Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Islamic City & Islam Hadhari

Shahanaaz Habib Analysis; The Star, Nation, page 25, September 9, 2005.

Politicians generally are mad on SLOGANS AND CONCEPTS, said UKM Dr Agus Mohamed Yusof.

"On the one hand you have Islamic City slogan and the other, the Islam Hadhari concept. All these are meaningless if there is no substance. Their intention is good, but there is no emphasis on the essence of it," Agus Yusof lamented.

As an example, Agus relates a case of a very poor family in Kelantan. The mother had cancer. She was forced to give away seven of her nine children because she was too poor. One of her son needed a liver transplant. Yusof approached both UMNO and PAS for assistance. Both did not want to help.

"Even poverty is politicised. PAS was trying to capitalize on it as an opportunity while UMNO was trying to whack PAS by using this case to illustrate to the people of Kelantan that they have voted in a political party which kept the State in poverty.

"It broke my heart. Manusia lebih hina daripada lembu (Man has less esteem than a cow)," Dr Agus said sombrely.

On October 1, Kota Baru will be declared an Islamic City by the PAS-led government. This will revolve around the 5K Concept - Keilmuan, Kesetiaan, Kebersihan, Kemakmuran and Kebajikan (Knowledge, Loyalty, Cleanliness, Prosperity and Welfare).

The plan is to mould Kelantan's State capital into an Islamic learning center.

However, UMNO laugh this off. "Pas is trying to copy our Islam Hadhari. All the 5Ks are adapted from our Islam Hadhari," Datuk Dr Mashita Ibrahim laugh braggingly.

It is interesting and puzzling to hear Dr Mashita's comment. She claimed that PAS copied "OUR Islam Hadhari". What is OUR; who is the OUR? Isn't Islam Hadhari for everyone, including PAS? Isn't Islam Hadhari culled from the Quran? So, does it belong to UMNO? It definitely sounded like it is an invention from UMNO.

PAS does not need to copy; PAS had tailored their doctrines and concepts along the teaching of the prophet and in compliance with the Sya'riah.

In the words of Ibn Taymiyyah, "People's saying and actions are of two kinds: acts of worship and customary practices. ...from the principles of the Shari'ah, we know that acts of worship are those acts which have been prescribed by Allah or approved by Him; nothing is to be affirmed except through the Shari'ah." (Al-Qawa'id al-Nuraniyah al-Fiqhiyah; page 112-113).

In his book 'The Lawful and The Prohibited in Islam (Al-Hala wal Haram fil Islam), Yusuf al-Qaradawi has this to remind Dr Mashita:

"Islam has restricted the authority to legislate the haram and the halal, taking it out of the hands of human beings, regardless of their religious or worldly position, and reserving it for the Lord Himself. Neither rabbis nor priests, kings or sultans have the right to prohibit something permanently to Allah's servants; if someone do this, he has certainly exceeded his limits, usurping the sovereignty which belongs to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala alone."

"While Islam reprimands all those who, on their own authority, declare what is lawful and what is prohibited, it is more strict with respect to those who voice prohibitions as this tendency is prevalent among some of those who go to the extremes in matters of religion. The prophet fought against this pseudo-pietism and zealotry by every means, warning those who indulged in it with the words, 'The zealots will perish,' repeated three times."

Dr Ahmad Nidzamuddin concurs with his UKM colleague Dr Agus that slogans and concepts looks pretty on paper.

"However, mere words and ideas will not heal disease, alleviate poverty or give people comfort," said Dr Nadzamuddin.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Agus relates a case of a very poor family in Kelantan. The mother had cancer....Oh,cancer is very terrible,and also I hope all of the people could care for such people!


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