The value of a Muslim oath

The Malays/Muslims have just reduced the value of a Muslim oath to zero value. Can we any longer trust Malays/Muslims when they swear an oath in the name of Allah while holding a Qur’an? No wonder Malays/Muslims swear an oath of office and as soon as they are in office they resort to corruption and abuse of power and violate the trust the people have put in them.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

This is the photograph that Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail showed during the press conference that she held regarding Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s sodomy allegation against Anwar Ibrahim. When the press asked Wan Azizah where she got the photograph from, she pointed to me standing at the back of the hall and told the reports to ask Raja Petra.

The reporters then rushed up to me to ask me my comments and I just smiled and responded with a ‘no comment’. I just love keeping some things a mystery – such as from where I got that photograph.

At first Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s office denied the photograph and also denied that Saiful had ever been to meet the Prime Minister. Later, when I said that I have evidence that Saiful did visit Najib’s office, they did a U-turn and admitted that he did go to Najibs office after all but merely to discuss a scholarship.

Hence allow me to gloat by saying that Malaysia Today broke the story first and even revealed the photograph.

But that is not the point of my article today. What I really want to talk about is that Malays (meaning Muslims as well) pride themselves on the sanctity of the Qur’an and the value of an oath of a Muslim.

In fact, in Surah An Nur (chapter 24) of the Qur’an, it stresses that in any allegation involving sexual misconduct (where the sentence is stoning to death just like the old Jewish laws) your oath can determine whether a person is put to death or is spared death.

In other words, another person’s oath can result in you being put to death (by many people throwing stones at you) and/or your oath can spare you the terrible fate of being put to death (by many people throwing stones at you). So an oath is not a light thing. It is the difference between life and death.

And this is what Saiful had done -- he had taken an oath -- and also what Najib had done regarding his alleged involvement with Altantuya Shaariibuu -- he had also taken an oath that he had never met her or even knows her.

Today, Malaysians have learned that an oath of a Muslim has no value after all. An oath of a Muslim -- even when taken with a Qur’an over his/her head -- is as valuable as Japanese ‘banana money’.

After this can we ever accept the oath of a Malay/Muslim? It appears like the oath of a Muslim, the most sacred word that a Muslim can ever give, is not worth the paper it is written on (pun intended).

The Malays/Muslims need to ponder on this. If from now on the non-Muslims mock a Muslim who swears in the name of Allah regarding this, that or the other, the Malays/Muslims should not feel offended and start making police reports that so-and-so has insulted Islam and threaten bloodshed and all that bullshit.

The Malays/Muslims have just reduced the value of a Muslim oath to zero value. Can we any longer trust Malays/Muslims when they swear an oath in the name of Allah while holding a Qur’an? No wonder Malays/Muslims swear an oath of office and as soon as they are in office they resort to corruption and abuse of power and violate the trust the people have put in them.

In short, Malays/Muslims cannot be trusted because the sacred oath of a Malay/Muslim is totally worthless. And a human whose sacred oath is worthless is lower than an animal. Are Muslims lower than animals then?

Yes, and trust me, after writing this article I have just closed the door to ever returning to Malaysia never mind whether Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional wins the coming general election.

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P.S.: By the way, I am inviting volunteers from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to become sub-editors of Malaysia Today -- at least for now until the coming general election. Your job will be to update/publish news items or articles every day, say about half a dozen or so a day per person.

The reason I am inviting volunteers from both sides of the political divide is so that we can get balanced reporting and views. Definitely the pro-Barisan people will publish pro-government items while the pro-Pakatan people will publish anti-government items. (You have absolute autonomy and can also write your own articles if you want to).

I will need you to verify your identity and political affiliation, of course, and if you respond fast enough maybe we can arrange a face-to-face meeting some time next week in a secret location in the Malaysian jungle to get the ball rolling. (So be prepared to ‘disappear’ for a whole day next week).

If you want Malaysia Today to be more balanced then this is your opportunity to do that. I am prepared to turnMalaysia Today into a ‘public-owned’ Blog and allow you to determine what gets published in Malaysia Today. Then you have no reason to say that Malaysia Today is biased. We want to be as balanced as we can but then you must help make this possible.

Any takers? You can contact me at petra_kamarudin@airpost.net