Cahaya’s Rants

Malaysia, the so called moderate Islamic country, is so fearful of dissent in its practise of Islam that it has added several more books to its list of banned books.

Books that contained a different practise of Islam than what is officially allowed by the government are in that banned list as are books about Islam written by non-Muslims. Books written by apostates of Islam have always been banned.

In Malaysia, the powers that be, think that the ordinary people cannot decipher for themselves whether the contents of a book are true, beneficial, or otherwise. They have to do the authocratic thing and decide for the rakyat what they should and should not be reading.

At one time even the Bible in the Iban language (a native language) was banned because the Iban Bible contained the word Allah when refering to the Christian God. The ban has since been lifted after an uproar by local Christian leaders. The Malay Bible is still banned, except for sale and use in churches, and homes. Importation of the Indonesian language Bible into Malaysia is still banned.

Here are the list of recently added books to the banned list. I already owned one of the books in the list, Islam Revealed by Dr Anis Shorrosh.

1. The Bargaining for Israel: In the Shadow of Armageddon authored by Mona Johulan and published by Bridge-Logos Publishers, United States (USA).

2. Islam (Mathew S Gordon, Oxford University Press (OUP))

3. Lifting the Veil (Trudie Crawford, Apple of Gold, United States)

4. A Fundamental Fear of Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism (Bobby S Sayyid, Zed Books Ltd, United Kingdom (UK))

5. Islam Revealed - A Christian Arab’s View of Islam (Dr Anis A Shorrosh, Thomas Nelson Publishers, USA)

6. What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (John L Esposito, OUP)

7. Mini Skirts Mothers & Muslims (Christine Mallouhi, publisher not available)

8. The Battle for God Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Karen Armstrong, Harper Collins, UK)

9. Kundalini For Beginners (Ravindra Kumar, Health Harmony, B Jain Publishers (P) Ltd, India)

10. Sacred Books of the East (Epiphanius Wilson, J-Jeiley Asian Educational Services, India)

11. Sharing Your Faith with A Muslim (Akbidayah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, Bethany House Publishers, USA)

12. Cults, World Religions and The Occult (Kenneth Bon, Chariot Victor Publishings, UK)

13. Petua dan Doa Pendinding, Penawar, Penyembuh Penyakit (Awang Mohd Yahya, Unsie Publisher, Kuala Lumpur)

14. Hakikat & Hikmah 7 Hari Dalam Seminggu (Abu Nashr Al-Hamdanly, Pustaka Ilmi, Batu Caves, Selangor)

15. Pemuda Bani Tamim Perintis Jalan Imam Mahdi (Abu Muhammad, Penerbit Giliran Timor)

16. Kontroversi Hukum Hudud (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)

17. Risalah No.2 Dilema Umat Islam-Antara Hadis dan Quran (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)

18. Siri 7 Amalan-Amalan Bid’ah Pada Bulan Syaban (Ustaz Rasul bin Dahri, Percetakan Putrajaya Sdn Bhd)