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The Malay Mail column by Shafiqah Othman Hamzah entitled ‘The hypocrisy of Malay Muslims’ may have been very truth-seeking and truth-speaking but I suspect it will create severe emotional reactions against the writer. Not her fault but this is the the kind and quality of Islam preached and moderated by the Malaysian Islamic Development Agency (Jakim) et al.

On Sunday, another columnist in Sunday Mail whom I admire too, Zurairi AR, also postulated, ‘When Muslims suddenly ‘discover’ freedom of speech’. He, too, opens up the same issue of institutionalised nature of hypocrisy of the kind and quality of Islam practised in Malaysia.

Allow me therefore to raise some questions which may be rhetorical at best, since I am not a Muslim although I am committed and surrendered to God Almighty.

Institutionalised faith

Mohandas Gandhi was once asked if he liked Jesus; and he was reputed to have replied, “Jesus I like but Christians I do not!” Now, was he criticising Jesus or was his critique really about Jesus whom the Christians extol but do not model through their lives? The Pope has recently again demonstrated the Jesus quality of leadership example which gives hope. Most Christian ‘religion’ still does not reflect this kind and quality of applied LOVE.

Therefore, when I forwarded the same column by Shafiqah Othman to my WhatsApp groups I received some interesting reactions:

One spokesperson, a Muslim of notable personality, replied: “KJ, the belief in hypocrisy of Malay Muslims is just an opinion. I can express an opinion, too, in saying that the writer is not Malay and neither a Muslim. I do not deny that there are plenty of people in this country who called themselves Muslims but they do not preach nor practice the religion.

“To say all Malays are hypocrites is certainly not true, and hence please don’t chew on every word spit out by the lady. There are still plenty of good Muslims in this country and do remember that.”

I agree with my friend and retired general, but please allow me to seek to splice the issue to its core for the sake of all my other good Muslim friends, and actually all peoples of different faiths, so that this critique is not so over-generalised to exclude all of us, too.

Is faith different from religion?

If I am a follower of Jesus, and if I live a life not worthy of his name and example, surely I will be not be received or adjudged as one by all and sundry. I only need to ask them. All faith is always personal and can never only be the institutionalised belief system we call ‘our religion’. That was Gandhi’s precious meaning of what he spoke about Jesus; and we have no choice but to agree with him.

My problem with the practice of Islam in Malaysia is its institutionalised nature; i.e. it has become captured by the state and therefore individual Muslims feel squeezed out of any space for a personal kind of faith. If faith is not intensely personal choice of faith, love and hope; what is it, may I ask?

In fact there was an actual conversation captured between Jesus and a rich young ruler which is recorded in the Gospels. This rich young ruler asked Jesus how he can ‘be good enough’ for God. In the first round of replies, Jesus simple repeated the religious requirements of the Old Testament laws of Moses. The ruler replied that he had done or kept all of that; which is really a bold claim.

Finally, Jesus told him to go and get rid of all his wealth to follow Jesus. It is recorded that he left unhappy.

Sometimes, it is not simply the blind adherence to the rules of the law which matter, but really the spirit or motives behind these laws, if we have a personal relationship with God Almighty. In the case of this rich young ruler, it was obvious that he had relied on his wealth to fulfil the rigorous requirements and obligations of the Mosaic laws.

Therefore when Jesus addressed the ‘real location of his superficial faith, as only a means to some larger end’; he could not give up the true idol of his faith-keeping; his wealth.

To my mind and heart, both these Malay Muslim writers are getting into the spirit of their personal faith values and critiquing the objectified and institutionalised faith preached and practiced in the name of Islam propagated by the formal systems in Malaysia. I, too, agree therefore with Gandhi and these two writers. Whither this institutionalised Islamic practice in Malaysia?

One serious question – are you a liberal Muslim?

Recently I wrote a column entitled, ‘What is a liberal Muslim?’ I dared not ask the question about anyone’s personal faith, as this was the jurisdiction of God Almighty. Now that these two writers have made these questions a public issue within a mainstream newspaper; I think I, too, can ask the same questions with them. Let me quote the actual words of Shafiqah Othman:

“I cannot help but feel appalled, not by Zakir Naik, but the hypocrisy of Malay Muslims. The Malay Muslim community of Malaysia has such jarring double standards, and it’s even more obvious now than ever.”

She argues that the freedom of speech argument is a knife that cuts both ways; one cannot have it and also eat it. Then she asks a series of questions which I now repeat, as I want answers from all my Malay Muslim friends, too:

  • Where were you when Dr Ulil Abshar was denied entry to Malaysia?
  • Why did we then allow Zakir Naik; notoriously known to support ‘Muslim terrorism’?
  • Where were all these promoters of freedom when Lina Joy lost the same?
  • Where is outrage with Raif Badawi or Juli Jalaluddin cases?
  • We reject pluralism but expect religious minorities to be mindful of the needs and wants of Muslims?
  • Where were you when they protested building Hindu temples or churches were bombed?
  • Where were you when one groups of Muslims label others ‘kafir’?
  • Or, when progressive Muslims are told to leave Islam if we do not agree with their version?

She concludes that not all Malay Muslims think like this but a huge group supports such thinking when it benefits them, but do not apply these values across the board for the benefit of others. Their freedom of speech of only their personal freedom of faith; but never for others.

I think these are excellent questions which every First Class Malaysian must consider if we want to make bribery and corruption a thing of the past. May God Almighty bless Malaysia with truth matters. My prayer is that every Muslim I know will move from profession to possession of their faith.