The Star (Used by permission)
IKIM VIEWS by Md. Asham Ahmad Senior Fellow Centre for the Study of Syariah, Law and Politics
Implementing hudud is a big trust and it will not appear good and convincing in the hands of those who do not possess adequate moral and intellectual integrity.
THE crux of the hudud controversy, according to blog-ger Raja Petra Kamarudin, is the fact that both sides do not understand democracy and do not respect the democratic right of someone to support or oppose what they feel they want to support or oppose.
Being a citizen of a democratic country, he emphasises that every Malaysian has a democratic right to dream about hudud and to support it, also to have nightmares about hudud and oppose it.
I think, as far as democratic right is concerned, we can agree with Raja Petra’s opinion.
The implementation of hudud law (or any law for that matter) in Malaysia remains a possibility under democracy.
It is not yet implemented because the majority of Malaysians, including the Muslims themselves do not want it.
They are simply practising their democratic right by not giving it their consent.
A good thing about democracy is that it allows for, and guarantees, freedom of speech.
Basically, anybody can make his opinion about anything known to others.
So those who want hudud can always argue their case, and those who don’t can also explain the reason for their disagreement.
What the proponents of hudud law need to do is to convince the other party that hudud law is good for the well-being of society as a whole, and that they are capable of implementing it.
When the majority is convinced that hudud is good, and that there are people in whom they can give their trust in implementing it, they will surely use their democratic right to support it and make it happen.
This is, however, not an easy feat because the very first hurdle is the fact that a great number of Muslims do not believe in Islamic law or are afraid of it because they have no idea – or have been given the wrong idea – as to what it is all about.
Some do believe in it, but they do not have confidence in those who say they can implement it; others seem so excited about it, but actually have no idea as to what it takes to make it happen.
Seen from a broader perspective, hudud is not the real problem.
It is just a form of punishment for a number of crimes mentioned in the Quran.
Only criminals and criminal wannabes, we might say, should be afraid of it.
A proper Muslim would never reject hudud per se because he knows that it is part of Islamic law and Islamic law is part of Islam.
But a proper Muslim would also not allow people who are incompetent to use hudud as rhetoric just to get into power because they are going to create a bigger disaster.
Hudud and Islamic law will not appear good and convincing in the hands of those who do not possess adequate moral and intellectual integrity.
Hence, this is a matter of giving trust (amanah) to the rightful people.
Implementing hudud is a big trust and it should not be given to just anybody.
If the ability is not yet there, the real responsibility of Muslims is to get themselves equipped with what it takes to carry out that responsibility.
So the real problem is the Muslims themselves who are as a whole, no longer good Muslims in terms of their understanding and practice of Islam so that they have become incapable of carrying out their duties and responsibilities.
As such, and as a matter of priority, what they really need today is proper education that will make them good Muslims – morally and intellectually.
It is true that the criminals among them need to be punished according to Islamic law but that is not going to happen if the majority do not believe in Islamic law or have no confidence in those who want to implement it.
So, now the crux of the matter is actually education.
Only a properly educated human being will be able to use his democratic right wisely.
He is not going to use his right to do wrong or to allow it to happen.
When we talk about education, the emphasis is on the individual, not society, and what matters most are ethics and morality, instead of politics and law.
Islamic law and political system cannot be conceived nor practised outside the framework of Islamic ethics and morality because justice actually begins with the self.
Even divine law cannot bring justice to society if left in the hands of incompetent and corrupt individuals.
A corrupt government can be brought down through the ballot box but it does not guarantee that the new government will be better than the previous one.
True reform must ultimately come from a gradual process of education that is properly conceived and implemented.
Our politicians, unfortunately, are not really interested in education.
They do not see anything grea-ter and more important than power.
They think with power any kind of reform can be done, hence their first concern over anything else is to be powerful.
Today, even the so-called ulama are thinking along that line.
Because of that, they make politics their highest priority in life – at the expense of all other concerns, particularly the education of Muslims.
They don’t realise, due to their excessive preoccupation with power politics, that Muslim education is steadily deteriorating, resulting in widespread ignorance and confusion.
They also do not realise that day by day Muslims are becoming more and more detached from the world view of Islam due to the introduction and rapid dissemination of the Western way of thinking and living through the system of education.
In such a condition, it is impossible to expect Muslims to use their democratic right wisely for the sake of Islam.
The leaders of Muslims should be wise enough in identifying problems besetting the ummah, and to be able to rank them in order of priority.
Tackling a wrong problem at the wrong time will lead Muslims nowhere but to further confusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment