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Friday 11 October 2013

Not For Lack Of Robes, But The Naught Of Trust.



This is an interpretation of the article entitled: BUKAN KURANG JUBAH, TAPI KURANG AMANAH- by Dr Asri Zainul Abidin. 

Not for lack of robes, but the naught of Trust.
The Muslim nations today do not lack people walking around religiously attired complete with robes and headgears. The paraphernalia to show one is a man of God is all there for everyone to see. We attach great importance to these external forms. We are soon to rue in our rush to judgment.
That is also true of our country. We certainly are not wanting in people who appear as holy. A few, will insist they are holier-than-others. So many people- leaders, ordinary people, modern, traditional, peasants, aristocrats, speak expertly on religion and display the countenance and appearance of the men of god.
Time and time again, we sponsor religious concerts and congregations and invite religious luminaries. In these gatherings of the faithful, we participate in our own Islamic version of Gospel singing and Hallelujah-ing spiritedly at the so-public invocations. We even call the nights, special nights believing they are divinely inspired. Who would dare contradict our holy claim?We of the Blessed and Anointed?
We have our own reverends Billy Graham or Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson or Rick Warren or the African-American Billy Graham- TD Jakes. Of course we don’t mind paying these people huge sums of money for the redemption of our soul.  No Gain without Pain. After all, we are the wicked and the dammed and we need deliverance.
Politicians are also in the game. Certainly we don’t want to miss the boat- if there are opportunities to flock the sheep, we will take it. They patronize and finance evangelizing forums. Sponsor public pastoring. They take part earnestly in these public sermons to get political mileage. Sometimes we have politicians who recite a few Quranic verses in order to get public validation.
 And we do not lack religious programs officiated and launched by political persons who are known to be un-religious. But Malays like to excuse these people for their moral failings- after all they are one of us. One fine day, the Malay GOONS (Guardians Of Our Nation’s Soul) will invade our houses, sleep with our wives and daughters- we say it is all right- because they are one of us.
Admittedly, of course, we do have politicians who are sincere who actually do want to get involved in such religious programs.

Deficiency

Indeed, we do not lack all these ostentatious public parade of our religiosity. What we are sorely deficient in is a truthful and honest appreciation of the meaning of Islam that Allah has given us. More often we put on public religious displays and parade our religiosity in the form of rituals and publicity. Such public showings of religiosity are designed by people who have their own agendas and often take the form of loud and tearful invocations in public. These are designed to convince the gullible and sometimes irreligious pubic that they are the men of God. Politicians take advantage by sponsoring such events to imply they have the blessings from the Men of God. Sadly, they do all these while forgetting the fundamental teachings of honesty and trust in the management of public wealth or in the management of the country. What we lack is public trust.

So do not be surprised that in Islamic countries we have the muftis and other clergymen; we have all sorts of religious rituals or ritualised religious forms; unfortunately at the same time, our corruption index, abuse of power and mal-administration are on the rise. The citizenry is duped because their sights are blinkered by the robes the men of god wear, their ears deafened by the reverberating supplicants and doas that are offered to the people who are in power- ministers, presidents and rulers while even these people defile the trust entrusted by God upon their shoulders.

I am amazed to find the citizens of the nation of Timbuktu offer prayers that reach the high heavens exalting the greatness of their king only because his Queen wears the headscarf. In the meantime, they forget how the same exalted Sultan builds a palace costing more than one billion Ringgit of taxpayer’s money.
Here is the deal. The greatness of sultans, presidents, prime ministers or the likes is not accounted for because they wear turbans, robes, their wives use headscarf, go to mosques and practise other personal rites. Wearing and practising these are the responsibility of any Muslim irrespective whether he/she is king or queen, peasant or aristocrat.
Instead the greatness of these leaders is when they are honest and trustworthy commensurate with the positions they hold and when their conduct over the custodianship of the country’s wealth entrusted to them is exemplary. These are responsibilities shouldered by those who have power and it is their conduct over such affairs, that their merits are judged.

