Us Versus Them

A little bit about Islam, the Quran and religion again today. Again Islam must be synonymous with the Quran. Religion however need not necessarily have anything to do with the Quran.

In the Quran there is a surah or chapter called 'The Hypocrites' or Al Munafiqoon. It is Surah No. 63. The very first verse of Surah Munafiqoon says :

63:1 'When the hypocrites come to you they say, "We bear witness that you are the messenger of GOD."* GOD knows that you are His messenger, and GOD bears witness that the hypocrites are liars.'

The arabic is very interesting. Here it is in transliteration : Izaa jaa-aka al munafiqoona qaloo "Nash-hadu innaka la rasoolu Allah". Wallaahu ya'lamu innaka la rasooluhu. Wallaahu yash-hadu inna al munafiqeena lakaziboon.

So the hypocrites will even use their oaths (the things by which they swear) to lie and cheat. That is the nature of hypocrisy. I am not calling anyone in particular a hypocrite ok. This is a description found in the Quan.

Now here is a comment that was sent in by a reader into my Blog last week. I found this comment to be quite disturbing. The comment seems genuine enough.

Al said...As Salam ... just to bring this story to everyone here - from Op Ed's blog ...

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Cerita pelik Malaysia

Masjid di Taman Tun.

Di sebuah masjid di kawasan orang kaya ni, ada orang kat situ meninggal. Lalu keluarganya nak bawa ke masjid nak disolatkan buat kali terakhir. Tentu sedih ayah, suami, abang kita dah meninggal. Yang peliknya: Jawatankuasa masjid kata tak boleh sembahyang mayat utk beliau di situ! Kamu bukan kariah masjid, tak pernah nampak sembahyang kat sini semasa hidup, dah mati tak boleh bawa ke sini. Dan saya dengar, masjid itu juga tidak menerima derma jika kamu bukan kariah kat situ. Mereka tak akan terima.

Is this what we Malaysian are becoming?? Ya ampun ....

Monday, April 09, 2012 4:30:00 PM

Fuiyyo. A masjid refusing to perform funeral rites for a Muslim. Folks I am not surprised at all with this story. Please read my books that I wrote beginning 2005, please read my Blog that is now four years old, please read my newspaper columns from the 1990s and early 2000. This is religion.

I have also seen the community buka puasa (buka puasa beramai-ramai) that has now become quite common among the masjid and surau people in Kuala Lumpur. The congregation members from around the local masjid or surau organise buka puasa among themselves. This is perhaps a good way to network and make friends among neighbours. But I have noticed that 'non residents' or people who are not from their congregation are sometimes not as welcome. They get stares or the cold treatment if people do not know them.

I think this is also what is happening in that masjid in Taman Tun - as per the reader's comments above.

This means that the masjid and surau have become another "us versus them" extension of religion. By its very nature, religion has to be an "us versus them" thing. As usual the overly religiously inclined people in Kuala Lumpur are using their suraus and mosques to create more divisions in society.

And lo and behold, the Quran does have a verse which advises us to be careful about falling into this type of situation. Here is good advice from the Quran : .

[9:107] There are those who abuse the masjid by practicing idol worship, dividing the believers, and providing comfort to those who oppose Allah and His messenger. They solemnly swear: "Our intentions are honorable!" Allah bears witness that they are liars.

[9:108] You shall never stand in such a masjid. A masjid that is established on the basis of righteousness from the first day is more worthy of you standing therein. In it, there are people who love to be purified. Allah loves those who purify themselves."

So we must not use the masjid or the surau to divide people OR to create hatreds among our society. Those who do this are actually opposing Allah and His messenger.

Is it too late? Is this wishful thinking? Now consider this : from the comment by the reader above, it appears that the masjid is already being used to differentiate among Muslims.

What more then the attitude against non-Muslims and other people? Do you think a masjid that even differentiates among Muslims themselves will encourage its congregation (qariah) to show neighbourliness and kindness towards non-Muslims? I dont think so.

I dont know if you agree with this or not but the only Judeo-Christian religion that does not seem to have this "us versus them" attitude is modern day 21st century Christianity (not counting the Catholic - Protestant thing in northern Ireland or the 16th centruy burning at the stake). Attend any Christian "fellowship" gathering here and they almost hug and kiss you immediately. And the food is served in buckets - they even have halal caterers.

I attended a Buddhist gathering once and they too are super cool towards other human beings. The Buddhists are really cool about many things. On another occasion I attended a gathering of Hindu people - it was a memorial gathering for someone who had died earlier - vegetarian food only. There too some people seemed not too comfortable when non-Hindus (especially a Muslim like me) were present. Maybe the Hindus and some of these masjid people can get together and exchange notes about "us versus them". Kepala otak depa lebih kurang sama.

Now if you believe that you are special or different because of your religion, that you are 'chosen' by whatever gods that you worship, that somehow you will achieve your idea of bliss to the exclusion of all other people, and therefore you are special, well the Quran has some advice for you.

62:6 Say, "O you who are Jewish (hadoo), if you claim that you are GOD's chosen, to the exclusion of all other people, then you should long for death if you are truthful!"

