Category: Agama

Blogger Malaysia Alvin Tan Dikecam Kerana Biadab Terhadap Umat Islam Dengan Rakaman ‘Lagu Azan’

SHAH ALAM – Blogger penuh kontroversi, Alvin Tan sekali lagi bertindak biadab terhadap umat Islam dengan merakam ‘lagu Azan’.

Tinjauan Sinar Online mendapati video terbarunya bertajuk ‘Muslim Call to Prayer – Azan (R&B cover)’ yang dimuatnaik semalam dikecam orang ramai, termasuk orang bukan Islam.

“Si bodoh ni semakin menaikkan darah saya,” kata seorang pelayar, Eugene.

“(Tindakan) Ini sangat bodoh. Anda menghina orang Islam. Untuk Apa? Apa tujuan buat semua ini?” kata Matthew.

“Ini sudah keterlaluan. Saya bukan orang Islam tapi kamu tak patut berbuat begini.” kata Danny.

Alvin yang memberi tindak balas di dalam komen-komen bagaimanapun tidak menunjukkan sebarang penyesalan ataupun mengaku kesilapannya.

Beliau juga bertindak menghina Nabi Muhammad S.A.W.

Alvin yang masih dilihat berbangga dengan statusnya sebagai blogger kontroversi dikatakan semakin berani melakukan penghinaan kerana beliau melarikan diri ke luar negara.

Source: www.sinarharian.com.my

April 21, 2015
Wardina Minta Maaf Kepada Penganut Kristian

PETALING JAYA: Selebriti Wardina Safiyyah memohon maaf kepada penganut Kristian susulan kekecohan yang berlaku di Taman Medan pada Ahad lalu.

Dia juga menyatakan rasa kesal dengan perbuatan saudara seagamanya yang seolah-olah membuli golongan minoriti.

“Kepada penganut Kristian Taman Medan, sampaikan salam saya kepada Paderi juga permohonan maaf saya.

“Kepada umat Islam di Taman Medan, sikap anda tidak menunjukkan yang anda umat Islam yang sebenar-benarnya,” katanya di laman Facebook.

Wardina yang sedang menyambung pelajaran di Australia berkata, dia memahami perasaan menjadi golongan minoriti yang sering ditindas tanpa alasan yang wajar dan jelas.

“Saya tahu bagaimana rasa menjadi golongan minoriti dan bertapa sakitnya bila dibuli hanya kerana keimanan kita terhadap agama dan erti sebenarnya apabila kita mendapat sokongan daripada orang yang bukan beragama Islam dan bersama dalam solidariti,” katanya.

Di Australia, katanya, jika bukan Islam menyokong umat Islam, mereka akan berasa sangat bersyukur.

“Jadi, saya harap kami dapat menghulurkan sokongan kepada penganut Kristian apabila mereka di layan dengan begitu biadap oleh sebilangan ‘saudara seislam kami sendiri,” tulisnya.

Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com

April 21, 2015
Shafiqah Othman Hamzah: Why I Am Against Institutionalised Religion

I think I have, on many occasions, explained that I do not like using the term “religion” all that much. I prefer to substitute it with “spirituality” for very personal reasons. But today, I’d like to explain some of the many reasons why the word “religion” plays little to no role in my life, and why I feel like it is irrelevant.

I can already hear people calling me blasphemous.

Please do not get me wrong, for what I am truly against is not religion, like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism etc. but in fact, “institutionalised religion.” And that does not mean that I am against institutions as well. I do believe that we need some systems of operations and governing in our lives in order to avoid chaos, but I feel like governance in religion is something that should not exist. Isn’t religion supposed to be personal?

All around me, I see people arguing who is right and who is wrong, who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell. There are Muslims vs. Christians, and to make things worse, even Muslims against other Muslims as well. The situation in Malaysia speaks for itself. The demonising of other religions, including other sects of Islam that is not Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah, or even Sunni Syafie for that matter, goes to show that our government is trying to dictate how we practise our religion.

