Penguin RushDisturbing....
The following is the email that I wrote a few weeks ago, mainly to warn my families and friends about this group called Sisters In Islam (SIS). The group claims that it fights for human rights (among other things) in the name of Islam. But the truth is, most of the time, they have their own agenda and by fighting for it, they get what they need (which usually contradicts with the true teachings of Islam).
When I sent the email, I also copied it to the group itself, government agencies (including the Prime Minister) and newspapers (including religion gurus of some of the newspapers). My email basically touched on a letter written by SIS, which was published in The Sun paper. I don't intend to enclose their letter here, as I don't want its content to further poison more readers.
A few government officials did reply to my email, expressing their concerns over the group's movement. But SIS never did say anything back, which really explains who they are and where they stand. Otherwise, they would fight for their 'rights' and 'truths' to the end.
Here's my email:
"I would like to refer to a letter published in The Sun newspaper on Wednesday, 03 August 2005. The letter was written by Masjaliza Hamzah (the author) who clearly stated it was sent on behalf of Sisters in Islam (SIS). The letter touches slightly on the issue of Ayah Pin and largely on the freedom of religion. Before I elaborate further, let me clarify that I am NOT going to discuss about Ayah Pin and his movements since I am not qualified to label anyone as ‘sesat’. Further, I am not an ‘alim’ person; I have many flaws and Allah knows the many sins that I have committed. But I do know one thing – that if we are not sure about a particular matter or our knowledge is NOT deep enough, especially on Islamic issues, it is best if we keep quiet.
In the enclosed letter, the author quotes several verses of Al Qur’an to ‘so-called’ support her points. I don’t know whether SIS has intranet or some kind of internal search engine, where upon typing keywords such as “freedom in religion”, those verses come out. But it does seem to me that the author has shallow knowledge about Islam (just like many other Muslims including me) and that she is NOT qualified to compose the letter, let alone send it to a newspaper to be published.
In the eleventh paragraph (first paragraph, third column), I find it very disturbing, when she questions “How can religious authorities and Muslims demand that those wishing to convert to Islam should have all the freedom to do so, and at the same time, deny this freedom to Muslims who wish to leave their faith or believe otherwise”. She also says that, “Followers of unorthodox beliefs should be treated with respect and dignity. Unless they (Ayah Pin’s followers) resort to violence, there is no basis to claim they are a threat to the rule of law, let alone our nation’s security.”
It is true that no one can be compelled to embrace Islam, but those who have, cannot turn their back against Islam and Allah. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, those who ‘murtad’ are punishable by death, although of course there are many stages and procedures to go through, before reaching this final resort. Like I said, I am NO expert about Islam and therefore, I should say no more about this particular matter.
She also questions about human rights issue when Ayah Pin’s followers are detained and separated from their families. It is true that the sensible path should be through education and dialogue. But I am sure that is what religious authorities and government are doing in the duration of their detention, after all other efforts have failed.
It is understandable to defend and fight for human rights, when we are oppressed by another group of people or humans impose rules that unfairly restrict our freedom. However, when it comes to boundaries, rules and regulations as imposed by Allah, the boundaries, rules and regulations are there to safeguard us. They are there for good reasons that we humans may not understand them (yet). And these are the rules that we should never argue and fight against.
Each one of us Muslims has the responsibility of‘dakwah’ whether towards non-Muslims or other Muslims.We can take this ‘dakwah’ very seriously, that is by actively inviting (not forcing) people to follow the path of Allah and Nabi Muhammad, or we can do so quietly/indirectly by setting good examples for non-Muslims to follow and at the same time reminding our Muslim brothers and sisters to stay true to the path.
I would like to ask SIS whether they would also keep quiet and turn a blind eye when their Muslim brothers and sisters are committing sins like ‘zina’, gambling or drinking liquor just because they (the sinners) do so quietly and pose no threat to the nation’ssecurity? Would you uphold our religion or protect their human rights instead? Also, so many of our Muslim brothers and sisters are being killed, maimed and tortured in other parts of the world over the course of many years. Thousands of Muslim’s lives are lost every month, if not every day. Do you really want our numbers to keep dwindling by letting a group of people gone astray from Islam, just because you are concerned about their rights? Obviously, you don’t care about their lives, now and the next. But at the same time, you yourself acknowledge in your letter that, and I quote, “Islam began by inviting and persuading peopleto embrace it on the merit of its rationality and truth”.
The fact that your letter was published by The Sun is another disturbing factor. The English daily is read by large groups of people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, which may lead to these consequences;
1) Muslims, especially those with shallow knowledgeabout their religion like the youngsters (although I’m not targeting them alone), may start to think, it is all right to leave their faith behind, if not openly,quietly.
2) Non-Muslims may want to ‘try out’ what Islam is all about. Should they see Islam as unfit to their lifestyle, they can simply leave the faith, since they think Islam also ‘recognises the freedom of religion.’
Maybe the author or even the members of SIS themselves don’t really mind and care if someone close to them decides to leave Islam and their ‘iman’ behind. But I on the other hand would be very devastated and have sleepless nights should my loved ones break such news to me (and I'm sure many other people would feel the same way too about their closed ones).
Therefore, I would like to urge my families, friends and religion gurus to openly object to this letter, complete with Hadiths and Al Qur’an verses to back up their arguments. Also, I would like to urge the government to look into the kind of activities that the SIS group is having. In fact, it is not too much to ask if the group is banned from continue operating (based on this particular letter alone), or asked to follow certain strict guidelines before making any statements or organizing any activities. This is because I fear for the faith of my loved ones and my future children and grandchildren (and I believe others too), if SIS continues to interpret AlQur’an the way they see fit."
posted by The Pisces Man @ 11:55 pm
1 Comments:
Assalamualaikum...
Interesting thought. I've been warned about SIS thru an email quite sometime ago. My respond would be the same as yours. Bravo!
wasalam
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