Is this God’s law?

Whose law is this? Is this God’s law? Or is this man-made law? And if there is no specific verse in the Quran or a specific Hadith that forbids someone from preaching or talking about Islam, can we be subjected to such laws, in particular when these laws are imposed in the name of Islam and action is taken in the Islamic or Sharia court?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

MP charged with teaching Islam without credentials

(Bernama) -- Shah Alam Member of Parliament Khalid Samad was charged in the Syariah Lower Court with teaching Islam without credentials at a surau in Kapar near here in August last year.

Khalid, 54, pleaded not guilty to the offence after the charge was read out to him before Syariah Judge Norafizi Fitri Ab. Manaf.

He was charged with committing the offence at a surau in Taman Seri Sementa, Jalan Taman Seri Sementa, between 10 pm and 11.50 pm on Aug 16 last year. 

Khalid, who is also Selangor PAS deputy commissioner III, was charged under Section 119 (1) of the Selangor Islamic Law Administration Enactment which provides for a fine of up to RM3,000 or a maximum jail term of two years, or both, upon conviction.

Syariah prosecuting officer Mohd Saufi Mastorlani of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) proposed bail of RM2,500 but Norafizi allowed bail of RM1,500 in one surety and set June 7 for mention of the case. 

Khalid was represented by counsel Muhamad Burok. 

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SEE HERE: Sheikh Imran Hosein Malaysia Lecture Series

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PUBLIC LECTURE BY KAREN ARMSTRONG ON "THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN THE 21ST CENTURY"

As you may be already aware the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) together with International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) are co-organizing the above lecture on Saturday 16 June 2007, 10.00 am at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

Admission is free.

If you and your friends are interested in attending the above lecture please contact Puan Shazatul (IDFR) – Tel: 21491018 / 21491000 Email: shazatul@idfr.gov.my .

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Now let me get this right.

If you are an ex-Mufti, if you preach or talk about religion, and if you do not have a certificate to do so, you can get arrested. In fact, Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the previous Mufti of Perlis, did suffer such a fate.

If you are a Member of Parliament, in particular from the opposition, if you preach or talk about religion, and if you do not have a certificate to do so, you can get arrested. In fact, from the above report by Bernama, the Shah Alam Member of Parliament, Khalid Samad, did suffer such a fate.

 

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani 

 

Dr. Zakir Naik 

But many people, many of them international religious leaders and/or renowned scholars such as Yusuf Islam, Yusuf Estes, Sheikh Imrah Hosein, Karen Armstrong, the late Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, Dr. Zakir Naik, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, etc., have been coming to Malaysia to preach and talk about Islam. And these people did not have any certificate to do so. Yet they were not arrested, mainly because they are not members or leaders of any Malaysian opposition political party.

Are not people like ex-PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PM Najib Tun Razak, DPM Muhyiddin Yassin, MP Zul Nordin, MP Ibrahim Ali, State Assemblyman Hasan Ali, Senator Ezam Mohd Nor, and many, many more such people not also talking about religion? The list is endless. Why were these people, who also do not possess any certificate, not also arrested?

So what is the issue here? Is the issue about the absence of a certificate or is the issue really that these people are anti-Umno and anti-Barisan Nasional?

You might argue that only Malaysian citizens need a certificate. You might argue that foreigners who come to Malaysia do not need a certificate. You might argue that only those who are anti-Umno and anti-Barisan Nasional need a certificate. You might argue that this is what Malaysian laws dictate. Whatever it may be: is this what is stated in the Quran? Whatever it may be: is there a specific verse in the Quran that dictates this? Whatever it may be: is there a specific Hadith that dictates this?

Whose law is this? Is this God’s law? Or is this man-made law? And if there is no specific verse in the Quran or a specific Hadith that forbids someone from preaching or talking about Islam, can we be subjected to such laws, in particular when these laws are imposed in the name of Islam and action is taken in the Islamic orSharia court?

There is this story about Omar, the second Caliph after Prophet Muhammad, who was one day patrolling the streets of Medina when he saw a youth talking about Islam to a small group of people. Omar called the youth over and asked him to recite the verse, Fatihah. The youth did, to which Omar replied: go ahead and preach but make sure you preach only as much as you know and not more than that. Even Omar, the strictest of the Prophet’s comrades, who used to walk around with a cane and would cane offenders, allowed one to preach Islam, but not to talk beyond what knowledge one possesses.

Man invents these rules and then claim that these are God’s rules. But God never said such a thing. These are all creations of man. However, most times, man invents things and then blame God for it.

And this has been going on for thousands of years. And millions have been killed in the name of God over those thousands of years by people who claim that this is what God wants whereas God had nothing to do with these so-called rules.