Hadi: Umno exploiting Jais-church raid to fish for vote

The second Muslim caliph Umar Al-Khattab had once visited the church in Bethlehem in Palestine at the invitation of the Bishop. When he wanted to perform prayer, the Bishop said he could do so inside the church.

Umar then replied that it was not proper for him to pray there, fearing that in future, Muslims might build a mosque and destroy the church arguing that Umar had prayed there.

Umar then prayed outside the church, and a mosque was soon built there neighbouring the church.

The above story underlined PAS president Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang’s response to the controversy surrounding the Selangor Islamic Religious Department's visit at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church, as well as the statements from UMNO leaders defending the JAIS action and claiming to defend the sanctity of Islam.

According to Hadi, the same church in the story now plays a crucial role sheltering Muslims fighters in Occupied Palestine from the Zionist security forces.

"The story took place at a time Islam was properly implemented, and this is in contrast from the kind of Islam being practised by UMNO now and in the past," said Hadi.

'Islam now governed, not governing'

Explaining further, Hadi said the British colonialists had stripped Islam from its political power which was under the past Malay-Muslim rulers, relegating it to so-called “Religious Departments" and "Islamic Councils”.

Hadi said these Islamic authorities had no power, and are like other departments including veterinary and forestry departments.

As such, Hadi said under UMNO who inherited the British policy, the role of these departments had been reduced to managing mosques, preparing sermons, religious studies, as well as handling matters pertaining to Muslim family laws.

In contrast, Hadi said during Prophet Muhammad’s era, he allowed other religions to exist peacefully within the Muslim community, and had made it critical that they be treated fairly.

“At the same time, Islam makes it compulsory for Muslims to protect Islam, which becomes a duty to Muslims and its government. But being cruel to other religious adherents is haram, to the extent that Prophet Muhammad warned Muslims who betrayed the treaties (with non-Muslims),” reminded Hadi.

Hadi said due to UMNO's policies, Islam has now become a religion which itself had to be administered, not a religion which administers. As such, Hadi said it was not surprising to see places of worship and religious activists being hauled up due to political reasons, not for the sake of Islam.

"As a result, just like churches, the mosques can also be raided, and imams can be punished for political offences, not religious offences.

"Politics has been separated from religion, just like other religions which separated politics from religion,” he added.

Exploiting Malay ignorance about Islam

In the JAIS-DUMC controversy, Hadi, who is also Marang member of parliament, said UMNO was not qualified to defend Islam as the Malay party was only interested in fishing Malay votes and exploiting their ignorance about the true teachings of Islam.

“UMNO is not qualified to defend Islam as they are not like Caliph Umar when he visited the church...

"When Umar prayed, a mosque was built. In this case, UMNO builds a mosque, not the prayers. They would discuss national agenda by abandoning their prayers, but Umar did not separate prayer from his national agenda," Hadi stressed.

Quoting the fourth Caliph, Ali Abi Talib, Hadi said UMNO's action was "outwardly noble but its goal was mischief".

"It’s only meant to fish votes from Malay-Muslims who are Qur'an-illiterate to continue the colonial agenda, allowing Islam to be 'governed'," said Hadi.

- Harakahdaily