Betrayal

If they are dishonest, in spite of having all sorts of religious descriptions and honours, even if they are surrounded by religious robes and cloaks, they are still crooks. In the authenticated hadith al-Bukhari and Muslim, one particular individual who accompanied the Holy Prophet (PBUH) into battle was killed. Everyone else congratulated him on being a martyr. Yet the Holy Prophet (PBUH) protested. No said he. The silk cloth that he confiscated at the Battle of Khaibar without thereafter distributing it justly, is causing the fires in Hell burning for him.
Compare our situation with some western nations- they don’t have priests earning gargantuan salaries or have honorific titles, there are none of these weekly doas and religious supplicants exalting rulers and leaders, but when it comes to public duty, they are honest, their country managed more efficiently and their governance are far better than any Muslim nation. This is because, in western nations, the culture of honesty and propriety is embedded into the system of governance.


We busy ourselves with rituals not practised by the Holy Prophet(PBUH)  or his companions while forgetting the essence of the Islamic teaching which is trustworthiness in administering the country.
That is why the Quran, before pledging absolute loyalty to rulers and leaders, lays down the imperative that trust be given only to those deserving of it. And one feature demonstrating trustworthiness and deservedness requires the ruler and the government to rule and govern justly. Public trust requires governing in accordance to the rule of law. And the rule of law means room for arbitrary governance is severely restricted.
Loyalty to rulers and the government is preceded  and justified only when the government and ruler are just.
That is why the Holy Prophet enjoins the faithful to exalt and honour kings (i.e. governments) as though they are God’s shadow on earth as long as they are JUST. 
The loss of Trust is the main cause for bad governance that rues the Muslim world today. This is in addition to the issue of technical capacity to govern well. Legitimacy of government must always be founded on the principles of Public Trust and technical capacity. Most of the Muslim countries today are not really impoverished. They have plentiful resources but they are afflicted by the loss of trust and incompetence. They are impoverished because of the callousness and incompetence of their rulers.
The proof of our religiosity or the testament of our faith does not lie in the form and display of our fashion, nor by the public supplicants and doas offered by the congregational leaders who are paid high salaries nor is it proven by the religious hymning festivals sponsored by leaders.
The true measures of our faith and religiosity are displayed in unadulterated beliefs, and good ethics practised by leaders and followers alike. In the context of political Islam, this needs people who can be trusted to rule and does not require the religious attire but who are dishonest when it comes to managing the resources and wealth of this country.


17 comments:

bumi-non-malay 11 October 2013 at 10:14  

Well said....hear hear!!

However Malaysia will always live in Denial Syndrome!!..... Those stupid Chinese, non muslim, Hindus, Christian, Indians ...Kadazan, Dayak....etc that voted UMNO-BN in the Last election for the sake of Peace got what they deserve now.......CHAOS...lower purchasing power...inflation...higher cost of living and more misery to Crime!!

Barang Naik.... GST.... ISA 2... Malay medium of instruction while UMNO-BN + Cronies + Sultan send children to private English...then to overseas so that those who are expert in malay will remain slave to Sultan UMNO....

Bangkit....Bantah....Tumbang!!..
,,,.Kali Ini Lah......

Before election Abolish ISA....After election ISA + Shoot to KILL or Push from HIGHER Building tower.....sudden death!!...Kononya!!

maae 11 October 2013 at 11:17  

Salam Dato,

1. We always forget that in Islam, heart ( hati ) that matters. Without it we are humanimals ( just my word of expression)

2. Robes or jubah or whatever it is, just a concept of intrepretation Sunnah. Muslims understand that. Holy, holier, we might consider without prejudice but with careful check and balance.

3. Characters that exhibit differences. There are few who religiously honest and true believers. The rest just between heaven and hell where most of us in this partial believe. Why ? In reality, survival is the keyword. Being busy, excuses are the best form of escapisms.

4. Later, Islamophobia. This word was created by zions. This phenomena, tarnished the whole true characters in Islam by segments and believes. It also destroyed the meaning of jihads. In Malaysia we have seen the damages brought by ulamaks themselves. The followers ? And we see disparities of malays to The One God, Allah SWT. If the Christians, success on claiming the so called right to use the word Allah in their believe, then all the muslims in Malaysia will be responsible for "syirik".