There are far too many people in Malaysia (let alone the world) for us to try to advance one particular theology. Not only is this an offence to the diversity that God has bestowed upon us, but it creates a great divide between our citizens. The world wouldn’t be in peace if we all believed in the same thing; we would be in peace if we had a mutual understanding of our differences.

Which brings me to my next point. The moment someone thinks that their theology is the one and only infallible truth, they immediately hold a monopoly on God. This can be seen when Malaysia banned the use of “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia translated version of the Bibles. Yes, they banned it for theological reasons, but as you can see, this is where the problem comes in.

No matter how differently your theology or understanding of something may be, at the end of the day, we are all parts of the same whole. No one owns God. This is against the idea of a universalistic God. Islam does not own Allah, but Allah owns everything. And if the reason behind the ban is to prevent Muslims from getting confused, than you have to question the faith of your own followers instead of putting them in a bubble. You’re not protecting them, but rather, placing them in deeper ignorance.

Institutionalised religion also promotes blind belief through coercion and fear. You have to think a certain way because someone above you says so. You have to do a certain thing because someone above you says so. But you don’t really understand why you’re doing it. You were raised to not question, but to just follow. And out of fear of the consequences that may come, you blindly agree with everything that is being spoon-fed to you because you were taught to believe that questioning is a sin.

The most heart-breaking thing about institutionalised religion for me is that it also teaches us to judge a man not based on his character and how he treats others, but by the way he dresses. Spirituality has been taken over by superficiality. Institutionalised religion insists on playing God.

Religion is the act of believing in God, and institutions establish a systematic way of doing things. Institutionalising religion then ultimately means establishing a system of how to believe in God. How can this be possible when there are over 6 billion people on Earth? And how could anyone ever think that we are authorised to dictate the spirituality of Man as though we’re God Himself?

It should not come as a surprise to anyone at all that our world is filled with such diverse views. No two people think the same way and whoever thought that it was best to turn us into a monolith should understand that all their attempts are futile.

Why is it so hard for people to agree to disagree with each other without inflicting pain or harm towards the other? Are we that conceited and full of ourselves to think that our opinions and upbringing is the one and only infallible truth? To me, one of the best things to do to honour God is by honouring and respecting the diversity that He has given us on this Earth. We are, after all, a part of His creation.

It’s one thing to be against another religion for holding a different view, but institutionalised religion can cause even adherers from the same religion to go against each other. At the current rate of increasing Islamophobia that is happening across the globe, we need Muslims to unite more than ever now instead of merely denouncing each other for different opinions.

There is no systematic way to live, let alone believe in God. Personal matters of the heart aren’t something Man should meddle with. It is none of our business, and definitely not in our place to judge. This is the reason why it is so important for us to be kind to each other, because we don’t know each other’s stories.

We are all equal before the eyes of God. Just because I don’t think or dress like you, it does not make me more or less of a Muslim.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

Shafiqah Othman Hamzah

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

April 21, 2015
Uproar Over Church In Selangor Increases Pressure On Malaysian PM Najib Razak

An uproar over a protest on Sunday by a group of Muslims in Selangor demanding the removal of the cross of a church has put more pressure on embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Netizens, politicians and lawyers condemned the protest in a Malay-Muslim majority residential area in Petaling Jaya, and pressed the government to take action against the protesters and protect minority rights.

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday called the protest seditious and vowed that action would be taken against the offenders, contradicting an earlier assertion by the country’s police chief that the protesters’ actions were not seditious.

“Of course action is to be taken. I am very colour-blind. The police are very colour-blind. Action has to be taken or will be taken against them (the protesters),” Mr Zahid, told the media yesterday.

About 50 people had gathered outside the new church on Sunday, demanding the removal of the cross affixed to the house of worship on the grounds that it was challenging Islam and could sway the faith of young Muslims. Among those present at the protest was Mr Abdullah Abu Bakar, the older brother of police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, along with several other members of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party.

The cross was taken down by church leaders a few hours after the protest.

