a political ideology like Communism!
April 27, 2008 at 9:33 pm
The Sky Kingdom must have been an attraction to all sorts of people and was demolished only to be replaced by MonsoonCup and Crystal Mosque which attracted High Society and people with fast sailing boats.
Any similarities …… think deep enough and you will know !
April 27, 2008 at 9:47 pm
All of us have failed Kamariah and the Sky Kingdom. This includes the CCM, the orgnisation of the non-Islamic relgious bodies, Hindraf as well as the rest of civil society.
But why?
I ask this of myself too. Yes, I too was quite up to date with all the happenings of the Sky Kingdom and Ayah Pin from the day it was first reported just as I was, if m memory serves me right, with Jim Jones from about the time he left the US to go t Guyana.
The feeling with Jim Jones was, I suppose, he was an aberration of the Christian mainstream, I’d rather, that I pretend he did not exist. Whether, or not The Sky Kingdom will turn out to be another of Jim Jones type cult, did not matter..but that it appears to be an extraction out of Islam, simply meant, it was not so much my concern. After all they had their own institutions to deal with these things and they too would not want me poking my nose around.
When it is that it bore on me a concern and I had to do a double take on it was when I began to feel a personal right and a personal choice was interfered with.
When the wider community, society, authrities began to weigh in on these people’s choices, I recall I began to pay attention. But then again I had to caution myself that this may stll be very much a “Malay/Muslim” thing.
Haris, I may not be alone on this, but more than enough has been said to condition me to stay out of any kind of situations within the Malaysian Malay/Muslim ummah.
Am I right in being so? I don’t think so.
Do I want to get involved? Well, I am not used to gate crashing into a party I am certainly not invited into. I cannot ignore the usual UMNO threats that Malays have the propensity to running amok you know!!
I think it was when the news that the 4 had renounced Islam came out that I remember sensing an identification with them. Why? Maybe now, they come under the same charter that binds me to this country..the constitution, the civil and human rights and our rights to profess whatever religion and so on.
Haris, I am not trying to defend myself or civil society for not engaging ourselves with this matter more forcefuly or as vigourously. I am just trying to understand my/our response.
As for your personal involvement in this matter, my salutations and honour, dear sir! Certainly you are right in asking us what you have asked. All that I ask is have we necessarily understood our own response, conduct and behaviour in this matter yet?
Just because these are Malays/Muslims and they are not exactly moving out of Islam and getting into any other known religion, I guess it has been easier for the rest of us to distance ourselves from these human beings. Convenient isn’t it?
April 28, 2008 at 12:20 am
I think the State government screw up on this.
They should have followed the legal due diligence, instead of resorting to thuggish actions.
April 28, 2008 at 6:02 am
Haris, this might be slightly off topic, but just read this piece here on BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7369972.stm
and how the Malaysian government wants to ban the Chelsea football club on a visit.
I know that Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and I know since Mahathir’s days he has always been “anti semitic”, whether we admit it or not.
Israeli-Palestinian politics aside, I think this is a lil outrageous.
How can these people call themselves Muslims?
Now I know that the Jews are hated by a lot of people, but I also think that the reports on the Israeli-Palestinian civil war has been biased in the Malaysia MSM.
One doesn’t need to side with either force, but one also has to understand why the respective countries do what they do.
Are we, Malaysians, as a country that is predominantly Muslim ( I wouldn’t go as far as calling it an Islamic State) are just being ignorant?
How are we supposed to create a bunch of intellectually thinking people when the people who sit on the top make arbitrary decisions like that?
I’m a little perplexed.
April 28, 2008 at 7:59 am
[...] Islam-as I say-tion: Believe only ‘as I say’, do only ‘as I say’, say only R… [...]
April 28, 2008 at 9:27 am
So, what’s next? Honour killings?
April 28, 2008 at 10:31 am
I am not an expert in constitutional law and might be going on a tangent here, but what I don’t understand is that while Article 11 of the constitution guarantees each and every person’s right to practice his/her own religion, Article 160 defines “Malay” as:
“a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom and -
(a) was before Merdeka Day born in the Federation or in Singapore or born of parents one of whom was born in the Federation or in Singapore, or is on that day domiciled in the Federation or in Singapore; or
(b) is the issue of such a person;”
So, if you happen to be a Malay as defined in Article 160 but chooses to exercise your right as specified in Article 11, what does that make you? “Lain-lain”?
