Comments on: Zulkifli’s choice

By: Kate Green Zombie Shooter

Kate Green Zombie Shooter — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:07:04 +0000

akhoo I respectfully disagree. The Sibilin church fiasco is not his fault alone, but also the fault of the 300 or so folk who never bothered to fact check that (a) Azhar Mansor never converted to Christianity in Australia and was instead running a business in Langkawi, and (b) that the Catholic church has strict guidelines on how to conduct a baptism, and would not have it done by a non-ordained member of the laity in a church.

You can’t just hit the “batu api” — ignorance and paranoia makes people easily become conduits of a flame. Jailing people, accusing them of sedition, etc. will not solve the problem. We need to continue to open up discourse, and help other people of other faiths understand us, just as we need to understand others.

By: akhoo

akhoo — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:14:43 +0000

This man should have been in Kamunting for the Silibin Church fiasco! Not that I support the ISA but that act was meant for such people. He is leading many people the wrong way and he will pay for his sins in the days ahead.

By: Doubt in It

Doubt in It — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:44:02 +0000

I wonder what ZN is smoking? Let me have some of that too, please! No one sane would agree to the appointment of Harussani. He is the poster child of what is wrong with Islam specifically and religion generally in Malaysia!

By: Karcy

Karcy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:44:01 +0000

To be frank, some of the things he says is in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence as I (a non-Muslim) understand it. The Kongsi Raya celebrations may affect a Muslim’s praxis of the faith, because the Eid celebrations are not just supposed to be celebrations, they are meant to be religious observations as well.

With regards to Jom Heboh and the like, the declaration of them as haram is in line with various hadith that point to the outlawing of music. The majority of Islamic scholars conclude that it is not music qua music that is haram, but music that distracts the soul from that which is important and good that is haram. As Jom Heboh and reality TV shows can be addictive, therefore it is reasonable to consider them haram. (This is their opinion, I am only relaying what I have read.)

Furthermore, if we compare Harussani’s own religious viewpoints, how different are they from Tok Guru’s? Tok Guru may be a more peaceful man, but at no point is he a liberal. Please, don’t fool ourselves into thinking that just because he is not the one acting like a religious supremacist gloating at other people, that his own theological opinions are any different.

If we who are non-Muslims are to live in a world where the line of discourse is to be determined by Islam, either directly (like declaring Malaysia an Islamic state) or indirectly (like having a lot of public policies and issues shaped by Islamic matters) then we must know Islamic jurisprudence and theology. Theology matters and some of the theological conditions are very difficult to get around. Because theology matters, we will have to deal with people like Harussani, whose understanding of Islamic legalism is excellent but whose empathy with other human beings is probably near zero.

Islam had champions like Imam Ghazali — we must remember that not everyone is Imam Ghazali.