Rilek1Corner

Tag: Mufti Ismail Menk

  • Hazrul A. Jamari: Authorities Must Take More Nuanced Approach Or Lose Goodwill Of Muslim Community, Organisers Must Be More Accountable

    Hazrul A. Jamari: Authorities Must Take More Nuanced Approach Or Lose Goodwill Of Muslim Community, Organisers Must Be More Accountable

    There are many sides to a story. We are ultimately responsible to weed out the lies and half truths so that we can get to the bottom of things. Here are my opinions of the saga that has captured the Muslim community lately.

    1. Adab is paramount. Even if one disagrees, a certain level of decorum is expected among Muslims.

    2. Regardless of whatever sources of truth, the ultimate standard is never to takfir any person who is a Muslim. In this respect I find the group of asatizahs and Muslims who are anti-Wahabbi guilty of the very things some of the extremists are guilty of. To use Islamic text as an excuse to perform takfir on another set of Muslims. This ultimately creates unrest and division.

    3. Whether or not Wahabbi ideology is correct is a discussion for another day. What’s important is has the Islamic personality admitted he is one? Assuming that Wahabbi ideology is bad or evil, if it is, has he preached any evil?

    4. There must be a distinction between a Salafi and a Wahabbi. A Salafi considers being called Wahabbi derogatory. Salafis according to anthropological opinion are made up of purists, politically activists and jihadists, the first two completely disagreeing with the jihadists. The jihadists are in fact in the minority. Whereas Salafi purists preach good and peace and are apolitical or politically passive compared to the other types. I am in the opinion Mufti Menk, if he is a Salafi, falls under the purists category. He has preached nothing but peace.

    5. Definitely we must root out extremism in our society. But must the targets be indiscriminate? I think this is the mistake by the security apparatus to perceive a speaker of ultimate credentials and popularity as a security threat. Without actual hard proofs a ban on the personality is counter-productive to the good will between the state and the Muslim population. It creates distrust between them and is likely to influence perceptions that the state mistrusts the Muslim population and would prefer to exercise control and dictate the kind of Muslims that we should be.

    6. Organizers of such religious talks must be held into higher accountability. They should not market or advertise if they have not secured a license and even if they do, they need to be transparent with what steps they did. For example, assuming that it was necessary to market the conference without a confirmation of the license, the Organiser must be upfront with the public that the license is being applied and the availability of the personality is pending the approval of such licenses. Otherwise, even if the organizers are well meaning and have good credibility, as long as they were not transparent from the point of marketing to sale, people will likely express their disappointment. As they say, you can take ages to build credibility. But it takes only seconds to lose it.

     

    Source: Hazrul A. Jamari

  • Syed Danial – Parable Of The Bull And Muslim Unity

    Syed Danial – Parable Of The Bull And Muslim Unity

    Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

    Parable of the bull n Muslim Unity
    ————————-////————

    With regards to the recent sorry episode, Muslims can learn from an ancient Arab parable. Will inshaAllah make this as brief as poss. I beg your indulgence as the parable is central to the lessons for us going forward.

    Once there was three black Bulls n a white one living in an open field surrounded by thick jungle where many wolves reside. Though life was difficult, they managed to keep themselves safe from the wolves by protecting each other n having each other’s backs.

    One day the three black Bulls had a mtg. They said the white bull is problematic for them. Because he’s white he’s easy target for the wolves at night. As such we keep on having to protect him. So they decided to have nothing to do with the black bull.

    That same night, the wolves attacked. They found it different fr previous nights. Less unity. They quickly figured out the white bull was boycotted. So they ganged up and attacked the lone white bull. Pretty soon they managed to overpower it, leading to its demise and a meal for the wolves.

    The next night the wolves returned. Now there’s only three Bulls left. Although they put up strong resistance after several hours of struggle one of the Bulls fell and the wolves managed to devour it.

    The following night only two Bulls remained. Though they put up a valiant fight they were exhausted soon after. One bull fell fr sheer exhaustion n the wolves pounced to devour him.

    The next night there was only one bull left. It was an easy matter for the wolves. Before he met his violent end, the bull made a statement we all can learn from. He said , “I didn’t die today. I died the day when I allowed the White bull to die and did nothing to protect him.”

    Bros n sis we need to learn from this wise parable. The Bulls represent us Muslims as a community. The wolves represent Shaitaan. We may have differences among ourselves. Oftentimes Shaitaan amplifies these differences. To an extent we consider the one outside our jemaah as the enemy. Some wayward individuals even see it fit to collaborate with outside forces in order to hurt the ‘other side’. And celebrate when we see the ‘other side’ being persecuted by forces outside our ranks.

    The thing is the one that benefits is Shaitaan. And we must realise Shaitaan’s appetite is vociferous. Today we celebrate when their sheikh is attacked. Tomorrow our sheikh will be next. And then us and our families. Because Shaitaan will not rest until all of bani Adam is thrown into the hellfire.

    So going forward we really need to wisen up. We are Muslims. In certain issues that does not reach core Aqeedah, we can have differences. We are One Ummah. It doesn’t mean we are carbon copies of one another. We can hold differing views.

    But our stance is that if Shaitaan attacks one of us he’s attacking all of us. We should then close ranks and defend the right of our fellow Muslim.

    Instead of feeding more fuel to the flame n stand back gleefully when the ‘other side’ is being devoured by Shaitaan.

    Final word. And this is a reminder for me first n foremost. We should all watch our rhetoric. Some words come loaded with venom. These are meant primarily to label n vilify.

    Moving forward I tell myself first and then remind my bros n sis to cool down the rhetoric. Avoid words and actions that drive a wedge between us.

    We are Muslim brothers. We may have differences.

    But we are one Ummah.

    Wallahualam.

    Pl share if u find this beneficial.

     

    Source: Syed Danial