Category: Agama

  • The Hijab Movement: Of hijackers, detractors and the Guidedness of the Jemaah

    AsSalaam’alaikum!

    Some of you may recall that I mentioned in a previous posting on my FB wall some time ago that the issues that the ummah is facing serves to reveal to us the hypocrisy of some Muslims. Well I hate to say I told you so, but this is happening as we speak! If you read and hear the conversations happening in so many places online and off-line, you will find the hypocrites, the foolish, the downright stupid and even the ones who feel sidelined because their agenda is eclipsed by the tudung issue and so are envious of any progress made by the hijab movement.

    The downright stupid would argue that the tudung issue does not make sense as we are in a “secular country”.

    The foolish would argue that there are more pressing issues like education and juvenile delinquency and anyway the government will never accede to our request because we are a minority anyway.

    The hypocrites will cast doubts and even give the anti-tudung elements in the government and those against the tudung among Singaporeans ammunition to undermine the Just cause of going against discrimination against the Muslimah. They are the more sophisticated ones indulging in sophistry and fallacies such as casting red herrings like emphasising etiquette in social media and so making that an issue thereby diverting our attention away from the tudung issue at hand. Others among them will indulge in the slippery slope fallacy of saying things like the Muslims will demand more and more after the tudung and indulge in fear mongering that Muslims in Singapore actually want hudud laws implemented here and are politicising the issue.

    The envious are not happy that due to the attention given to the tudung issue their agenda (which is ill conceived in the first place) takes a back-seat. An example of the envious is the Singapore’s own Murabitun cheerleaders who are peddling their coins for profits and giving spurious fatwas about zakat and paper money. Because their project has not gathered much traction in Singapore and (especially in Malaysia) has all but failed, they will say that the tudung cause is not as important as the fight against the bankers and the so-called war against riba’.

    Please be on guard against the obfuscation of the hypocrite, the foolish, the stupid and the envious ones . They are fueling dissent and divisions among us whether they actually intended to or not.

    As many have already pointed out, we must not let this issue be hijacked. How do you know if is already hijacked? Well there are signs. One, is that a particular group or organisation controls and lead the discourse. Their voice will drown out the others and then suddenly they will determine the parameters and thereby determine what would “satisfy” the Muslims in order to defuse the issue. This will always fall short of what we actually aim for. Another is when some one or some organisation uses the tudung issue by riding on the mass support for the tudung issue to, in fact, forward his/their own agenda.

    The hijab movement may not have any clear leaders but if you think that there are no leaders whatsoever you are wrong. Pay attention to those who express their ideas with Truth and how such ideas actually resonates with the jemaah. InsyaAllah Allah swt will not let the whole of the jemaah to be led astray.

    Wasalaam

    Abdul Halim

    ***********

    Hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar:

    Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: Verily my Ummah, will not agree upon an error and the hand of Allah is upon the community; he who sets himself apart from it will be set apart in Hell Fire.
    – Transmitted by Tirmidhi.

    Source: http://on.fb.me/1eRMww6

  • On Ariel Sharon and his unforgetable legacy

    The passing of Ariel Sharon brought back the memories of the horrors of the Sabra Shatilla massacre of September,’82. I arrived in August that year as a volunteer surgeon to help the war victims of Lebanon. The people in Lebanon were wounded, made homeless and lost precious friends and families as the result of ten weeks of ruthless bombardment. That was the Operation Peace for Galilee launched by Sharon who was then the Defence Minister of Israel in June 1982. No one knew how many were killed as the result of that offensive – the London newspapers estimated a thirty thousand with many times more made homeless. When a ceasefire was agreed with the evacuation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Sharon broke that ceasefire and drove tanks under air-cover launching a land invasion into Lebanon’s capitol Beirut. Part of the tanks sealed Sabra Shatilla and prevented the helpless civilian victims from escaping, while sending in Israel’s allies into the camps to carry out the most brutal massacre of defenceless women, children and old people under Israel’s watch. The blame was quickly and deliberately shifted to the Lebanese as perpetrators of the massacres, so that today no one can mention that massacre without blaming the Lebanese Phalange, yet forgetting the Israeli organisers of that event.

