M. Bakri Musa
With Ramadan soon upon us, Muslims everywhere are caught up in a
heightened sense of spirituality. That is the good news.
Take last Thursday evening, for example. The <?xml:namespace
prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />San
Jose, California, masjid was inundated with believers staying late into
the night. It was the 15th of Shaaban, an especially blessed time in the
Muslim calendar. Shaaban is the month before Ramadan, and serves as a
'warm-up' to it. As my Imam Ilyas noted wryly in his Friday khutba, what
struck him was that many that evening had never before set foot on the
premises. That is the bad news.
Malays too are struck by this wave of religious fervor with
the impending arrival of Ramadan. Thus the recent local governmental
agency raid on a 7-Eleven store in Selangor, stripping the store of its
beer inventory. Never mind that the store had been selling that beverage
for decades without any harassment from the authorities.
Then there was UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin calling on
his PAS counterpart to 'unite' against DAP (and thus Pakatan) for
allegedly 'insulting' Islam. Not to be outdone, Khir Toyo, a fellow
'fighter' in UMNO Youth, chided PAS for not standing up to the Pakatan
state government's 'insulting' Islam by ordering the beer loot be
returned to the store.
It turned out that the local agency had no authority to
conduct such a raid. Alas, observing the niceties of the law has never
been a strong point with these Malaysian jihadist wannabes.
Our Malaysian jihadists may consider themselves 'modern' and
of a different breed. After all Khairy has been to Oxford while Khir is
a trained dentist. Alas they are 'modern' only in their outward
appearances, what with their fancy suits and palatial bungalows. In
mindset and attitude however, they are no different from those
madrasah-educated, disheveled bearded Talibans dwelling high in the caves
of Afghanistan.
More to the point, I am not all assured that these overzealous
'defenders' of Islam are doing our faith any favor. On the contrary,
these fraudulent defenders of our faith are smearing the image of Islam.
As my Imam Ilyas rightly pointed out on noting the large crowd
at the masjid on the evening of 15th Shaaban, while he was pleased with
the turnout he gently reminded us that it is far more important to do the
many little "good" gestures required of us by our faith all the time than
be focused on doing the spectacular ultra religious deeds during Ramadan.
For example, it is much more important to be generous
throughout the year rather than making a highly publicized generous
donation during Ramadan. On another level, there is no point for us to
live a life of vice and corruption and then once a year undertake a Hajj
or umrah in an attempt to 'cleanse' ourselves.
If the average citizen could see through the hollowness of
such 'pious' gestures, rest assured that Almighty Allah would have
minimal difficulty figuring out the hoax.
The late Zakaria Mat Deros, a former railway guard turned
fabulously wealthy politician with the obscenely ostentatious bungalow
squatting amidst the squalor of the Malay kampong in Port Kelang, was a
prime example. He was accompanied on one of his frequent umrahs by no
less than the head of Islam Hadhari, then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
I wish that characters like Mat Deros were the exception;
unfortunately they are the norm. Consider that self-admitted adulterer
Razak Baginda. Not only did he try to cleanse himself religiously by
visiting (yes, 'visiting' is the appropriate term) Mecca, he went on to
'purify' himself by going to Oxford. Presumably he thinks that a
doctorate from that august institution would purify him in the eyes of
the secular crowd.
I wonder how Razak Baginda felt when he undertook his umrah
knowing that a young girl his daughter's age was blown up to smithereens
as a consequence of his philandering. Did he offer any prayers for the
soul of his former lover and for her still grieving family? Charity and
generosity after all are one of the pillars of our faith.
These Malays should heed the advice of my young but wise Imam.
They should instead focus on being 'good' in their every day existence
instead of trying to display their piety in dramatic ways during special
occasions.
The central injunction of our Quran – Amal makruf, Nahi
mungkar (Command good, forbid evil) – should be our daily creed.
Frequent trips to Mecca, glamorous iftar parties during Ramadan, and
having a surau as part of your palatial mansion will not make up for your
ignoring this elemental and recurring Quranic refrain.
I wish that Khairy Jamaluddin and Khir Toyo, being young and
the future leaders of UMNO, as well as others would address the gross
injustices perpetrated on our citizens, the corruption that is infesting
our society, and the poverty that blights far too many Malaysians,
instead of being unnecessarily obsessed with 7-Eleven stores selling
beer. In the same vein I do not see Khairy, Khir and others of their ilk
being outraged at UMNO stalwarts serving on the boards of Carlsberg and
the Genting casino company.
The pair's selective outrage baffles me. Or stated
differently, I, like others, readily see through their hoax.
There is nothing Islamic about a society infested with
corruption, dehumanized by poverty, and riddled with injustices. It
would be the height of hypocrisy, and mock our great faith to boot, for
Khairy and Khir Toyo to claim the mantle of Islamic leadership if they
are a part of the state apparatus that allows these evils to continue.
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