Will the true jihad please rise?

By Haris Ibrahim,

Jihad, unless I’m mistaken, means to ’struggle’.

The first struggle in Islam, as I understand it, is against one’s own self.

To overcome the ego, so that what is left is the fullest outpouring of the God-planted propensity in all of us to love.

YB Ibrahim Ali and his friends from Malay NGO Perkasa have a different take on jihad.

In the name of jihad, as reported in Staronline, they have decided to take up the defence of the ‘cow head’ protestors who were charged with sedition and unlawful assembly yesterday.

Quoting Ibrahim from that Staronline report : “We are not doing this as a publicity stunt or political mileage but for the sake of the Ummah (the community of believers) and to defend Allah’s religion,”“.

Is Allah’s religion under siege by the charging of these protestors, or were the antics of these protestors after Friday prayers almost two weeks ago an affront to the way of life ordained in Islam?

Was Islam vindicated by the charges preferred in the Shah Alam courts yesterday, or exalted by the the conduct of the six protestors who were charged with sedition yesterday?

Ibrahim and his friends plan to go on a donation drive to raise funds for the defence of the twelve charged.

Herein lies the real mischief of what Ibrahim and his friends plan to do and, it would seem, the long-term objective of the protest on 28th August.

In the course of the donation drive, they will seize the opportunity to work up the sentiments of the Malays with the same rhetoric that we saw on display at the protest when the head of the cow was mishandled.

Ibrahim has already given a hint of things to come when, as reported by Staronline, he is reported to have “criticised those in power, accusing them of being cowards for not protecting the religion”.

What they will portray to the average unsuspecting Malay / Muslim is that the acts of the six now charged with sedition was an act of jihad, in the struggle to defend Islam.

This is the furthest from the truth.

In this sense, the efforts of Ibrahim and his friends must be seen as a continuation of the hidden agenda of that protest and the several incidences that have occurred in Selangor in recent times.

PAS and others must rise now to put a stop to this lie.

Tok Guru Nik Aziz, much respected amonst the Muslim community, must be enlisted to counter this lie.

Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia (JIM) must forget about their signature campaign against Jeff Ooi. They have a bigger battle on their hands. They must go to the ground and tell the Muslims the truth about that ugly incident and the real agenda of the same and that of the effort of Ibrahim and his friends.

Pembela must do likewise.