Allah before The Courts

Langit Makin Mendung Kipandjikusmin

When Tun Salleh Abbas beseeched his brother judges to carry out certain measures to contain the intrusion of the executive on the judiciary, one judge was said to remark- that's like asking us to carry out a revolution.

When the learned Justice Lau ruled in favour of the Church, her ruling was also revolutionary as well as potentially incendiary.

Like many Malaysians, I waited keenly for the court ruling on the ban in the use of the term Allah by Catholics in their publications. The court ruled in favour of the Catholic Church. It ruled that the banning of the word Allah constitutes a violation of the constitutional right to practise own religion.

As Farther Andrew Lawrence said, Christians and Muslims have lived with each other peacefully in Malaysia for hundreds of years. They did and will continue for the simple reason; Malays who are Muslims don't go to churches and are not ware that Catholics use the same term to refer to their God. They did and will continue doing so, because Malays tolerate different faiths.

Had they known of the usage, I am not sure whether usage of the term will not go unchallenged.

Can we explain the legal intricacies behind the high court ruling that Catholics can use Allah in their religion to the Muslims in kampongs, at the various madrasahs and suraus across the country? Can we explain to them, the court ruling is necessary to guarantee the constitutional rights of other people of other faiths to practice their religion freely? Can Malays in Malaysia accept yesterday's ruling as aimed at upholding the provisions of our Constitution?

I am afraid not. This is how Malays see the issue.

What is being done here is the pillage and violent abuse of Muslim self respect. Any self respecting Muslim in Malaysia will never countenance such blatant and insensitive violation on what is generally but nonetheless rightly perceived as ownership over the use of the word Allah.

Yes, Muslim owned the word Allah but it does not reside in the provisions of legal texts. Herein lies the root of the problem. It is the perception that ownership of the term resides in legal texts and therefore renders it absolutely 'reviewable' and amenable to clever and ingenious legal reasoning, that leads us today, to a most unfortunate ruling by the Malaysian High Court.

I say unfortunate, not not right.

The fact is, ownership of the term Allah, resides in the bosom of millions of Muslims and hence, the hijacking of its ownership through some legalistic twists, constitute a rape and pillage on the Muslim person. The word Allah does not rest in a receptacle that in turn rests on the pillars of legal principles which are amenable to judicial discretion. It rests on the altar of worship supported by the pillars of faith jealously guarded by UNREASON.

No Muslim here in Malaysia, even with a modicum of self worth is willing to accept this 'final solution' on their religion. So when the UMNO leader said that this ruling will cause disturbances, we see the operation of unreason has begun.

Yesterday, I wrote an article on the controversial short story ( Malay cerpen) of Langit Makin Mendung. In light of the court's rulings, I reproduce here some passages from that story with some changes to reflect on the state of mind of the Muslims here.

After the Russian sputnik smashed into the Buraq carrying the Prophet, the Prophet and his fellow traveler to earth were thrown off and landed on soft clouds. He cast his eyes below:-

Sejenak dilontarkan pandangannya ke bawah. Hatinya tiba-tiba berdesir ngeri.

"Jibril, neraka lapis ke berapa di sana gerangan?"

"Paduka salah duga. Di bawah kita bukan neraka tapi bagian bumi yang paling durhaka. Kuala Lumpur namanya. Ibukota Malaysia, sebuah negeri dengan 26 juta rakyat yang malas dan bodoh. Tapi ngakunya sudah bebas BH. dan punya wawasan super jelas, 2020."

"Tak pernah kudengar nama itu. Mana lebih durhaka, kuala Lumpur atau Sodomah dan Gomorah?"

"Hampir sama." kerna ada mantan timbalan PM nya di bicarakan atas tuduhan penyakit yang pernah melanda Sodomah dan Gomorah".

"Adakah umatku di Malaysia?" "Hampir semua, kecuali Cinanya , India nya tentu."

"Kalau begitu, kapirlah bangsa di bawah ini!"

"Sama sekali tidak, 60 persen dari rakyatnya orang Islam juga."

"60 persen," wajah nabi berseri, "15 juta umatku! Muslimin dan muslimat yang tercinta. kulihat mesjid yang cukup besar, mereka bersembahyang Jumat begitu ramai, tapi ngapa pada waktu lain, mesjid nya tampak gersang?"

"Soal 15-16 juta hanya menurut statistik bumiawi yang ngawur. Dalam catatan Abubakar di surga, mereka tak ada sejuta yang betul-betul Islam!"

"Aneh. Gilakah mereka?"

"Aneh!""Memang aneh."

"Ayo Jibril, segera kita tinggalkan tempat terkutuk ini. Aku terlalu rindu pada Medinah!"

"Tidak inginkah paduka menyelidiki sebab-sebab keanehan itu?"

"Tidak, tidak di tempat ini!" jawabnya tegas, "rencana risetku di Kairo."

"Sesungguhnya padukalah nabi terakhir, ya Muhammad?"

"Seperti telah tersurat di kitab Allah," sahut Nabi dengan rendah hati.

"Tapi bangsa di bawah sana telah menabikan orang lain lagi."

"Apa peduliku dengan nabi palsu!"

"Umat paduka hampir takluk pada ajaran nabi palsu!"

"Ya, Islam terancam. Tidakkah paduka prihatin dan sedih?" terdengar suara Iblis, disambut tertawa riuh rendah.

Nabi tengadah ke atas.

"Sabda Allah tak akan kalah. Betapapun Islam, ia ada dan tetap ada, walau bumi hancur sekalipun!"

Suara Nabi mengguntur dahsyat, menggema di bumi, di lembah-lembah, di puncak-puncak gunung, di kebun-kebun karet, dan berpusar-pusar di laut lepas.

Gaungnya terdengar sampai ke surga, disambut takzim ucapan serentak:

"Amien, amien, amien."

Neraka guncang, iblis-iblis gemetar menutup telinga. Guntur dan cambuk petir bersahut-sahutan.

"Naiklah, mari kita berangkat ya Rasulullah!"

Muhammad tak hendak beranjak dari awan tempatnya berdiri. Hatinya bimbang pedih dan dukacita. Wajahnya gelap, segelap langit mendung di kiri-kanannya.

Jibril menatap penuh tanda tanya, namun tak berani bertanya.