I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force.
Albert Einstein
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere . . . Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King Jr.
"All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family, and each one of us is responsible for the misdeeds of all the others. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest
soul."
"The True Measure Of A Man Is How He Treats Someone Who Can Do Him Absolutely No Good." Samuel Johnson
--- On Mon, 2/28/11, YW Loke <ywlok...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: YW Loke <ywlok...@gmail.com>
Subject: [beritamalaysia] Nik Aziz offers PM a lesson on mosque and Islamicity
To: beritam...@yahoogroups.com,
bmal...@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 10:33 AM
http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view
=article&id=2358:nik-aziz-offers-pm-a-lesson-on-mosque-and-
islamicity&catid=36:headline&Itemid=70
Nik Aziz offers PM a lesson on mosque and Islamicity
Harakahdaily
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28: Kelantan Menteri Besar has derided a statement by
prime minister Najib Razak criticising the PAS-led state government for
having built only two mosques in Kelantan during its twenty years in power.
Nik Aziz (left) says Najib has only exposed his ignorance
http://en.harakahdaily.net/images/stories/newslocal/nikaziz_najib.jpg
In a posting on his popular Facebook page, Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat
said by tying the number of mosques to a government's Islamicity, Najib had
only exposed his deep ignorance about Islam.
Najib, speaking at a school in Kuala Krau, was reported by right wing Malay
daily Utusan Malaysia as questioning PAS's Islamic credentials because the
latter had only constructed two mosques in the whole of Kelantan in the two
decades it has been in power.
In his response, Nik Aziz wondered if Najib would have given a similar view
if he were living in Madinah during the time of Prophet Muhammad.
"If he were living during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon
him), would he have said such a thing upon discovering that the Prophet had
only built one mosque during the ten years he administered Madinah?" asked
Nik Aziz.
Nik Aziz added that Najib's thinking had been 'poisoned' by a secular frame
of mind, not unlike the ultra-secularist Turkish leader Mustafa Kamal
Attaturk, who founded modern Turkey on the ruins of the Ottoman empire which
he helped to end.
Nik Aziz also went on to clarify that it was not only PAS which strove in
the name of Islam, simply because it adapted such slogans as "Progress with
Islam", and stressed that a person's Islamicity should not be measured by
the length of one's beard, or his turban or dress.
____
http://lite.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/i-didnt-ask-to-be-born
-malay-says-nik-aziz
I didn't ask to be born Malay, says Nik Aziz
KOTA BHARU, 27 Feb - PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz
Nik Mat said today that he did not ask to be born Malay.
The Kelantan Mentri Besar added that it was only by coincidence that he was
born in this country.
Nik Aziz said that it did not matter what community he was born into as long
as he was a Muslim.
He was responding to a statement by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that he should
be grateful for being born Malay because this meant that he would be Muslim.
Nik Aziz said that all races were the same, and what made a person special
was that he was a Muslim.
He said that he was striving for Islam as a religion of moderation and was
opposed to extremism which contradicted Islam. - Bernama
____
http://lite.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/on-equal-footing
-thomas-george
On equal footing - Thomas George
FEB 28 - In athletics, all runners start from the same point. No one starts
first because they consider themselves better than the other. It is only at
the end of the race that we see who the best runner is and who it is not.
This is also the case with religion. We all begin the race - our faith
journey - on an equal footing the moment we are born. We are only one
participant among various participants on our journey of life which starts
from the womb and ends in the tomb. The journey is not over until our death,
and the judge is God. Therefore, we need to be much more subtle in our
evaluation of religions.
If anyone sees the concept of religious pluralism as a threat to the
supremacy of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism or any other religion and fear
that it would result in that religion being equated with other beliefs, then
he or she is wrong.
Religious pluralism is not about the superiority or inferiority of any
religion; it is about active engagement with diversity. Even if one claims
to be superior, such claims will have no standing outside one's own faith
circle.
Religious pluralism is the view that all religions are equally valid and
lead to God. Thus, no one religion is inherently better or superior to any
other religion unlike "exclusivism" (where one religion is supremely true
and all other religions are false) and "inclusivism" (where followers
"tolerate" the other religion on the assumption that everyone is saved by
the religion of the inclusivist).
