Anxieties towards hudud
When we read the al-Quran and al-Sunnah, we will discover how just Allah is and none is comparable to His Justness. On the other hand, this world seems to be full with injustice because of the handwork of humankind that has destroyed the beautiful and wonderful system Allah put in place for all living things in this world.
Similar to the way human beings have been destroying the earth’s ecosystem, human beings have also been, in many cases, destroying the system of justice in their life. Just as the environment, rivers, ozone layer, seas, mountains and many more in this world have been ruined to the extent that all those are now becoming harmful to humans’ life, so have justice, peaceful life, compassionateness and graciousness been ruined that in the end leads to the destruction of life’s serenity. People then ask, “Where is Allah’s justness?” They forget to say, “This is the outcome of our own evilness.”
Allah is Most Just and All-Wise. Although He is All-Knowing of all the sins committed by human beings, they will still be given a trial in His grand court in the Day of Judgment. All of their sins and rewards will be weighed before they are given their sentences.
Allah says (translated as): “Then shall we question those to whom Our Message was sent and those by whom we sent it. And Verily, We shall recount their whole story with knowledge, for We were never absent (at any time or place). The balance that Day will be true (to nicety): those whose scale (of good) will be heavy, will prosper. Those whose scale will be light, will be their souls in perdition, for that they wrongfully treated Our Signs.” (Surah al-‘Araf: 6-9)
It is clear that Allah is All-Knowing of all humans’ deeds. Despite of that, He still provides a system that illustrates His Justice by weighing the deeds of humankind, good and bad, before sentencing them to either Heaven or Hell. Even if Allah does not perform any weighing procedure, Allah’s verdict will not be faulty since He is the All-Knowing Lord.
His Knowledge encompasses all things. However, for the sake of illustrating His Justice so that His servants will not have any reasons for discontentment when they are given their sentences, He provides a system of justice by means of hearing and their sins weighed. Allah says (translated as): “On the Day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them As to their actions. On that Day Allah will pay them back (all) their just dues, and they will realize that Allah is the (very) truth, that makes all things manifest.” (Surah al-Nur: 24-25)
If Allah does not provide the court of justice in the Day of Judgment, will anybody be able to protest Allah’s verdict? Will anybody be able to say that Allah makes mistakes in making judgment? Will anybody be able to jeopardize Allah’s reign just as human beings jeopardize the ruler’s dominion in this world through insurrection or election? Absolutely not! Glory be to Allah. No one can challenge the greatness of His Kingdom but still He provides a system of hearing that is most just in His Court. Is it then acceptable if human beings are punished without being trialed fairly and benevolently whereas even Allah the Most Just provides a system of hearing to judge His servants?
Is it appropriate to have a legislative act that allows someone to be prosecuted without given a chance to defend him self? Probably someone can be remanded temporarily for the duration of the investigation period but the principle of justice requires that he must be given a trial before he is given his sentence so that he understands the nature of the offence he has committed.
If people are sentenced without given a chance to defend themselves then something similar to the fatal incident occurred in Kuala Perlis recently will take place. The victim was accused of peeping at a girl. He was then dragged outside of his house, beaten up by the mob until he died. His wife who was still recovering from giving birth was also beaten up. In the end, they realized that they had caught the wrong person. The victim was already dead, punished without knowing what his sin was. Even if that was indeed his wrongdoing, was it his rights to be killed? For that reason, this religion opposes the act of punishing people without valid reasons and a proper trial. This kind of act is truly condemned.
If there is a legislative act that allows people to be sentenced without given a trial then that is a loathsome statute. The Prophet s.a.w said, “Evidence is incumbent on the prosecutor (to present) and taking an oath is for the defendant.” (Reported by al-Tirmizi, authenticated by al-Albani)
Therefore, if this kind of statute and law exists then the Fatwa Council has to convene and deliberate the Islamic view on it in a just manner without being influenced by any group. That is the role of a fatwa. Its issuance should be aligned with the need of the nation. If not, we will only distance ourselves from the flow of life of the community that requires honesty and transparency in religious views.
Whereas in this unconfined world, people are being punished due to unjustified accusations. One will be vilified or plastered with a bad label only because of accusations without any valid reasons or given any trials. He may not be put in jail or killed but will be punished in an open society only because of the accusations made by others against him.
Some may give him cynical look, or reject him or question him. Sometimes, the effect of public prosecution is more painful than strokes or imprisonment. In the world of internet, many have become the victims of unjustified accusations without having the room to defend themselves. It is similar in the world of politics. Various labels will be plastered to others haphazardly. In the religious field, almost the same circumstance exists and in some cases, the devil plays an even bigger role to instigate them.
Since a long time ago, if there were any individual or group trying to bring on revivification to improve the thinking of the youth and the Muslim society, various kind of vilification would be thrown at them. They were accused of being kaum muda (literally means the young group). Thus, among the victims at those times includes Syed Syeikh al-Hadi, Syeikh Muhammad Tahir Jalaludin, Burhanudin al-Helmi, Za‘ba, Mustafa ‘Abdul Rahman and many others. It was to the extent that a prominent figure such as Buya Hamka from Indonesia was prohibited from entering Johor for similar reason. It was all caused by the envious lot whose only desire was to guard their self-interest.
