Some Interesting Issues Raised by the Asri case

By Marina Mahathir,

My blogbro Rapera has brought up some very interesting issues related to the Asri case here. Indeed, it affects more than just Dr. Asri.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Professionals Forum/Islamic Renaissance Front have come out with this statement which I happen to think is an excellent one:

2009-11-05

The arrest of former Perlis Mufti, Dr Asri Zainul Abidin by officials of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) at a private function in a residential area on November 1 brings into question again the intellectual freedom in Malaysia, vis-à-vis Islam.

The excuse given by JAIS that Dr Asri did not have the religious credentials from JAIS to teach Islam runs counter to the spirit of intellectual freedom in the history of Islam. It also gives ammunition to JAIS’s detractors and critics over the years that the Department is nothing more than a tool of a small group of religious scholars who are bent on imposing their views on others. By raiding a religious talk by someone who was once a government Mufti, and who, to say the least, has the necessary academic qualifications to explain Islamic beliefs, JAIS has only shown that it is ill-equipped to take on its critics on an intellectual platform, and has to resort to high-handed tactics.

We also regret that certain quarters have been too liberal in labeling and branding Muslim scholars on the basis of their opinions, with a view to disparage the person instead of countering their opinions with proofs and arguments based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. By invoking the age-old argument of protecting the Muslim community in Malaysia from confusion, these groups have exposed their inability to grasp the spirit of Islam and have only created a hole for them to hide into every time they are intellectually challenged.

If one were to look back into history, the reason the Islamic world flourished during the earlier period was an early emphasis on “freedom of speech”, as summarized by al-Hashimi (a cousin of Caliph al-Ma’mun) in the following letter to one of the religious opponents he was attempting to convert through reason:

"Bring forward all the arguments you wish and say whatever you please and speak your mind freely. Now that you are safe and free to say whatever you please, appoint some arbitrator who will impartially judge between us and lean only towards the truth and be free from the slyness of passion and that arbitrator shall be Reason, whereby God makes us responsible for our own rewards and punishments. Herein I have dealt justly with you and have given you full security and am ready to accept whatever decision Reason may give for me or against me. For "There shall be no coercion in matters of faith" [2: 256] and I have only invited you to accept our faith willingly and of your own accord and have pointed out the hideousness of your present belief. Peace be with you and the blessings of God!"

Every person has the right, guaranteed by the Qur’an, to freely follow and express his convictions, irrespective of whether he is right or wrong. By emphasizing people’s right to follow their conviction, the Qur’an reiterates a long standing position, which it traces back to one of the earliest known Prophets, Noah: “Said [Noah]: O my people! What do you think? If [it be true that] I am taking my stand on a clear evidence from my Sustainer, who has vouched safe unto me grace from himself – [a revelation] to which you have remained blind – [if this be true] can we force it on you even though it be hateful to you? [11:28]

Muslim Professionals Forum and Islamic Renaissance Front call upon JAIS to be sincere in discharging their duties as protectors of faith. Otherwise, JAIS will be just another among a long list of official institutions that need to be thoroughly revamped in order for Islam to reclaim its rightful status as a religion of reason and knowledge. We also call upon Muslim groups to respect the right to dissent and to uphold freedom of expression, and to argue based on wisdom and not on hearsay or personal attacks, as it is the only Islamic way of dealing with issues affecting the Ummah.

Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa

Dr Sheik Johari Bux

Manan Razali

Dr Mazeni Alwi

Dr Musa Nordin

Dr Jeffrey Hassan

Ali Ghazali

I congratulate MPF for this statement.

Meanwhile, Sisters in Islam issued this statement yesterday:

Media Statement SIS assisting police investigation on the Kartika issue

Two representatives from Sisters in Islam (SIS) gave their statement to Bukit Aman today in respect of a police report lodged against SIS in Kuantan on the Kartika issue.
SIS Executive Director Hamidah Marican and SIS board member Zainah Anwar were called in to give their statements for an investigation under Section 4(i)(a) of the Sedition Act (1948) by the Criminal Investigation Department at 10.35am.
The two, accompanied by lawyers Amer Hamzah Arshad, Edmund Bon Tai Soon and Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, spent almost two hours giving their statement at CID's Legal Prosecution Division (D5), Bukit Aman.
The police have also asked that SIS programme manager Mas Elati Samani give her statement at later date.
According to media reports, 14 non-governmental organisations in Pahang, in referring to a Sinar Harian report of a press conference held on Sept 30, 2009, urged the authorities to punish those who questioned Kartika's caning sentence.
SIS hopes that after recording these statements, the police will recommend that no further action be taken against the organisation.
We would like to reiterate that within the framework of a democratic society, there must be an open, responsible, rational and respectful dialogue on Islam and its impact on our lives, both private and public.
SIS believes that freedom of expression is a universal value guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and upheld by the teachings of Islam.

Sisters in Islam
Nov 4, 2009

I sure hope that, since both SIS and MPF stand for the same principles and given that the NGOs that issued a memo against Dr Asri are the same ones who have lodged police reports against SIS, MPF will also issue a statement of support for SIS.