The problem as I see it here is that we are using religion to define ethnicity. And when we have people who are only too eager to defend their religion and ethnicity (for whatever reason) we place too much emphasis on a definition in Article 160 and totally ignore our basic right as stated in Article 11, which I think trumps Article 160 if the order matters.
confused,
Raja Aziz in his article explains that the Article 160 definition is of very limited scope.
The problem, as I see it, is a ‘don’t get involved’ mentality that has long plagued civil society
April 28, 2008 at 1:20 pm
We did not fail Kamariah! After her, Moorthy, Revathi and swinging the kris, we threw out the govt! (Almost.)
Pas has failed Kamariah, when they could have hosted her unharmed and free in Kelantan. Now Ahmad Said is failing the Sky Kingdom by not addressing the issue and making amends. The Trengganu govt and Pakatan should undertake to replace the site.
temenggong,
The non- Muslim population only woke up to the realisation that the Islam-as I say-tion process was not only impacting Muslims after the Moorthy case. Only then did they react to what was happening.
If people are indeed the boss, then we should collectively react to the treatment that was dished out to the Sky Kingdom folk and what is being systematically done to Kamariah.
April 28, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Human beings all over the world are the same, with that big “gape (or gap?) at the top” when opened, discharges damn foul gases that pollute the earth more than the combined total carbongas emitted. Humans can’t even handle trifle matters like cigarettes, liquor, gambling, sex(lust) and so on..on.. but more often than not we hear some “sagely” words like “my God is the greater God”. God is something humans can never decipher, eternally. It is for this reason (cosmic mystery),that it is safely referred to as the Almighty. And if God really promotes peace then I would like to add on…
God recommends we sleep more bcoz when all living things on earth sleep, the only war we hear is the battle of snores.
April 28, 2008 at 1:52 pm
pavlova, on the slant on the mainstream media on the Palestine-Israel issue…
It is often regurgitated that the Western media favours Israel (being run by Jews who rule the world, Dr M lol). But on the other hand, there are those who say that Israel is overwhelmingly yet subtly demonized by liberal Western media.
Judge for yourself the info and links: Are US News Agencies Biased Against Palestine?
I can provide more links, such as about the infamous Lebanon Red Cross Ambulance Fauxtograophy, Tuvia Grossman, the Lebanese Pieta, Flat Fatima, Green Hat Guy, Muhammad al-Durah shooting, Adnan Hajj photoshopping, the strategically placed dolls and just-happens-to-be-burning-right-now Quran…
Btw, how come the local press is so gung-ho about defending China vis-a-vis Free Tibet protests, but doesn’t show the same ‘Don’t mix politics with sports!’ attitude towards Chelsea FC?
April 28, 2008 at 4:32 pm
The crux of the matter is that there are two judicial systems running almost parallel within Malaysia.
The Civil laws which were essentially derived from the Federal Constitution and the Syariah. Both were meant to be based on universal values to provide justice and remedy, and serve society, individually and collectively.
It doesn’t require an understanding of Stephen Hawking’s theory of quantum physics to conclude that it is the umnoputra’s arrogance with complicity from their coalition partners which have created a ‘blackhole’ within our justice system to serve their blinkered political and personal agendas.
GE12 was a watershed event to re-install the necessary checks and balances provided civil society keep their eye on the ball (and the BN/PR politicians).
Did civil society in general fail to assist the people of Sky Kingdom? The answer is a resounding - “Yes”. Both the muslims and non-muslims are equally responsible.
Except for the few who had the moral courage to stand up and deliver, such as you, Haris.
Now, if only the same conviction apply to the rest of us, Malaysia will indeed be heaven on Earth.
April 28, 2008 at 5:23 pm
The crux of the problems here is the word ‘Malay’ is defined in the Constitution. I supposed Malay is the only ethnic in the world to have ‘definition’ in a constitution.
Malay elsewhere can be Christian, Hindu, Buddhist etc, why not in Malaysia?
Perhaps Malaysian Malays should decide whether the Constitution need to be amended. Really, it is all up to your wisdom.