These days, if you talk about open-minded thinking, flexibility in accepting the opinions of others, reverting to the authentic texts of Islam, you will be accused of being kaum muda or Wahabi or liberal. That is regardless of whether you know what Wahabi or liberal or kaum muda is. That accusation does not require any proof or reasoning since it is ‘justified’ by the different opinion that you have. Making accusation without giving any evidence or without giving the chance to defend oneself is a tyranny. It is always committed by those holding certain self-interest.
Thus, this religion is against making empty accusations without having valid reasons that are based on intellectual evidence and proof. Allah says (translated as): “O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor let some women laugh at others: it may be that the (latter are better than the (former): nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: and those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.” (Surah al-Hujurat: 11)
The tendency to accuse somebody haphazardly is the symbol of humans running out of reasoning. I feel sad when some people accuse the decision made by the High Syariah Court of Pulau Pinang and advocator Ustaz Ahmad Jailani Abdul Ghani as encouraging people to become apostates. Even more, some are plastering a more serious accusation saying that he is defending apostates.
Some of you may still remember that last year, at the early stage of my regular writing in this column, I wrote an article titled “Apostasy: Between Emotions and Reality”. Among the points that I mentioned was, “At the same time, we need to have a full knowledge of the fact that a person is proclaimed as an apostate when he traverses the Islamic faith boundary in a conscious state, knowingly and without any force exerted on him. It is regardless whether the violation is in a form of words, or actions or belief. When the violation is clearly committed by a person such as by insulting Allah and His Messenger, or pronouncing himself to have or intend to renounce Islam, then he is considered as an apostate.
Apostasy, once it is committed, is considered as valid regardless whether it is endorsed or not by any particular authority. A statement of religion on someone’s identification card is not a true certification of his faith. It is simply for communal business or administration. This means that if we are able to inhibit one thousand people that renounced Islam from changing the religion stated on their identification cards, in actual we are merely keeping one thousand people that are masquerading as Muslims in a Muslim society. What will happen if the identification cards are being used as references for determining religious stand by certain authority and subsequently a marriage occurs between the apostates and the true Muslims?
It is also possible that they get to control the religious institutions by virtue of their knowledge on certain areas even as apostates. In the end, we are actually keeping a very dangerous cancer in the body of our Ummah. Therefore, to be able to maintain the status of one’s religion on his identification card only is not qualified to be considered as a success. Instead, it has the potential to turn into a misfortune in the days to come. A true success is when we are able to return them to the true path of Islam voluntarily and to eradicate all of their doubts concerning this religion.”
Therefore, the resolution made by the court and the action taken by that lawyer was actually a commendable effort of removing cancer from the body of the Ummah. Just ask a mature mind, do people become apostates because there is a room to do that in court or is it because they have lost their faith in Islam? Surely, the answer is because they have lost their faith in Islam.
If that is the answer, the remedy for that sickness is to prevent him from changing the religious status on his identification card, whereas he has lost faith in Islam, or by improving da’wah and give mature elucidation to him? Surely, it is with da’wah and mature elucidation. Therefore, people commit apostasy not because it is decided by the court but because of inefficient da’wah despite the overflowing monetary fund.
We can also soften the heart of the mualaf who have embraced Islam and their family who have not embraced Islam through the contribution of zakat money. Where have the hundred millions of zakat money collected every year gone? Let us not constrict the concept of mualaf only to those who have newly embraced Islam. Expand our narrowness and move towards using the broader texts of Islam.
The term mualaf is not just for those who newly embrace Islam as carelessly translated by some people. It encompasses those who have not embraced Islam and it is hoped that the gift of zakat is able to soften their heart to accept Islam. Let us not just abandon the mualaf while they are living in a difficult condition with their family but after they die, we scuffle over their dead bodies. While they are alive, we let them be but after they die, we demand to have their bodies. Does this represent the beauty of Islam?
Once I advocated Chinese mosques. Some made wild accusations by saying that it would lead to the al-Quran being recited in Chinese at that mosque. They said, even the prayer would be performed in Chinese. This is the custom of our people, dynamic in making accusations and not in thinking. Even those claiming themselves as religious advisors were also acting the same way. Is the al-Quran being recited in Tamil and Malay at the Indian and Malay mosques?
I proposed the Chinese mosques so that the Chinese Muslim community can interact easily with each other. They know each other better and thus, many problems that they are facing can be solved among themselves. That is because they have different background of problems from the Malay community in which almost all are Muslims.
Therefore, in Chinese mosques, the Chinese people will understand the religious lesson better and it will be easier for them to communicate with the imam and committee members of the mosque. Thus, if any of them wishes to renounce Islam or embrace Islam, they can apply the best approach for each case since they understand their people better. However, some opposed this idea and some made wild accusations. Today, we can see how much we need to have it but its existence is being impeded.
It is better if we stop being hostile to others without any valid evidence and a good understanding of the real situation but try to use the scale of justice and a mature mind.
