Notwithstanding PAS’s announcement that they will shelve, for now, plans to table a private member’s bill in Parliament in the next sitting with a view to make hudud a reality in Kelantan, the issue still appears to be foremost on the minds of most Malaysians, be they proponents or detractors of this move.
I attended the hudud forum at Wisma MCA over the weekend, and the one at the KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on 2nd May.
At the earlier forum, speaking from the floor during the Q & A session, I agreed fully with the views of Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa in opposing PAS’s move to implement hudud in Kelantan.
Dr Farouk contended that what PAS is seeking to pass off as God’s law is not divine.
I agree.
As I left that first forum later that night, a young man approached me and asked how I might reconcile Dr Farouk’s and my view with the fact that the greater majority of Muslims, in the country, at least, if not globally, would align with PAS in holding the hudud law now passed in the Kelantan and Terengganu legislative assembles as replicating the divine law as decreed in Islam.
I responded that if he were correct about what the majority view was on this issue, I was vindicated in my stance to not blindly follow the majority view by what God says in Surah 6 verse 116 of the Holy Qur’an : “Wert thou to follow the common run of those on earth, they will lead thee away from the way of Allah. They follow nothing but conjecture: they do nothing but lie”.
In a post last year, I had shared with you how, in 1984, the National Fatwa Council ruled that the Az-Zaidiah and Jaafariah schools of the Shia sect were kosher to be practised in Malaysia. Then, 12 years later, on 23rd June, 1996, the Islamic religious authorities issued a fatwa declaring that “ajaran Islam yang lain daripada pegangan Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah adalah bercanggah dengan hukum syarak dan undang-undang Islam ; dan dengan demikian penyebaran apa-apa ajaran yang lain daripada pegangan Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah adalah dilarang”.
What they were now saying, 12 years after the earlier fatwa, was that only the Sunni sect was kosher in Malaysia, and that all other sects, including the Shia, were prohibited.
Muslims in the country are expected to follow and keep to the fatwas issued by the religious authorities.
I asked in my earlier post :
“So what was the National Fatwa Council saying in 1996?
That they got it wrong in 1984?
And if they had in fact got it wrong in 1984, here’s my poser to them.
Let’s say that after their decree in 1984, Pak Ali, a farmer in Kedah, a follower of the Jaafariah school, is overjoyed that he no longer needs to conceal his faith and can openly practise his beliefs without fear of action being taken against him by the religious authorities.
After all, JAKIM has decreed his Islam as kosher.
Right?
Let’s say that In May, 1995, just before the second fatwa that repudiates the earlier is issued, Pak Ali dies of a heart attack.
The following month, JAKIM issues the fatwa declaring Pak Ali’s beliefs as being outside the pale of Islam.
According to JAKIM, Pak Ali died a non-Muslim?
Right?
And if they are right in their second edict, who bears the sin of Pak Ali’s dying in a state of unbelief?”
I repeat : if we follow the edicts of these men anointed as experts by their own kind, and they get it wrong, who picks up the tab on Judgment Day?
This what God tells me in the Holy Qur’an.
“Then would those who are followed clear themselves of those who follow them, they would see the penalty, and all relations between them would be cut off. And those who followed would say: “If only we had one more chance, we would clear ourselves of them, as they have cleared themselves of us.” Thus will Allah show them the fruits of their deeds as nothing but regrets. Nor will there be a way for them out of the Fire”. – Surah 2 verses 166 & 167.
Those who were followed will wash their hands off those who followed them.
The hypothetical Pak Ali will have to pick up his own tab, notwithstanding the boo boo by the Jakim boys.
I take this as entitling me to seek and to try to understand and discover for myself and, then, to live by, the Islam I have come to discover.
God judges me.
Not Jakim.
I, not Jakim, or PAS, am answerable to a merciful God if I err.
I have since been invited to, and have agreed to speak, in Seremban this coming weekend on my thoughts on this issue.
I will share my thoughts on why I am against the implementation of PAS’s hudud.
Not God’s.
For those of you who cannot make that forum, I will share those thoughts over the next few days.
The People's Parliament 
kampong lad
May 14, 2014
“ajaran Islam yang lain daripada pegangan Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah adalah bercanggah dengan hukum syarak dan undang-undang Islam’ ;
soalan: 1. ikut fahaman maliki boleh tak? atau 2. ikut fahaman syafie versi indonesia?
al-ghazali (1058 – 1111) said: doubt is to find truth. those who do not have doubt cannot think. those who cannot think cannot find truth.
Invictus
May 14, 2014
Haris, could you explain what you mean by PAS’ hudud? How does God’s hudud, the implementation of which you’ve expressed support for, differ?
bigjoe99
May 14, 2014
Truth is they want to believe, they can and no logic, reason is going to persuade a very significant group otherwise.
As a mathematical economist, the problems of penalties and incentives in criminal and social behaviour is a life-long subject of interest. Ask people who work on these subjects and they will tell you capital punishment don’t work especially on its own – its simply mathematically impossible. If you ask people who truly understand law and systems AND mathematics, they will tell you its a fantasy that Hudud can possibly work in these days and age.
And that is the problem, – people don’t give up dreams easily, especially if their very heart and soul is already in it – ask any drug addict and alcoholic.
shakoon
May 14, 2014
Invictus….. am itching to interfere!, isn’t Pas attempting to and craving to judge man by their standards whatever they may be, rightly or wrongly. In a sense they want to wrench away God’s power and place it upon themselves to be the judges of all of us. They are in effect alloting God second place……which is the gravest sin of all.
Let us not forget that the Power of God is singular and yes, truly and honestly…. all Merciful.
When compared to Almighty God’s unfathomable POWER,over all things, we earthlings …are foolish to think that we can be judged by small-minded, half-baked individuals.
Let’s all learn to give glory to Almighty God and not try to sully HIS sense of pure justice..
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looes74
May 16, 2014
Punishable by death.Nobody can play God. Especially all of them are sinners from the beginning
rajraman666
May 14, 2014
Power, that’s PAS want.
rajraman. One of their MB lost his leg and dead but refused to gave up his post.Is he a good example of PAS Ulama? Why the other PAS leaders allows this power crazy Ulama? PAS just another Political Party.
shakoon
May 15, 2014
I just wonder why Pas is so keen to have Hudud implemented
Kelantan State is one of the most modest states in the whole of Malaysia. The people appear content, you can’t imagine that crime is a problem there, as it is in Selangor for instance. There are no plush buildigs, wealth is not flaunted,one hardly sees outrageously dressed youth, the people seem happy going about their daily lives without the blare of crowded neon lights, shopping malls, high-rise buildings, huge faceded houses and equally huge cars.
No fast food restaurants,……practically a clean state Kelantan. No discos, no night life, no bars, no scantily clad women…..pretty barren too from the modern point of view. Absolutely no temptations
In the media we hardly read about crime being a scare or a nuisance in Kelantan….so why is Pas so keen on Hudud….?
It is an unreasonable craving and one can only assume like rajraman666 that’s it’s a power game.
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