Hkengmacao,
No, the problem is not in the written law. It’s in the attitude of civil society when injustice is inflicted on someone we are not related to
April 28, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Haris,
But, if the term ‘Malay’ is tied with ‘Islam’ in the Constitution, by renouncing Islam would not make him / her free from Islam (by virtue of the definition), even though he / she is still a Malay by ethnic.
So, I still think Malays need to decide whether to do away with such definition in the Constitution. With such definition, there is no ‘freedom of religion’ as accorded to Malaysian by the Constitution.
A Malay may quietly renouncing Islam, but still be seen as a Muslim. Islamic authority would still go after him / her if, in their opinion, not complying with Islam they deemed to be correct.
April 28, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Salam bro,
frankly speaking, ur idea is typically similair orientalist propaganda and Muslim liberalist.Why should we extended their propaganda here? Do we realize after almost 500 hundreds years they colonized us lead us as what we are here today?.
To judge people ’shirik’ is not a human being task.however,it can be judged based on phisical attitude they show.to allow Ayah Pin build his sky kingdom is totally against the ’syiar’ of Malaysia as muslim are majority here.even,to be fair,tough other genuine races/ religions are allowed to build their worshipped- places.
April 29, 2008 at 3:48 am
With Sadness… Let Them Go….
http://mmfss.blogspot.com/2008/04/with-sadness-let-them-go.html
April 29, 2008 at 6:08 am
Thanks, Scott Thong for your opinion.
Like I said, I am not supporter of either sides.
But my point was that a lot of Malaysians are quite blindsided by the issue and condemned Israelis as a whole (just because the media painted them as being cruel etc).
A lot of the American media are pro Israel (why, of course! how many Jews are sitting in the White House?), so it is up to the readers to discern which is “true” and “untrue”.
My point was also that a lot of these so-called politicians, who make arbitrary decisions like the Chelsea FC issue, do not even understand the true ongoing of that Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
They just hate Israel for the sake of hating Israel, not knowing why.
If after all facts considered, they still hate Israel, then I can say that they’ve truly thought about it and the decision to ban their coming in to Malaysia is respected.
So I just hope that the rest of Malaysia know what they are doing and not fall prey to MSM, be it local or foreign press.
April 29, 2008 at 9:47 am
An interview by Margaret Thatcher describing the situation of Britain in the 1970’s. Perhaps a reason why people become apathetic esp so when the State becomes too involved and is expected to resolve every issue?
…I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government’s job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation and it is, I think, one of the tragedies in which many of the benefits we give, which were meant to reassure people that if they were sick or ill there was a safety net and there was help, that many of the benefits which were meant to help people who were unfortunate …
April 29, 2008 at 10:50 am
It is such a Irony to ask why civil society’s silence?
In the past 25 years since Mahathir era to now that of Badawi, it is not “right” or Not Allow to critise Islam. The civil society can only watch in horror when something is involve with the religion.
How can we ask the civil society to be verbal? To me religion is between me and my creator, and we all free to belief in whatever religion we choose to be, PERIOD!
Shiokguy
Shiokguy,
I agree that matters of faith is between man and God. However, oppression is inflicted by man on man, and whether inflicted in the name of God or not, in my view, does not excuse the bystanders who do nothing.
April 29, 2008 at 11:50 am
What can we do?
If I voice out again the injustice on this issue, will my fellow Muslim brother and sister understand?
Will they come out to standby my side? Remember the issue on Fitna and Schism?
http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/2008/04/fitna-vs-schism.html
Will my life be endanger by voicing out for injustice?
I belief most of my Muslim Brothers and Sisters will want to come out and stand by my side? Will they?
Remember about the question: -
5 frogs sit on the tree, 3 decide to jump into the ground. How many frog left in the tree?
The answer is 5!
Anyone know why?
Shiok Guy
April 29, 2008 at 12:02 pm
From Haris:
“Raja Aziz in his article explains that the Article 160 definition is of very limited scope.
The problem, as I see it, is a ‘don’t get involved’ mentality that has long plagued civil society”
Haris,
I am well aware that the definition in Article 160 is limited and that’s exactly my point. Since the definition itself is limited, so Article 11 (i.e. the freedom of religion) should be able to stand by itself (unless of course, there are other limitations to it), and therefore, this (jailing people for converting to other religion) shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
But, while freedom of religion is guaranteed in the constitution, Muslims can be charged (read: fined and jailed) under Sharia law if they choose to convert? Is that true? If that is true, is the federal Constitution still considered a supreme law?