History proves that religions are not necessarily affirming. At times, they
can be destructive, oppressive, discriminative, and gender- and
racially-biased as we see in our world today. Hence, religions not only can
ennoble and value humanity, they can also shame, degrade, devalue and
trample it.
So, on what basis can we call a religion superior, when all religions and
those who propagate it are in constant need of transformation and
reformation? On what position can we say we are better than the other? Even
religions that claim to be the "true" religion is often distorted at times
when it comes to real-life situations and actions.
In that sense, no religion can claim to be "true" because many times our
acts disprove our faith. The "true" religion becomes the "false" religion
many times. Many incidents in our own society and our personal experiences
prove this fact.
If any religion claims that it is not on an equal footing with another
religion because it considers itself more superior than the other, it
provokes the question of "who is who to judge the other". We cannot be the
participant and at the same time be the judge. If we judge, that amounts to
blasphemy because we are taking on the role of God.
All religions are human constructs, originated in particular
socio-religio-political context. They are only meant to serve God and
revolve around God.
This is best illustrated by John Hick, a theologian, in the well-known
parable of the blind men and the elephant, according to which a number of
blind men are holding different parts of the same elephant.
Each believes he is holding a different object from the other and each
describes his part as if it were the whole. The same goes for religion. The
Christian believes he has the whole truth, likewise the Muslim, the
Buddhist, the Hindu and so on. Yet, each in fact perceives only a part of
the divine object which reveals Himself equally to all of them.
This also means that we are incapable of keeping any particular religion, be
it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or Sikhism at the centre of world
religions and demand that everyone else revolve around our religion.
Instead, we should keep God at the centre and not religion.
From this perspective, the problem of religious pluralism is the problem of
how to "think" about the "other". It's not only the problem of how members
of one religious tradition are to think about the members of another
tradition, but of how to think about the other, both inside (intra
religious) and outside of one's own tradition (inter religious).
We err when we take one approach within our religious circle to please one
group and then take another stand outside our religious circle to please
another group. Such a stand will not achieve the purpose of understanding
the "other". This means that there must be coherence of thought, dialogue
and action both within and outside.
One has to commit to "pluralism" based on one's "exclusive" religious
experience in order to build respect for the other. In this sense, pluralism
and exclusivism work together, i.e. pluralism in terms of our relationship
with the other and exclusivism in terms of our own religious experience with
God.
Each religion can be considered exclusive only in terms of its religious
experience. Even within a religion, the religious experience of its
followers can be different from the other. When we say religious experience,
we mean one's personal experience in his/her relation to God.
It is a personal conviction that one holds. We cannot say one's experience
is superior than the other. We can only affirm our difference in terms of
our religious experience, which also includes our understanding of God,
death, and eternity.
We cannot force it on somebody. We can only live it. We live our religious
experience through practising the Golden Rule of all religions i.e. "Do unto
others what you want others to do for you". In this way, we interact our
religious experience with the "other" in our society.
Therefore, if we are antagonistic towards religious pluralism based on our
religious experience, then we are disqualified even before the dialogue
starts. This would also mean that our religious experience promotes
selfishness and self-centredness, and has no regard for the other. Even when
we claim that we have regard for the other, it is only a self-satisfying
religiosity i.e. "the other is good as long as they are good to me"
attitude.
This approach places the other in an inferior position and poses serious
difficulty for inter-religious harmony. Our religious experience and our
love for our own religion should not become a stumbling block to foster
fellowship with our fellow human beings and to see the "other" as they are.
By religious pluralism, we are not talking about who has five A's or five B'
s or five C's and so on, as in our UPSR or PMR exams. If we have this
approach, we will be dividing ourselves like children in class A, B, C, D
and E, who are divided according to the marks obtained in their exams.
Since we segregate students based on the marks, it is possible that students
who are in top classes develop a superior attitude and consider themselves
as better than the others. Unfortunately, we are incapable of making such
segregation in religion.
By religious pluralism, we are not seeking the unity of the religious
experience of humankind, but its ever increasing diversity. In religious
pluralism, the issue is not how to bring about religious unity based on a
single religious experience, but how to constructively manage diversity of
religious experience, religious change and conflict that is affecting our
nation today and how to do so meaningfully. For this, one has no choice but
to commit to a pluralistic approach based on his/her "exclusive" religious
experience because it is all about co-existence with the "other".
