JAKIM mockery monitoring is against Quranic teachings

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 – Minister at Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa announced on his Facebook today a special unit to monitor the issue of mockery of Islam and Prophet Muhammad. This move looks like it will go down well with majority of Muslims.

Complaints can be made 24 hours daily either via email to [email protected] or via Whatsapp at 010-3005260.

While this move make sense in such time where we live in such volatile environment where stupidity invite irrationality, this move is actually against the teachings of the Quran.

Only Allah can punish, not Muslims

“And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur’an) that when you hear the Verses of Allah being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them. Surely, Allah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell” [Quran An-Nisa 4:140].

It is clear from this verse, that when a Muslim hear the verses of Allah being denied and mocked at, Muslims are not to sit with those who deny and mock, until they talk about something else.

Wow, how magnanimous is Allah? And he is the Most Magnanimous of All. We are supposed to only stay away, until the denial or mockery stop and then we are free to sit with them again. How beautiful is this religion?

And then Allah continued by saying Allah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell. Yes, this part is consistent everywhere you look at in the Quran. Hypocrites and disbelievers will go to Hell, but that is by Allah’s doing. And NOT by any Muslims.

Muslims are just supposed to leave the conversation and then free to come back after. That is the beauty of Islam. That is the truest form of freedom of speech in Islam. What other religion have such verse in their teachings?

But no, my namesake, Dr Mujahid won’t listen to Allah. He decides that Muslims must do more than just leave the conversation and come back peacefully. We MUST report for the authorities to act.

What about other verses in Quran?

“The hypocrites fear lest a Soorah (chapter of the Qur’an) should be revealed about them, showing them what is in their hearts. Say: ‘(Go ahead and) mock! But certainly Allah will bring to light all that you fear. If you ask them (about this), they declare: ‘We were only talking idly and joking.’ Say: ‘Was it at Allah, and His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that you were mocking? Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after you had believed. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you because they were Mujrimoon (defiants)” [Quran at-Tawbah 9:64-66]

Some may argue that this verse provides the argument that Muslims may punish those who defied Islam. But that is not true. In this verse, and consistent with various verses in the Quran, the word ‘We’ in “if We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you…” refer to the Almighty, and NOT the Muslims. If you understand that Quran is a revelation from Allah via Gabriel to Muhammad, then We here does not refer to Muslims. We here refer to Allah.

And so, only Allah can do such punishment. Not Muslims ourselves.

Islam in Malaysia is failing

I wrote this on my Facebook page in 2016, about how Islam in Malaysia is failing.

When institutionalised religion start to call non-believers as kafir harbi, which is a call of hostility, that religion must be feeling extremely insecure.

The signs are very clear:

1) We have failed to promote doing Islamic deeds sincerely. We are forcing people to fast, forcing women to cover up. What happened to “innamal amallubin niat”? All deeds begin with sincere intentions. Not sincere, no pahala.

2) We have failed to teach Muslims to avoid sins for the right reasons. We impose earthly punishments that are not from the Quran and Hadiths. People don’t stop sinning, they just avoid getting caught.

3) We have failed to promote love for Allah. We are promoting fear of Allah every Friday sermons. Ittaqullah is supposed to mean “love and be faithful to Allah” but we translate it as “fear Of Allah”. Muslims don’t love Allah, we fear Him.

4) We have failed to promote the rewarding afterlife other than promoting heaven as the most filthy whorehouse. Without the sex in heaven, it seems like a boring place to be.

5) We kept on telling about the pain of hellfire burning our bodies to burn away all our sins. We promote Islam as a religion of fear.

6) We are not teaching our kids to do good deeds but we are focusing on avoiding sins. It’s OK not to be a good person as long as you don’t sin. No wonder Muslims are not seen as good people anymore, we aim only to be neutral but bad Muslims are making us look really bad.

7) We have failed to teach Muslims the meanings of our prayers. Majority Muslims don’t understand what they are reading in Arabic. They pray in Arabic 5 times a day without understanding what they are saying.

8) We denied God to be called Allah by non-Muslims. We denied Allah to be the one and only God, against our own syahadah.

9) We are scared that the symbol of another religion would shake our faith!

10) We have failed to teach Muslims the meaning of sabar. As-sabru minal eeman, a saying that patience is a big part of Iman or faith. Look around, Muslims get offended by people eating during fasting days. Muslims get angry for trivial matters. Muslims get jumpy when someone in any way questions their so-called faith.

11) We have failed to teach the sunnah of prophet Muhammad s.a.w, where when challenged with rejection and tribulations by non-Muslims, Muhammad would reply them with kindness and guide them peacefully. We seem to be doing the exact opposite nowadays.

12) We are forcing and demanding non-Muslims to respect us by not eating in front of us, forcing them to cover up in front of us. We have become so weak that we have to demand respect. When did we become so pathetic?

These signs of failures are making the Islamic Institutions to feel the heat. Their pants are on fire. Instead of digging deep within themselves to figure out how to rectify the problems, they are going for desperate manners like forcing, punishing and the worst is calling for hostility towards non-believers.

I guess we can now add to the list, what Mujahid did with the Unit Pemantau Isu Hina Islam. We have failed to promote Islam and we have to resort to punish those who ridicule Islam.

We Muslims have failed.

-By Mujahidin Zulkiffli