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)

According to lawyer, Zukifli Nordin, there are rules that can be followed before Muslims can renounce Islam.

Just what exactly are the rules that a Muslim can follow before he/she can renounce Islam? Let the Malaysian government be clear about it, so there is no confusion and the likes of Lina Joy can get on with her life.

I doubt the government will ever come up with a clear guideline on how anyone can renounce Islam without facing persecution from the state and other Muslims. Even if the government ever did come up with the rules, what is to stop the government from persecuting former Muslims from “insulting Islam” by their very renunciation of the religion?

The Star Online > Nation

Tuesday July 4, 2006

Islam has higher status in Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA: Islam has a higher status than other faiths in Malaysia, said a lawyer holding a watching brief for the Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association.

Pawancheek Marican said Article 11 of the Constitution restricted propagation of other religions to Muslims.

“Our Constitution favours Islam. Islamic law is part of the law of our country,” he said.

Another lawyer, Zulkifli Nordin, who is holding a watching brief for the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM), said there were rules for Muslims to follow before they could renounce Islam.

“These rules are the Quranic law and the sunnah,” he said.

If I were a Muslim man, I would be jumping with joy at the prospect of having one or two if not more wives where I do not have to be responsible for her upkeep. All I would be responsible for would be to provide for her sexual needs.

What can I say about a religion that has a paedophile as it’s founder?

How convenient for the man to have on the side one or more misyar marriages. Oh sure, it is to reduce the number of divorcees and unmarried women! How helpful and thoughtful of the men!

In Egypt and Saudi Arabia these marriages are mostly temporary, and my deduction from this is so that the couple can satisfy their lust without facing adultery or pre-marital sex charges from the religious police, and then move on.

I am sure there will be a lot of takers of misyar marriages if it is allowed in Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh!

The Star Online > Nation

Friday May 26, 2006

Don has idea for divorcees

A UNIVERSITY professor has suggested that men in Malaysia practise Misyar marriage to overcome the rising number of unmarried divorcees and women.

Utusan Malaysia, reporting on its front page, quoted Universiti Malaya’s Islamic Academic Studies lecturer Prof Datuk Dr Mahmud Zuhdi Abdul Majid as saying that this type of wedding could also reduce the incidence of vice among Muslim women.

He said the difference between Misyar and a polygamous marriage was that the husband did not have to provide money or clothing for his other wife but only be there to provide for her sexual needs.

Dr Mahmud Zuhdi added that this wedding was popular in the Middle East involving rich women who had difficulty looking for a life partner.

He added that even renowned Islamic ulama Dr Yusuf al-Qardawi in his edict said Misyar was legal as it could solve the problems of unmarried women or divorcees.

The practice was allowed and deemed to be necessary by several ulamas in some countries in the Middle East.

Dr Mahmud Zuhdi added that the Misyar marriage came into the picture after several groups urged the Fatwa Council to study if it could be implemented in Malaysia.

He said such a marriage should be practised in this country, as there was a rising number of unmarried women or divorcees.

Why shouldn’t Islam be linked with extremism? Isn’t Islam the one religion that is responsible for the extremism that is happening around the world today?

How can misconceptions promote “dangerous divisions”? The activities of the Islamists are the ones that are dangerous.

If the Prime Minister of Malaysia wants to make extremism irrelevant, what has he as the leader of a so called moderate Muslim country done to encourage the irrelevancy of extremism?

Muslims in Malaysia are not free to renouce Islam. Non-Muslims in Malaysia are as good as “second-class” citizens.

If the Prime Minister wants to discourage extemism, he should first allow real freedom in the practise of whatever religion one desires in Malaysia. Ex-Muslims should be allowed to openly renounce Islam without fear of persecution.

The Malaysian government should cease in the destruction of houses of worship of other religions on the pretext of using the land for other development.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi should walk the talk, otherwise he is just a clanging cymbal of a politician.

The Star Online > Nation

Friday May 26, 2006

Abdullah: Islam should not be linked to extremism

TOKYO (AP) - Misperceptions of Islam are helping to promote dangerous divisions in the world, Malaysia’s prime minister said Friday, calling on the West and the Muslim world to foster respect for each other’s cultures.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, on a weeklong visit to Japan, said both parties should work to make religious extremists “irrelevant.”

“The greatest injustice is the (tendency) to associate Islam with extremism,” he said in a speech at the United Nations University in Tokyo.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi delivers a keynote speech during a seminar hosted by the United Nations University in Tokyo Friday, May 26, 2006. Abdullah is on a weeklong visit to Japan. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)
“Al Qaeda … has been very wrongly taken as speaking on behalf of Muslims.”

Abdullah, whose country is considered a shining example of a moderate Muslim-majority democracy, said that fostering mutual respect for other cultures could prevent misperceptions from deepening divisions between the West and Islam.

The following column by Marina Mahathir first appeared in the The Star on May 6, 2006.  How sane and right she is about the differences between the followers of Islam and the followers of Christ.