5. We must strongly believe in our faith. And this believe is justly to the only our Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sunnah and Al Quran. Then we are the true human being without trail of the heart of animals in robes.

Anonymous,  11 October 2013 at 12:56  

Amalan dan fahaman beginilah yang patut ada pada setiap melayu islam di Malaysia khususnya dan lain-lain negara islam amnya, barulah islam itu dianggap praktikal dan indah di kaca mata lain-lain agama dan seterusnya umat islam akan dihormati dan disegani dunia.

Anonymous,  11 October 2013 at 13:52  

True Dato'. Malaysia too seems to be a land of form but not substance. This is reflected in every aspect of the government. All we hear are lots of verbal concotion that sounds promising but delivery is often zero.

Anonymous,  11 October 2013 at 14:36  

Kesimpulan dari artikel di atas, dapat saya menyatakan bahawa janganlah kita sayangkan parti tertentu sehingga kta membiarkan mereka melakukan rasuah dan penyalahgunaan kuasa tanpa dihukum. Sekiranya dibiarkan, ia akan menyebabkan parti berkenaan menjadi bertambah buruk dan tersasar dai perjuangan murni asalnya dan seterusnya parti yang didominasikan oleh bumiputera yang beragama islam itu akan tidak dihormati dan dipercayai oleh lain2 bangsa dan agama. Atas sebab inilah sejak dua penggal pilihanraya yang lalu sokongan lain-lain bangsa ke atas parti berkenaan merosot dengan teruknya dan mereka mencari jalan mudah dengan menyalahkan orang lain atas perbuatan buruk mereka.

Anonymous,  11 October 2013 at 14:42  

Add one more Dato', they have to be able to think. Indeed a good article to read.

Anonymous,  11 October 2013 at 17:30  

As Salam Datuk Sak, What you have said cannot be denied. The teachings of Islam and other kitabs preceding it as well as other religions that promote good virtues and values are preaching the faithfuls to practice all the right values and principles and avoid the wrong ones. Islam promotes its followers to be honest and accountable for their actions among other values as God fearing individuals. Alas.. if they do not fear Allah and believe in the life hereafter then are doomed. The repercussion has already evident itself in the wrongdoings of pillaging of the country's wealth, corruption and so many other crimes done by the leaders and those aligned to their misconduct and arrogance in doing so.
Pray that Allah will help us in the nex GE to correct most of the ills created so long ago...

Pok Li,  11 October 2013 at 23:03  

Setuju. Ia bukannya soal UMNO atau PAS, PKR atau Berjasa atau Hamim atau mana2 parti. Ianya soal good governance.

Anonymous,  12 October 2013 at 12:00  

maae,

Cuba lihat siapa yg buat dengan "denial, twist and turn";

1)in Islam, heart (hati) that matters.

Wrong, brain matter most in Islam, ie logic & deduction.

That’s the ONLY reason that Read is the Very First Word in the Quran. No?

We r never humanimals (????) as we r been created by Allah as a distinct living being on earth!

2)Robes or jubah or whatever it is, just a concept of intrepretation Sunnah. Muslims understand that. Yes!

But to do the RIGHT distinction of substance over form, logic (again!!) prevails. So how to consider without prejudice but with careful check and balance when heart (hati), ie emotion matters?

Blasphemy, Yes?

3)These r Huge contradictions here - ‘There are few who (r) religiously honest and (r) true believers. The rest just between heaven and hell where most of us in this partial believe. Why ? In reality, survival is the keyword.

So bcoz of survival, all the REAL teachings of Islam can go out of the windows.

Just patches it up with a few umrahs to the holy land, to repent & everything starts clean allover?

Read what that freshly-baked jantan HM had said 1st that tough, no-nonsense stand was based on "universal humanitarian" grounds. Then followed-up with no requirement for law enforcement officials to fire warning shots when dealing with suspected gang members. (A clear contradiction with SOP of both criminal laws & police operational procedure!!)

