Of Traitors And The Great Siege On Islam

JAKIM would have us believe that standing up for non-Muslim causes is an act of betrayal to Islam. I suppose fighting corruption, asking for fair and just elections, and pursuing equality for all are ‘non-Muslim” causes.

By Mohd Ikhram Merican

There is an assault on Islam, the religion. Surely and steadily, this siege is weakening the very foundations of its community. No more is Islam recognized for the enlightenment it brought to the Middle East and the world.

The likes of al-Khwarizmi, Omar Khayyam, Ibnu Sina, Jalaluddin Rumi, and al-Farabi have been relegated to the dark recesses of history, while the likes of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban flourish in the minds of the general population.

The world views Islam as a religion of intolerance, incapable of adapting, breeding paranoid zealots who are in a state of perpetual fear. Fear that “infidels” are plotting and planning the destruction of Islam. In Malaysia, we have UMNO and JAKIM to perpetuate this fear indefinitely.

Yes, there is an assault on Islam. The only problem is that the perpetrators are Muslims clothed in sheep’s fur, cleverly concealing their wolf skin. Islam has no greater enemy than this pack of wolves within, claiming to be defenders of the religion. They howl and they bark, agitating and stirring, every day finding new ways to use Islam in their own interest.

In our country, the attack on Islam is not coming from the non-Muslim opposition. It is coming from within the Muslim community.

JAKIM would have us believe that standing up for non-Muslim causes is an act of betrayal to Islam. I suppose fighting corruption, asking for fair and just elections, and pursuing equality for all are ‘non-Muslim” causes.

It is common knowledge that corruption runs rampant in our largely Muslim civil service. Stories of politicians taking “cuts” on national projects riddle everyday conversation in Malaysia. Why doesn’t this irk our Muslim clerics? The cost of corruption to us, the taxpayer (Muslims included) is immense. It stifles growth, innovation, and business. It raises the cost of doing business. It increases our national budget. It is weakening our defense. This is a matter of national security.

Yet, we are made to believe that the threat is our non-Muslim brothers, fellow citizens of Malaysia with an equal vested interest in the development of this nation. My non-Muslim Chinese and Indian friends love this country. They are not scheming and conspiring to attack Islam. They’re busy with their jobs. They’re busy worrying about the economy. They’re busy worrying about the education of their children. Attacking Islam does not fit into the agenda of the average non-Muslim living in Malaysia.

But the upper echelons of our government would like us to believe that Muslim’s who support “Non-Muslim” causes a.k.a causes not aligned to the expediency of the elite few, are traitors.

Traitors are people who botch our national security with defense systems that do not work. Traitors are people who suck on our national coffers like vampires suck blood. Traitors are people who rape, pillage, and abuse the folk that they govern. Traitors are Muslims using religion, devoid of love for the god they profess faith in, for self-fulfilling interests. Traitors are Muslims who use fear like the Sword of Damocles, to keep the rest of us scared.

Why should anyone have any respect for Muslims when Muslim leaders and organizations act like little children? They are unable to engage in intellectual discourse. Their conclusions are arbitrary and not necessarily in the spirit of Islam. They are incapable of maturity. They get angry and call for heads to roll every time they are offended. Everyone outside of Islam is the enemy. It has become a standard operating procedure; when in trouble, blame it on the non-Muslims.

This is the way of an illiterate, uncouth rabble. In no way does it represent the sophisticated religion that took the Arabs from the dark ages to enlightenment.

Should we direct our wrath at our non-Muslim brothers for the siege on Islam? Or should we train all our firepower on the intellectually bankrupt clergy and Muslim leadership? Perhaps we have no one but ourselves to blame. Plato wisely said, “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” This could be the crisis for us Muslims.