A friend was relating how after her daughter had read the Da Vinci Code, she had wanted to read the Bible. Which is not in itself a bad thing except that she was concerned that an impressionable young mind would not be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Also it seemed that perhaps what was needed is a Da Vinci Code-type book for Muslims to spark off the same level of interest in young people in their own religion.

Except that if anyone tried to write a similar thriller based around Islam, he’d be hounded and pilloried and threatened with death, thousands would riot in protest and people who would never have been able to read the book either because they are illiterate or can’t afford it would have died.

Such is the difference between our religions. While there are many Christians who are upset about the book and movie, they are countering it with seminars and other educational events to balance what is being said in the book, even if the book is only fiction. There have not been Da Vinci Code-related riots or deaths thus far. Which speaks volumes for the adherents of the faith.

It would be nice if everyone could brush off similar challenges and say “we are strong enough to withstand any attack”. Even if a book or a movie becomes a runaway hit, compared to the total number of any faith’s followers, the numbers sold can never match it. Books are by nature, in a world where illiteracy is still common, a luxury item. As are American movies, no matter what arguments people make about cultural imperialism.

I remember when there were riots over Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, President Benazir Bhutto commented wryly that the people who were dying over the book were those who would never have read it, or possibly even heard of it if someone hadn’t whipped them into a frenzy. A similar situation arose with the cartoons. As insensitive as they were, they were still not worth dying over.

The point is that people’s impressions of a religion are often related to the behaviour of its adherents. Some religions are thought of as simply kooky because its followers behave strangely. Some are viewed as benign and peaceful because its followers resolutely will not harm a fly.

But when people, supposedly in the name of religion, riot, burn and kill, it can’t help but give the impression of a religion that advocates this, no matter how much we point out that nowhere in religious texts itself does it say you should do this. And unfortunately we get the whole spectrum, from men who publicly insult women on a daily basis without censure to the real crazies.

Recently in New York I had to suffer the embarrassment of having to listen to a Muslim man say to a non-Muslim woman at a forum, “Don’t mess with Muslims, we have nuclear weapons!” There I was trying to dispel stereotypes about violence-prone Muslims and in one fell swoop, this nutcase confirmed every stereotype there was.

I think the only people who can dispel stereotypes about Muslims are women. While there are certainly some conservative women, even when these speak out they will naturally change perceptions because in a world where Muslim women are perceived to be perpetually hidden behind curtains, their sheer presence and articulateness will be noticed. What more if they are able to argue rationally in a calm manner.

Thus far there have been very few Muslim men in the international media who give a good impression. We might argue that the Western media selects who they interview in order to perpetuate stereotypes, which is true and that is a problem for all of us. A man or woman who looks like the archetypal wild-eyed conservative is far more telegenic than someone who looks like everyone else. Channel surfers are far more likely to stop at the sight of someone they think of as alien to their culture than if they see someone too similar to them. To stop this means having to make a concerted effort to come together as one community and decide on a sophisticated media strategy. But sadly coming together as one united community is a challenge in itself.

If we do manage as a global community to change other people’s perceptions of us, the benefits would be many. Our own people might think more kindly of each other so peace would reign within. And because within ourselves, we respect diversity, we can do the same with others. Then peace would truly have a chance.

I can see how being in space and unable to pray 5 times a day can be a burning issue to Muslims. Just how to you fit in praying 5 times day when the space station you are in circles the earth 16 times in 24 hours?

Do you pray only 5 times in that 24 hours or do you pray 5 times each time the space station cirlces the earth which would make 80 times in 24 hours?

Ain’t it a bummer when modern technology collides with the practise of a 7th century religion!

Conference on how to practise Islam in space

KUALA LUMPUR(AFP) - How do Muslim astronauts pray in space? Malaysia’s National Space Agency is holding a conference to consider such questions as the country prepares to send its first citizen into orbit.

A nationwide competition in the majority-Muslim country has narrowed the field to four astronaut candidates, three of whom are Muslims.

Two will eventually be trained and sent into space by Russia, and Malaysia’s space agency — or Angkasa — said it had been scratching its head over how Muslim rituals could be carried out properly.

Performing ablutions for Muslim prayers with water rationing in space and preparing food according to Islamic standards will be among issues discussed, said Angkasa’s director-general, Mazlan Othman.

“So far, Angkasa has not discussed these matters with Russia because the candidates have not been decided and the needs of Malaysian astronauts have not been determined,” Mazlan was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

“We have to make preparations to discuss with Russia when the time comes,” she added.

The astronaut will also visit the International Space Station, which circles the earth 16 times in 24 hours, so another thorny question is how to pray five times a day as required by Islam, she said.

Muslims also have to turn towards Mecca to pray and working out which direction that will be while hovering above the earth might also be challenging.

The two-day Islam and Life in Space seminar will begin next Tuesday and brings together 150 scientists, astronauts, religious scholars and academics.

An official from the Malaysian Astronomy and Islamic Law Association said the gathering would be the first time the Islamic world mulled life in space.

The agreement to send the Malaysians aboard Russian spacecraft was part of a billion-dollar deal in which Russia will sell Malaysia 18 Sukhoi 30-MKM fighter jets.