Who decides?

(Bernama) - The Home Ministry will take stern action against individuals including political leaders as well as organisations involved in spreading Syiah teachings in this country.

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said action would be taken if there were reports from the respective states’ Islamic Religious Council, non-governmental organisations or the Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim).

“The ministry has also identified and has information on Muslim political leaders who opened the doors to the Syiah movement,” he told a news conference after the breaking-of-fast and handing out of Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad (PNMB) business zakat (tithe) to the recipients, here, today.

“If they want to deny (their involvement in Syiah teachings) in their party campaign, go ahead. But they must declare themselves and don’t hide behind religious teachings other than the Al-Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Sunni teachings),” he said.

Yesterday, the Home Ministry declared the Pertubuhan Syiah Malaysia as an organisation that has contravened the law under Section 5 of the Societies Act 1966.

Ahmad Zahid said his ministry and its agencies like the Royal Malaysian Police, Registrar of Societies Office and Immigration Department would intensify monitoring of Syiah activities.

He called for cooperation between the ministry, religious agencies and Muslims to curb the spread of Syiah teachings in this country.

On the implications of the banning of Pertubuhan Syiah Malaysia, he said no one could re-use the name for registration as an organisation, based on Section 7(3)(b) of the Societies Act 1966.

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Judaism has been through this before. About 2,000 years ago, Jesus was said to have opposed what he considered the religion of Moses that had deviated from its true path over 1,500 years or so.

Then Christianity suffered the same fate. What was originally the preaching and teaching of Christ splintered into so many denominations and sub-denominations, each claiming to be the true followers of Christ that resulted in the ‘true’ followers killing the ‘false’ followers for more than 1,500 years.

In fact, during the Crusades, more Christians than Muslims were killed by the Crusaders. It all depended on which Crusade it was because there were different Crusades led by difference kings with different Christian beliefs.

And now Islam revisits the same path that Judaism and Christianity took. About 1,500 years after the birth of Islam, the Malaysian government has defined what is ‘true’ Islam and what is ‘false’ Islam and will take action against the followers of ‘false’ Islam.

There is a Muslim belief (at least some Muslims believe this) that towards the end of time Judaism will be split into 71 groups, Christianity into 72 groups, and Islam into 73 groups -- and that only one each from Judaism, Christianity and Islam will be the true followers of their respective Prophets. The rest will be deviants.

Now, which from the 71, 72 and 73 are true? The Muslims believe that only God will know which ones are true so Muslims are advised to very carefully seek the truth and search for the true Islam lest you mistakenly follow the false Islam and end up in hell.

Christians solved this ‘disagreement’ over more than 1,500 years by killing those from the other Christian sects that they considered deviants. Hence when Catholics were in power they killed all non-Catholics and when non-Catholics were in power they killed all the Catholics.

In fact, the non-Catholics, who considered themselves Christians, did not consider Catholics as Christians at all. They would classify the two groups as Christians and Catholics -- meaning Catholics are not Christians. And that means Christians can lawfully kill Catholics (and vice versa).

Muslims, however, consider Catholics as Christians, one of the 72 different sects that Islam talks about.

Malaysia officially follows the Al-Sunnah Wal Jamaah or Sunni sect of Islam. And any other sect (not just Syiah) is considered false Islam. And the Malaysian government will take action against those not of the Sunni sect.

However, this applies only to Malaysian Muslims. Iranians, Iraqis, etc., are exempted from this rule. But if Syiah Islam is illegal in Malaysia why are non-Malaysians allowed to practice Syiah Islam in Malaysia while Malaysians are not?

Let us look at another scenario. Gay marriages are a crime in Malaysia (just like Syiah Islam). And foreigners (even Christians) who enter into gay unions are not welcome in Malaysia (Elton John as one example). Hence this anti-gay rule covers non-Malaysians and non-Muslims as well. A crime is a crime.

But the anti-Syiah law (unlike the anti-gay law) applies only to Malaysian Muslims and not to non-Malaysian citizens. This does not give an impression of consistency.

Okay, Muslims believe that Islam will be divided into 73 different denominations towards the end of time. So which one of the 73 is true and which 72 are false? No one knows. Only God knows. But the Malaysian government has decided that it knows what God knows and that Syiah Islam is the false Islam -- in fact it is not even Islam at all.

But then we are told that we have to be very careful and search for which is the true Islam so as to not fall into the trap of following the false Islam, which will result in us being thrown into hell. But the Malaysian government will not allow us to search for ourselves. The Malaysian government will decide for us.

What happens if the Malaysian government is wrong and we follow what the Malaysian government wants and we end up following the wrong Islam?

Well, then it is our fault and we will end up in hell. We must take responsibility for following the wrong Islam. The Malaysian government will not be responsible even though it was the Malaysian government that decided and forced us to follow the official Islam of the country.

In other words, they force us to do something and if we end up doing the wrong thing we will be punished for that.

Mekah is the centre of Islam. But the official religion of Saudi Arabia is Wahhabism, a branch of Sunnism. Wahhabism is quite different from the other branches of Sunnism. Can Malaysians follow Wahhabi Islam since it is a branch of Sunnism?

Wahhabi Islam is a very strict and very uncompromising branch of Sunni Islam. If Malaysia adopts this branch of Sunni Islam then all women, even non-Muslims, need to be covered up, and they cannot drive, and there must not be any entertainment shows on TV, and churches and temples will not be allowed, and if you insult Islam you can be put to death, and so on.

To the Saudis, this is the true Islam. To the Saudis, Malaysia’s version of Sunni Islam is false. Hence, to the Saudis, if we follow Malaysia’s version of Sunni Islam we are deviants who are following false Islam.

So, to the Wahhabis, Malaysian Muslims are not true Muslims but a whole bunch of deviants.

So, where do we go from here? The government decides what is wrong and what is right and we are compelled to follow what the government says. However, at the end of the day, we will get punished if we follow the wrong thing because we, and not the government, are responsible for our actions.

Not easy being a Muslim, is it? Either way we will all end up in hell.

Raja Petra Kamarudin(di petik dari Malaysian today)