    I worked in Gaza Hospital in Sabra Shatilla during the massacre trying to save the lives of a few dozen people, but outside the hospital hundreds were killed. My patients and I knew that Sharon and his officers were in control, and without them the massacre would not be possible. The residents of Sabra Shatilla could at least have escaped. Now more than 30 years later, we know that the killers were brought in by Israeli armoured cars and tanks, obeyed Israeli commands, their paths lit by Israeli military flares, and some of them also wore Israeli uniforms. The mutilated bodies of the victims were thrown into mass graves by Israeli bulldozers.

    This Sharon continued on to be Israeli Prime Minister, and built the Wall which imprisoned the Palestinians in the West Bank. Sharon’s Wall cut through their lands, separating people from their homes, children from their schools, farmers from their orchards, patients from hospitals, husbands from wives, and children from parents. He marched into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem 2000 with fully armed Israeli soldiers and tried to have the West believe that his intention was for peace.

    He was responsible for other massacres such as in Jenin, Qibya and Khan Yunis just to name a few. The older generation in Khan Yunis in Gaza remembers that he killed all the grown men in the massacre of 1956 and left only the women and children to bury the dead..

    I thought these facts should be publicised. Those who eulogise Sharon in his role of building Israel should also remember that he built his nation over the dead bodies of the Palestinian people, and the continued dispossession of those who are still alive.

    Dr Ang Swee Chai
    Author of From Beirut to Jerusalem
    Published by International Librarie, Beirut
    12 January 2014

  • Islam dan amalan homoseksual

    Soalan
    ——
    1. Apakah pandangan Islam terhadap amalan homoseksual di kalangan lelaki dan perempuan.
    2. Ramai dari kalangan mereka berpendapat bahawa perasaan yang ada terhadap kaum sejenis adalah sesuatu yang semula jadi dalam diri mereka dan mereka terperangkap dengan keadaan. Bagaimanakah seseorang yang cenderung kepada kaum sejenis dapat melawan perasaan sedemikian?
    3. Bagaimana pula mereka dapat berpatah balik?

    Jawapan
    ——-
    Pada pendapat saya Islam melarang amalan homoseksual di kalangan lelaki dan perempuan. Apa yang saya maksudkan dengan homoseksual di sini ialah hubungan seks sesama jenis, baik dalam bentuk penetrasi atau foreplay, bukan perasaan kasih atau cinta yang ada pada seorang terhadap rakan sejenis. Perasaan sebegini bukan sesuatu yang dilarang oleh Islam sama sekali. Islam memerintahkan kita saling mengasihi sesama manusia.

    Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda, “Kasihilah apa yang ada di bumi, nescaya kamu akan dikasihi oleh yang berada di langit [Tuhan].” (Riwayat Al-Turmuzi)
    Islam juga menganjurkan semua Muslim (lelaki dan perempuan) agar memberi kemuncak tertinggi kasihnya kepada Rasulullah s.a.w. Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda, “Tidak sempurna iman seseorang dari kamu sehingga aku menjadi orang yang paling dia kasihi dari ibubapa dan anak-anaknya sendiri dan manusia sekalian.” (Riwayat Al-Bukhari dan Muslim). Rasulullah s.a.w dan sahabatnya amat kasih mengasihi sesama mereka sebagaimana disebutkan dalam ayat 48:29.

    Hujah Agama
    Mengenai larangan hubungan seks sesama lelaki, Al-Quran ada menceritakan kisah nabi Lut yang diutus oleh Allah untuk membaiki kaumnya yang mengamalkan perbuatan ini. Kaum ini kemudiannya dimusnahkan oleh Allah taala kerana kedegilan mereka. Walaupun tiada pernyataan secara jelas dalam Al-Quran bahawa seks sesama lelaki adalah haram sebagaimana Allah taala haramkan bangkai dalam ayat 5:3, namun terdapat logik yang jelas akan pengharamannya sebagaimana berikut:

    Al-Quran mengharamkan apa yang ia namakan sebagai “fahisyah” (sesuatu yang keji) di dalam ayat-ayat 7:33, 16:90. Segala yang disifatkan sebagai “fahisyah” sentiasa dikaitkan dengan sesuatu yang terlarang atas dasar haram bukan makruh seperti dalam ayat-ayat 2:169, 2:268, 6:151, 7:28, 24:19, 42:37

    Al-Quran pula mensifatkan hubungan seks sesama jenis lelaki sebagai “fahisyah” di dalam ayat 7:80, 27:54 dan 29:28.
    Oleh itu, dapat disimpulkan bahawa hubungan sesame jenis lelaki dalah terlarang.
    Sememangnya Al-Quran juga tidak menggunakan perkataan jima’ dalam mensifat perbuatan kaum Lut yang tercela tapi ini tidak menafikan kesimpulan di atas kerana:

