Followers

Monday, August 26, 2019

The compassionate face of Islam

MUSLIMS should welcome the announcement by Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of religious affairs, that it will be the government’s policy to promote compassionate Islam.

Actually, I believe there is only an “Islam” whose teachings are primarily compassionate, a blessing and merciful. Anyone who reads the Quran will know that it describes itself as a “healing and a mercy to those who believe” (Al Isra (17) verse 82).

In fact, the Holy Prophet Muhammad himself is described in the Quran as rahmatan lil Alamiin for the whole world and the creations (Al Anbiya (21): verse 107).

Essentially, rahmah means love or affection and is often understood to mean the love of God for mankind and His creations where He has provided everything they need to develop and live on this earth. In other words, the Quran guides mankind to understand and appreciate this rahmah through its guidance.



Dr Mujahid also pointed out the use of state resources to confront “public sins” and “private sins” to show, I believe, that any use of religious enforcement powers must be tampered with common sense and compassion.

I believe real scholars of Islam know that there is an abundance of literature that discourages the deliberate attempt to expose private sins.

For reasons which I cannot understand, Dr Mujahid has been exposed to irrelevant criticisms by some Muslim religious experts implicit within which is the assumption that he is ignorant of the discourse in these matters.


Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/columnists/through-many-windows/2018/10/14/the-compassionate-face-of-islam-it-should-never-be-the-states-role-to-merely-punish-the-offender-or#yJmObO1TVuz0wQfl.99

Debunking the modern feudal mindset

In a democracy, every citizen has equal opportunities to prosper, progress and determine the way he wants to live his life in accordance with the law. 
THERE was a period in human history where feudalism was the economic and political system in society.
Western Europe had a feudalistic system from the 8th century onwards, and during various periods in history, so did India, China, Japan, much of Asia, including Malaysia and even England.
The strong became Kings or nobles and the rest of the people were either peasants or serfs. The feudal mindset is steeped in a master-servant or lord-slave relationship. Analysing it closely, you will see that it is actually founded on economic and political strength. The wealthy and the powerful lords over the poor and weak. The master is not to be questioned or accounted for in anything, and he is held in continuous awe by the ordinary people.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/columnists/through-many-windows/2019/05/05/debunking-the-modern-feudal-mindset#jiMw83ypHFIsWbLK.99

Friday, May 3, 2019

Who does Malaysia belong to?

TO whom does Malaysia belong to may sound like a hilarious question, but do not overestimate the capacity to which the human mind is used.
Experience and observation will tell you that many of us (sometimes me included), often make a choice of not thinking about things based on facts. Instead, we form conclusions based on conjectures and other people’s uninformed opinions.
So who does Malaysia belong to?
There are many ways of approaching this question. As I often tell the audience in my talks about “thinking”, we have to understand the question first before we can even attempt to seek an answer.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/columnists/through-many-windows/2019/04/28/who-does-malaysia-belong-to/#jy0kGLLpmxOFc5XH.99