The Interfaith Councils established at the federal level and in Penang are
commendable as long as these are meant to accept, understand and manage this
diversity of religious experience in this multi-religious, multi-linguistic
and multi-cultural country of ours. In this way, we can be a strong observer
of our own faith without putting somebody else down.
Finally, let us all remember that we are not just interacting with
Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists ,Taoists, Bahais or Sikhs
and so on, but with our fellow human beings in all their diversity. If we
take this position and keep God at the centre, we can overcome feelings of
superiority, the question of equal footing and religious pluralism. After
all, we are talking about God and let us all understand that God doesn't
need the certificate of any religion to prove that God is the creator of the
whole universe.
Last but not least, it is only our actions and how we relate to the other
that would prove if our religion and our religious experience are true or
false.
* Rev Thomas George is a priest of the Mar Thoma Church and an activist of
the Malaysian Interfaith Network (MIN) and Inter Spiritual Fellowship
(InSAF). This article first appeared in The Sunday Star, February 27, 2011.
____
http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view
=article&id=2349:pas-leaders-join-calls-for-apology-to-muslim-
scholar&catid=34:primary&Itemid=56
PAS leaders join calls for apology to Muslim scholar
Harakahdaily
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28: Even as prime minister Najib Razak took great
pains to deny he had labeled renowned Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi
a terrorist, PAS leaders have echoed calls for him to apologise to the
Egyptian cleric.
NEW US ALLY? ... As US's Arab allies take turn to fall victim to the Arab
revolution, Najib's latest remark appears to be filling the vaccum
http://en.harakahdaily.net/images/stories/newslocal/najib_usflag.jpg
"The allegation that Islam is inclined towards terrorism is slander and the
person must immediately repent if he still has any fraction of faith left,"
said PAS president, Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang, responding to a report which
quoted Najib, who among others, also labeled Egypt's Ikhwan Muslimin as
terror groups.
A barrage of condemnations followed Najib's remarks which were reported by
US-based magazine National Review. In response, Najib said he had merely
stated the 'general perception' towards Ikhwan, although he did not deny the
magazine's report.
In the report, Najib, speaking in Istanbul, Turkey, questioned Qaradawi's
credibility and Islamic groups that participate in the process of
democratization by telling that Egypt's Ikhwan, which has been instrumental
in the February 11 downfall of Western-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak, should
not be part of the country's reform process.
The report states that Najib's concerns about Qaradawi centred on "Qaradawi'
s support and justification for terrorism, which carries a great deal of
weight given Qaradawi's credibility as an Islamic scholar".
The remark drew immediate condemnation from Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim,
who said Najib's view was isolated and represented that of right wing
extremists in the US administration.
Embarrassment
Describing Najib's allegation as a serious slander and one that embarrassed
the Muslim world, Hadi (right) said Najib also showed that he was suffering
from an identity crisis by regarding the words of praise for Malaysia by US
secretary of state Hillary Clinton as the yardstick of a good Muslim
government.
Hadi also challenged Najib to withdraw the Malaysian government's Maal
Hijrah award conferred to Qaradawi in 2009.
PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa (left), describing Najib's
statement as "not clever", urged him to retract the statement and to
immediately apologise to Ikhwan and Qaradawi.
Nasharuddin refuted Najib's claim by stressing that Ikhwan was a legitimate
Islamic movement in Egypt, and had vowed to defend Egypt's constitution.
"But, their democractic right as citizens and a legitimate political party
has been violated to the extent that they had to deal with threats,
intimidation and abuse of power by the government of Egypt," said
Nasharuddin.
Federal Territory PAS Youth deputy chief Mohd Suhaimi Abdul Aziz meanwhile
questioned why Najib linked Ikhwan with terrorism when the group's members
had participated in the election process during Mubarak's despite the severe
restrictions.
Suhaimi said Najib had only displayed his ignorance of Islamic history.
"We are also confident that Najib was not given the right advice by his
religious advisor," he added, repeating calls for Najib to issue an apology.
____
Anwar tells Najib to apologise to Qaradawi over 'terror' remark
http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2346:anwar-tells-najib-to-apologise-to-qaradawi-over-terrorist-allegation&catid=36:headline&Itemid=70
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