    Perkataan “tatuuna” dalam ayat-ayat yang mensifatkan perbuatan kaum Lut itu seperti dalam ayat 7:81 walau pun pada asalnya bermakna “mendatangi” ia bukan bermaksud mendatangi sebagai satu interaksi sosial kerana dalam ayat itu Al-Quran kaitkannya dengan perbuatan bersyahwat dan “fahisyah” – sesuatu yang terlarang – sedangkan “mendatangi” dalam erti interaksi sosial sesama jenis bukan sesuatu yang dilarang sama sekali sebagaimana yang dicontohkan dalam kehidupan sosial Rasulullah s.a.w bersama para sahabat lelaki.

    Memaknakan “mendatangi” dengan erti jima’ sebagai satu kiasan sesuai dengan cara Al-Quran dalam membicarakan persoalan ini. Ia amat konsisten dengan perkataan yang digunakan juga bagi hubungan seks antara suami isteri dalam ayat 2:223.
    Sifat “fahisyah” dalam Al-Quran juga sering kali digunapakai sebagai kiasan bagi zina, iaitu seks yang terlarang.
    Bahkan perkataan jima’ yang memberi makna langsung pada perbuatan seks memang tidak digunakan sama sekali dalam Al-Quran, hatta dalam mensifatkan zina sekali pun.

    Dahsyatnya azab yang ditimpakan ke atas kaum nabi Lut juga menjadi petanda bahawa perlakuan mereka itu adalah haram danbukan hanya sesuatu yang tidak disukai sahaja (makruh).

    Berdasarkan pada hujah-hujah dan logik di atas, pengharaman seks sejenis lelaki mempunyai asas yang kuat.
    Al-Quran memang tidak menyentuh soal hubungan seks sejenis antara perempuan tetapi larangan ke atasnya dapat diqiyaskan pada larangan ke atas hubungan seks sesama lelaki kerana maksudnya yang sama.

    Ini diperkuatkan pula oleh hadis yang melarang hubungan jenis sesama perempuan.
    Dalam Islam hubungan seks hanya boleh dilakukan oleh, a) pasangan lelaki dan wanita, dan b) melalui ikatan tali perkahwinan yang sah.

    Sejumlah besar ulama berpendapat bahawa Islam juga melarang hubungan seks melalui dubur, hatta oleh pasangan suami isteri.

    Ini kerana Allah yang mencipta manusia tidak mencipta saluran dubur bagi tujuan seks. Bahkan, Islam juga melarang lelaki dan wanita untuk memuaskan nafsu seks mereka sendiri.

    Islam menganjurkan lelaki dan wanita untuk berkahwin bagi memenuhi naluri seksnya. Ini adalah cara yang lebih sesuai dengan fitrah kejadian manusia dan kehidupan yang suci. Persepsi bahawa perasaan sedemikian adalah naluri semula jadi sejak lahir adalah tidak tepat. Islam berpendapat bahawa semua bayi lahir atas fitrah yang murni. Iaitu bersih dari segala kecenderungan yang buruk.

    Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda yang bermaksud “Semua bayi dilahirkan atas fitrah. Kedua ibu bapanyalah yang menjadikannya Yahudi, Nasrani atau Majusi.” (Riwayat Al-Bukhari dan Muslim)
    Kenapa Rasulullah s.a.w tidak memasukkan menjadikannya seorang Islam juga? Kerana Islam adalah fitrah semula jadi setiap manusia. Fitrah Islam bersih dari kecenderungan sedemikian.

    Hujah Sains
    Hujah bahawa kecenderungan homoseksual adalah sesuatu yang tabii atau bersebabkan baka (gene) bukanlah satu dapatan saintifik yang konklusif. Ustaz Dr. Firdaus Yahya ada menulis satu makalah bertajuk LGBT: A Critical Study yang diterbitkan oleh Pergas dalam terbitannya Jurnal Dakwah edisi Disember 2012. Makalah ini boleh didapati melalui internet dengan membuat carian menggunakan tajuknya. Dalam makalah ini, beliau menolak melalui kajian sains sendiri akan kelemahan hujah sedemikian.

    Wallahu A`alam

    Terbitan asal: http://haniff.sg/kemusykilan-agama/islam-dan-amalan-homoseksual/