At a news conference yesterday, Mr Khalid dismissed any suggestions that the protest was seditious. “We do not see it as seditious as it did not touch on Christianity but only on the location of the church,” he said, adding that his brother was present only to help manage the situation.

Mr Abdullah, an UMNO branch chief, also said in a statement that the UMNO members were present to mediate, adding that they managed to stop some of the more radical residents who had threatened to remove the cross had the church not done so itself.

This was not the first time a protest has been held against a church.

In November last year, a Muslim group also organised a demonstration to protest the construction of the four-storey church in Petaling Jaya.

Ms Haniza Mohamed Talha, an opposition lawmaker of the district where the protest took place, criticised the behaviour of the protesters. “(The protesters) assume that the faith of Muslims is so fragile that just by looking at a cross, they will be driven away from Islam,” she said. The Council of Churches Malaysia claimed the protest was politically-motivated to stir up religious tensions in Selangor.

In condemning the protest, the council’s general-secretary Dr Hermen Shastri said it was not surprised that such an incident had taken place yet again in the state, which is ruled by the federal opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. “It is obvious that there is a political agenda behind such acts from certain quarters, who are out to instigate and increase inter-religious tensions in the state,” he said. He urged the authorities to “take firm measures against anyone who seeks to disrupt the worship of others, and who seeks to act above the law by imposing their religious views upon people of other faiths, by show of mob force”.

Mr Tony Pua, a lawmaker from the Democratic Action Party, called on UMNO lawmakers who recently voted in support of the amendments to the Sedition Act to make their stand known to the protesters. “Will the above case only go to show how the Act was constructed strictly targeted against non-Muslims while Muslims who infringed on the rights of others will get away scot-free?” he said.

Malaysia strengthened its controversial sedition law earlier this month, imposing a minimum jail term of three years and allowing the government to block online media deemed to be seditious. The toughening of the Sedition Act comes after a crackdown in which scores of people have been detained under the law in recent weeks.

Mr Najib has come increasing pressure in recent months over a series of controversies, including the state investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which has amassed a RM42 billion (S$15.6 billion) debt.

Sunday’s protest poses another headache for Mr Najib, following several recent cases that have heightened religious tensions with Malaysia’s Christian minority population. Last week, 320 Malay-language bibles were seized because they used the word “Allah” to refer to God. Earlier this year, Catholic newsweekly Herald was also banned from using the word “Allah” in its publications.

Source: www.todayonline.com

April 21, 2015
Petaling Jaya Residents Protest Outside Church Building, Say Cross Challenging Islam

About 50 residents gathered outside a new church in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya today to demand that the cross affixed to the house of worship be removed as it was “challenging Islam”, The Star Online reported today.

According to the news portal, the locals demonstrated peacefully during the church service at 10am for the cross to be taken down.

The protesters said the presence of a cross in a Muslim-majority area posed a challenge to the religion and could sway the faith of the youth, The Star Online reported.

The news portal reported a village leader later pacified the group and spoke with the church’s priest on their behalf.

“After meeting with the priest, the church agreed to take down the cross by next Sunday. If they have the authority to run, we cannot stop it,” the group’s leader, Datuk Abdullah Abu Bakar, was quoted as saying.

“But we ask out of concern, being a Malay area, that they take down the cross.”

Police reportedly arrived on the scene at 10.30am to manage the crowd, just as the Sunday service was ending.

The Star Online reported that the cross was taken down by church leaders a few hours after the protest.

This was not the first time a protest was held against a church.

On November 2, 2014, Muslim NGO, Pertubuhan Sahabat organised a demonstration to protest the construction of the four-storey Praise Emmanuel Assembly church in Petaling Jaya.

The NGO said there were already three churches in the vicinity, adding it was not appropriate in a neighbourhood that counted 70% of its residents as Muslim.

The group had demonstrated at the church building site at Jalan PJS 8/9, saying that building a four-storey church in the area would be an insult to the Muslims living there.

Source: www.themalaysianinsider.com

April 21, 2015