This was the mistake made by another group of people (they are called the hadoo which for some reason is translated as Jewish). They said they were 'god's chosen to the exclusion of all other people'. The Quran says that if you think like this, then you should just long for death. Just drop dead and be on your way to meet up with your god who you think has chosen you. The sooner the better. Why waste time hanging around the earth with all the other riff raff human beings? Just drop dead and be gone.

I was motivated to blog this today because a young woman we know is getting married. The procedures to get married for Muslim couples, especially in the Klang Valley, are becoming quite insane.

Now she has to get a 'surat kebenaran' from the masjid in her area before she can get married. Her tunang must get the same 'surat kebenaran' too from a masjid in his area. Why?

There is no such thing in the Quran. I think there was no such thing in Malaysia from the 7th to the 20th century either.

There is no such thing in Egypt, Pakistan, Libya or Morocco (I am quite sure). These are just silly rules designed to make people's lives more difficult in Malaysia. Now people have to go and kow tow at the masjid before they can get married.

It took a few days for the girl to get these 'surat kebenaran'. She had to take leave from her work. So did her tunang (fiancee). Then she was given the usual run around - the pegawai masjid was not in, the chop in the masjid could not be found and all the other crap. It took two days for her just to get the 'surat kebenaran' alone.

Then only after she had the surat kebenaran from the masjid, she could go to the nearest Jabatan Agama to get the actual 'surat untuk bernikah'. And that took even more time.

And the Jabatan Agama even disputed the addresses and the procedure which had been okayed by the masjid.

Here is the situation. If the address at which you live is NOT the same as your IC, the Jabatan Agama can demand that you bring the Quit Rent receipt to show that you actually live there. So if you live in a rented house, you must go and see your Landlord and get a copy of the Quit Rent receipt. Kalau tidak, tak boleh kahwin. This is what the young woman told me. All this just to get married? How do the Hindus, Chinese, Buddhists, Christians get married? Why is their life so much less difficult than the Muslims?

I dont know why the Muslims just love to make life so difficult for themselves. Then the procedure is also made more difficult for the boys. The young woman's tunang had to prove that he was a bachelor or bujang. (This must be a joke. Then how do so many people marry two, three and four wives?) Anyway the tunang fellow had to get a letter from his employer saying that he was a bujang.

I asked, 'Macam mana kalau majikan dia bukan Islam? Katakan majikan dia China" will the Jabatan Agama or the masjid still accept a letter from a bukan Islam saying that one of their employees was bujang? It seems that they do.

What if the majikan refused to give such a letter? (Because how is the majikan going to know how many secret wives, girlfriends, mistresses and illegitimate children a fellow has or may have?) If any of my staff comes to me asking for a letter stating that they are bujang, how am I to know if they are telling the truth or not? What happens if the majikan provides such a letter and later it turns out that the fellow was not bujang? Majikan kena hudud law ke?

And what about the fellows who are unemployed? Or they are self employed or running their own businesses? Who is going to certify that they are bujang?

All these unthinking silly rules just makes life more difficult for the Muslims. Nak kahwin pun bukan sikit punya susah. It also makes Little Napoleon's out of the fellows at the masjid and the Jabatan Agama.

And despite all this crap, somehow I think the big shots and the VIPs do not suffer these inconveniences at all. They can still kahwin dua, kahwin tiga, kahwin Siam, kahwin lari and all sorts of other kahwins without too much fuss. Only the ordinary people seem to suffer all this bullying.

The young couple also has to attend the kursus kahwin. The kursus kahwin costs RM80.00. It lasts two days and is a total waste of time. About the kursus kahwin the young woman told me, 'takde ape pun, dia bercakap melawak saja'.

The kursus kahwin is just another AP type mechanism to give the ustaz kursus kahwin some means to earn money. (Remember : no money no religion). It is very lucrative. If there are 10 people in a two day kursus kahwin, that is RM800.00 already or about RM10,000 per month. A total waste of money.

People are getting ripped off. But other than OutSyed The Box, no one says anything against the kursus kahwin. The religious people are doing this - so it must be a good thing.

No one can explain why despite the two day, RM80.00 kursus kahwin the divorce rates among Malays is still increasing, the ibu tunggal situation is worsening, and the 'suami lari' numbers are also increasing. The kursus kahwin has not helped the situation at all. It is just another mechanism to make money. No money no religion.

Folks, while we are sleeping soundly, this is what is happening around other neighborhoods. People are using the mosques and suraus to create silly 'us versus them' hatreds even among Muslims. Life is being made more difficult for young couples by the Little Napoleons sitting in the mosques and the Jabatan Agamas.

This seems to be the fate of the Muslims. This is the Club of Doom. They will shackle themselves and choke themselves. They do not need enemies.

To conclude here is a funny cartoon about a Salafi and a Wahabi. This is a just a funny cartoon ok. I found it on You Tube which is available via the Internet in Malaysia. (Jadi kalau nak tangkap sesiapa pi tangkap Streamyx ke, Jaring ke, MCMC ke, because these are the folks who bring the Internet into Malaysia, bukan saya ok).

The funny cartoon is quite representative of the typical 'holier than thou' Muslims that we have today. They all think they are the 'chosen ones to the exclusion of all other people'.