Hello, where is that universal humanitarian when law enforcement officials dont fire warning shots, irrespective of SUSPECTD gang members or not. Guilty before proven?

It’s survival! Either kill or be killed? Yes?

4)Where is the Islamophobia come from in the case of Kalimah Allah? Aint it from a group of misguided blur-sotongs, who take it upon themselves, for whatever localized emotion misalignment, against the teachings of Islam?

So, how to get out of that deep hole u dug, for saying ‘If the Christians, success on claiming the so called right to use the word Allah in their believe, then all the muslims in Malaysia will be responsible for "syirik".’?

Aint Allah been used by many Christians, outside M’sia, to address their God, especially in Indonesia & Middle East! So All M'sian Muslim have to wear yr tag?

5)Yes - We must strongly believe in our faith. And this believe is justly to the only our Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sunnah and Al Quran.

Definitely not a misguided blur-sotong like u! Time to repent & change course?

So, siapa tu ‘Hebat sangat kah anda hingga terbelah bumi ? Takbur’? No?

FN (foot note) – I mostly quote yr OWN words so that the theme of " denial, twist and turn " is hold true…..Oooop!

Anonymous,  12 October 2013 at 13:35  

Brilliant interpretation Dato. The essence, context and feelings are all there! thanks.

Anonymous,  12 October 2013 at 15:13  

Maee,

Here is the thing. this is a DAP fan club blog. Everyone here knows you are no fan of DAP. So dont attempt anything here since for brevity sake, whatever you said, you would be forced to eat back.

The anon 12.00 aka anon YES, NO, YES is a classic example for how we rebut people here.

I wanted to 'tibai' you also (your word in older posting), but then you did say heart matter and i read it not as heart matter most, so i didnt proceed

Peace bro Maee and peace to Anon YES, NO, YES too

Anonymous,  12 October 2013 at 20:29  

Salam Sak,

~ The clarion call to fight, 'in the name of god', is always blown by the one who lives better than you, 'on the account of god'. ~

Unlike the call to fight suppression, corruption & oppression, the call to fight for god is invariably a call to fight for those who profit from god (ahem, by suppression, corruption & oppression).

~ Imam Tak Popular

سومڤيتن امس,  13 October 2013 at 00:11  

1/2
BUKAN KURANG JUBAH, TAPI KURANG AMANAH and then ‘Not for lack of robes, but the naught of Trust’. No one, absolutely no one, could have translated the euphoniuous title by Dr Asri Zainul Abidin so well and equally euphoniously as you have done. The mathematical symmetry further enlivens the titles: three-by-three and five-by-five. Congratulations!

On ‘The paraphernalia to show one is a man of God is all there for everyone to see,’ allow me to go back a few years to a decision in a famous case involving paraphernalia, albeit involving teenagers not adults, but with adults clearly the source of inspiration. Below is the entire report by Bernama as it appeared in the main English dailies in Malaysia on 13 July 2006 under the headline: Islam is not turban and beard: Federal Court

Putrajaya: Islam is not about turban and beard, said the Federal Court in dismissing the appeal by
three pupils for refusing to take off their ‘serban’ nine years ago.

The panel of three judges led by Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abdul Malek Ahmad was unanimous in their decision that not everything that Prophet Muhammad did or the way he did it is legally or religiously binding on Muslims, or even preferable and should be followed.

Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamed, in his written judgement, said that the practice of wearing of a turban was of little significance from Islam’s point of view, what more in relations to underage boys.

“As far as I can ascertain, the Al-Quran makes not mention about the wearing of turban. I accept that the Prophet wore a turban, but he also rode a camel, built his house and mosque with clay walls and roof of leaves of date-palms and brushed his teeth with the twig of a plant. Does that make riding a camel a more pious deed than travelling in an aeroplane? Is it preferable to build houses and mosques using the same material used by the Prophet and the same architecture adopted by him during his time?” said Abdul Hamid in the judgement delivered by Federal Court Deputy Registar Kamruddin Kamsun.

S.E.

