JAKIM sermon to unite Muslims, not spark hatred, Islamic leader says

Members of Perkasa hold banners against Christians at the National Mosque in August 2011. — fille pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — The federal Islamic authority’s sermon last Friday was not meant to incite hatred against the Christians but to remind Muslims of the sanctity of Islam, a Muslim leader has said amid the ongoing “Allah” row.

In the sermon, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) had labelled non-Muslims who use the word “Allah” to describe their God as “enemies of Islam” and warned that this was an attempt to confuse Muslims into thinking all religions share the same God.

“Why is it lately that we are too afraid of the non-Muslims, too apologetic, and too humble when facing the non-Muslims?” Islamic Da’wah Foundation Malaysia (Yadim) founder Datuk Dusuki Ahmad was quoted as saying today by Malay-language daily Berita Harian.

“The Muslims need to believe that Islam is the highest religion, true, and accepted by Allah. Lack of confidence in JAKIM’s actions as a religious authority will split apart values and create confusion in the Muslim community,” he added.

After the sermon, several PAS leaders accused JAKIM of stoking religious hatred, an act that they called “inappropriate and irresponsible”.

But Dusuki stressed that JAKIM’s Friday sermon was more of a call towards goodness, than to foment religious hatred.

Church leaders, however, were displeased with the sermon, saying that JAKIM was blatantly inciting suspicion and intolerance between Islam and Christianity.

Last week, Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali called on Muslims to burn the Malay-language bibles that contain the word “Allah” and other religious Arabic script.

A priest lodged a police report on Tuesday in Penang over the distribution of anonymous pamphlets advertising a “festival” to burn the Malay language bibles at a field there today.

The police have called up Ibrahim, who is also the Pasir Mas MP, to record his statement, following calls by the Bar Council to charge him under the Sedition Act.

A Sabah church group said last Friday that the religious freedom of Christian Bumiputeras was under attack, pointing out that most adherents of the faith in Malaysia came from East Malaysia and use the Malay language.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday, however, refused to condemn Ibrahim’s bible-burning threat, and instead called on people to stop blowing up the issue.

The “Allah” dispute, which first erupted after the historic 2008 general election, remains a controversial topic in the run-up to this year’s polls that must be held by April.

Debate resurfaced last month after DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is also the Penang chief minister, called on Putrajaya to lift a ban on Malay-language Bibles in Borneo Malaysia.

Several state rulers and Islamic religious authorities then reminded non-Muslims of state laws banning use of the word, despite conflicting with a 2009 High Court judgment that ruled “Allah” was not exclusive to Islam.