I think the Constitution is clear enough. The definition is just that - a definition. What is unclear is who in reality (despite what is stated in the Constitution or otherwise) yields more power in this case - the Federal Courts or the Sharia Courts?
And the problem also arises when we have an ethnic-based political system and a major ethnic group defined in the Constitution in terms of a specific religion. So, if you let people convert easily enough, and when they do, they are not classified as that ethnicity anymore, what does that leave you, as an ethnic-based political party, when your ethnic group is no longer the majority?
Granted, a lot of people were (and still are) apathetic and could care less about what is happening around them. And yes, people don’t really care if it doesn’t affect them directly. Not everyone can look at the big picture and say that this affects them too because this is a bigger issue - the freedom of religion - and not just some Muslim apostates (gosh, this IS a pejorative term) versus the Government.
I’m not saying that we are not responsible though. We are. We are responsible for being apathetic and for being afraid of getting involved. Heck, if there’s one culture we share as a nation, it’s the culture of fear; we are afraid of everything, the Malays are afraid of losing their special rights, the Chinese are afraid of losing their mother tongue, the Indians are afraid getting sidelined and God knows what else the rest of us are afraid of. But, I digress.
But, with more people like you spreading the word, hopefully, we will be less apathetic as a society and will be more aware of our civil rights. We are definitely having more open discussions now and questioning our own stance as it is here. It’s still a long way to go though.
April 29, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Well pavlova, one easy way to put one’s own worldview to the acid test is to actually go and witness firsthand the results.
For example, if you want to know whether the IDF is or is not justified in shooting at militants who hide among civilians, try being embedded with a patrol squad. To know if Palestinians are justified in resenting the Israeli armed presence, try living among them for a week.
For that matter, one should go to Iraq to see if the common Iraqi really hates the American oppressors, live on less than 1 tonne of carbon output to see if society can survive Al Gore’s mandates, live in malaria-ridden jungle villages to see if banning DDT really is in the best interests of mankind…
April 29, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Scott,
Our Malaysian passport specifically states we cannot visit Israel.
Two Israeli girls I met in a third country were so abashed they took a photo of the flyleaf to show the folks back home.
Nonetheless, I’ve heard the govt can make exceptions if one applies (Christian making a pilgrimage as valid reason? i dunno, you know?)
The upshot of this ban on Israel, as with the rest of the govt modus operandi, is that only one side of the story is allowed to be told or experienced for ourselves.
Salam.
April 29, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Google “Rachel Corrie”.
April 29, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Shiok guy,
I got the answer in 2 minutes, too slow already. Maybe bcoz I m too “honest”.
My friend can answer in 10 seconds! She says your question (riddle?) is too easy. Ha..ha.. but nice try.
April 29, 2008 at 10:45 pm
helen, yes, the gov does have exceptions for christian pilgrimage to the land of israel. But this will only be allowed if proper documentation is prepared from relevant national church bodies. And we cannot enter directly to Israel, (it is not possible anyway), the pilgrims enters thru a third country like Jordan …
April 30, 2008 at 12:46 pm
KakiAyam, Thanks for the info. This ‘Christian pilgrimage’ stipulation precludes our Malay friends from visiting tho’ or for that matter, me as well.
Shar, have Googled. Good heads-up.
PIX: http://www.themiddleeastnow.com/images/rachel-corrie-flag-02.jpg
STORY: http://www.themiddleeastnow.com/rachelcorrie.html
The spin & counter-spin on Rachel from both sides is a classic example of how there are many facets to one story. And how vested interests exploit propaganda material. That’s why PP is doing BENAR.
As to why Shar cited Rachel, she’s virulently anti-Israel, as the flag-burning pix shows & at the same time a ‘Palestinian’ martyr. Like the saying goes, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.
While we’ve left T’ganu to ‘virtually’ go to a banned country, I believe our side discussion does have some bearing viz. Haris post: Do not believe only what we hear told in M’sia … b’cos our channels of sanctioned info are replete with institutional biases.
June 11, 2008 at 10:22 pm
took into the yard, as a sapling let it go. even know his
July 25, 2008 at 10:46 am
student night all go global woman house