سومڤيتن,  13 October 2013 at 00:17  

2/2
“The question is whether the wearing of turban by boys of the age of the appellants is a practice of the religion of Islam. Islam is not about turban and beard. The pagan Arabs, including Abu Jahl, wore turbans and kept beards. It was quite natural for the Prophet, born into the community and grew up in it, to do the same.”

Abdul Hamid said turban were, and are not only worn by Arabs. Other people living in the desert or semi-desert areas like the Afghans and the Persians wore or wear them too.

The three pupils — …11, and brothers …aged 11, 9 and 8 at the material time — were expelled from Sekolah Kebangsaan Felda Serting in Negri Sembilan on Nov 10 1997 for refusing to take off their serban. They filed a summons through their guardian and father, Syed Ahmed Johari Syed Mohammed, naming the Headmistress, Fatimah Sihi, the Secretary-General of the Education Ministry and the government as respondents.

Seremban High Court judge Datuk Mohamed Noor Abdullah on Aug 6 1999 nullified the expulsion order after ruling that the Headmistress did not have the authority to expel them but the ruling was set aside with costs by the Court of Appeal Nov 22, 2004.

They then appealed against this decision to the Federal Court.

Justice Abdul Hamid, in his judgement, said the issue before the court was whether or not the School Regulations 1977, which prohibit the wearing of the turban as part of the school uniform during school hours violate Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

“I’m of the view that whether a practice is or is not an integral part of the religion is not the only factor that should be considered.” The court should also consider the importance of the practice in relation to the religion and if the practice was of a compulsory nature or an integral part of the religion, it should be given more weight, he said.

“Prohibition of a practice which is “wajib” (mandatory) should definitely be viewed more seriously than the prohibition of what is sunat (commendable). Even if we were to accept the view that wearing turban is commendable, it certainly does not rank on the same level as ‘sunat prayers’ as the learned counsel for appellants had tried to convince the court when the question was put to him by me,” he said. Abdul Hamid said the second factor considered by the court was the extent of prohibitions imposed by the regulations.

“The students are not allowed to wear the turban as part of the school uniform. They are not prevented from wearing the turban at other times. Even in school they would not be prevented from wearing the turban when performing, say the “zohor” prayer in the prayer room.

Should they be allowed to wear the “jubah” (robe) when playing football because it was the practice of the Prophet to wear the jubah? Certainly, there is a place for everything.” Furthermore, he said, there was nothing to prevent the appellants from changing school, for example to a pondok school that would allow them to wear the turban. — Bernama

Paraphernalia and the young appellants missed a proper education.

S.E.

Anonymous,  13 October 2013 at 11:20  

Dato Sak,

Malaysia is a world by itself. The Islam religion practiced in Malaysia as propagated by UMNO and JAKIM allows corruption and abuse of power. Thus there is no other form of Islam as holy and pure as that being practiced by UMNO and its crony NGOs.

سومڤيتن امس,  13 October 2013 at 18:47  

Datuk Mohamed Noor Abdullah,who retired as Court of Appeal judge and who nullified the expulsion order of the four students on Aug 6, 1999, is the same judge who courted controversy when he made a call for jihad in May this year. In the link below he says he loves all Malaysians:

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=101182:kkk-racist-ex-judge-now-says-i-love-all-malaysians#axzz2hZew9N8X

On beards, an ex-colleague of mine from Pakistan, uncharacteristically naked on the chin, had this to say - be wary of 'babar tenus sapientas' sages as far as the beard!

S.E.

Anonymous,  14 October 2013 at 15:28  

“And when you see them, their appearances will impress you, and if they speak, you will listen to their speech; [they are] as if they were big pieces of wood clad with garments; they think every cry to be against them. They are the enemy, therefore beware of them; may Allah destroy them, they have deviated” [63:4]


“Apabila kamu lihat mereka, tubuh-tubuh mereka mengagumkan kamu; dan apabila mereka berkata, kamu dengar ucapan mereka dan mereka seakan-akan kayu yang tersandar. Mereka sangka bahawa tiap-tiap teriakan adalah terhadap mereka. Mereka adalah musuh; maka berhati-hatilah terhadap mereka. Allah memerangi mereka! Bagaimanakah mereka dipalingkan” [63:4]

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