“The question of Islam will remain with us for the years to come. The first condition that has to be met when dealing with this phenomenon is to approach it not with hate, but with intelligence.”
-Reflection on Iranian Revolution, Michel Foucault
The abysmal condition of state-religious institutions in Malaysia has reached its zenith of conundrums. It has been clearly noted that the imposition of religious bans on petty issues such as pageantry competitions and shisha (as made by the recent fatwa edicts) reflect the stagnant discourse on Islam itself.
While meddling with such issues, we often fail to address that there are many pressing contours that allude immediate concern from the authorities. The Muslim world, particularly in Malaysia at the outset, forays into a realm of 'intellectual backwardness'.
A failure to understand the 'universal' language of Islam that speaks in a common framework of human rights and universalism would entail a narrow state of discourse. Hence, the discourse streams in a same antiquated cycle, which is condescending and regressing in its form.
Meanwhile, the precarious substance of religious edicts encapsulates the regressive nature of our society, which is in a dire need to reform and to move beyond religious conservatism which plagues our society.
As paraphrased by Abdul Aziz Sachedina in his thought-provoking book, Roots of Democratic Pluralism (2001), he accentuates that Islamic discourse is retrospectively trapped in a homogenous continuum of classical jurisdiction without acknowledging the fact that Islam echoes the spirit of renewal of thought, as it suits with the future challenges of modernity.
His extensive critique came from numerous sources of the reformists for the likes of Sayyid Jamaluddin Al-Afghani and his close associate, Muhammad Abduh.
Where’s the diversity in Islam?
In an interview with a prominent Indonesian intellect, Azyumardi Azra that was published by JalanTelawi.com - he expounded on why the Islamic discourse in Malaysia has come to a halt and why it keeps revolving around the same contention for decades, because it was prior to the nature of religious debate in Malaysia, which is dominated by power politics of the religious clerics.
Islam, on the other hand should be discussed in openly and intellectually without any fear. It is certainly not unique, as in the case of Malaysia.
It is a common prevalence among 'Islamic countries' that tend to impose a strict yet homogenous Shariah regulation by law, without considering diverse opinions found embedded in a classical tradition of Islamic jurisprudence.
The monotonous understanding of the Shariah law has impelled the conservative Muslims to embrace their own version of Islam, and has later contributed to a sense of mediocrity in most Islamic discourse.
We see that Muslim activities have arrived at an impasse.
The abysmal condition of state-religious institutions in Malaysia has reached its zenith of conundrums. It has been clearly noted that the imposition of religious bans on petty issues such as pageantry competitions and shisha (as made by the recent fatwa edicts) reflect the stagnant discourse on Islam itself.
While meddling with such issues, we often fail to address that there are many pressing contours that allude immediate concern from the authorities. The Muslim world, particularly in Malaysia at the outset, forays into a realm of 'intellectual backwardness'.A failure to understand the 'universal' language of Islam that speaks in a common framework of human rights and universalism would entail a narrow state of discourse. Hence, the discourse streams in a same antiquated cycle, which is condescending and regressing in its form.
Meanwhile, the precarious substance of religious edicts encapsulates the regressive nature of our society, which is in a dire need to reform and to move beyond religious conservatism which plagues our society.
As paraphrased by Abdul Aziz Sachedina in his thought-provoking book, Roots of Democratic Pluralism (2001), he accentuates that Islamic discourse is retrospectively trapped in a homogenous continuum of classical jurisdiction without acknowledging the fact that Islam echoes the spirit of renewal of thought, as it suits with the future challenges of modernity.
His extensive critique came from numerous sources of the reformists for the likes of Sayyid Jamaluddin Al-Afghani and his close associate, Muhammad Abduh.
Where’s the diversity in Islam?
In an interview with a prominent Indonesian intellect, Azyumardi Azra that was published by JalanTelawi.com - he expounded on why the Islamic discourse in Malaysia has come to a halt and why it keeps revolving around the same contention for decades, because it was prior to the nature of religious debate in Malaysia, which is dominated by power politics of the religious clerics.
Islam, on the other hand should be discussed in openly and intellectually without any fear. It is certainly not unique, as in the case of Malaysia. It is a common prevalence among 'Islamic countries' that tend to impose a strict yet homogenous Shariah regulation by law, without considering diverse opinions found embedded in a classical tradition of Islamic jurisprudence.
The monotonous understanding of the Shariah law has impelled the conservative Muslims to embrace their own version of Islam, and has later contributed to a sense of mediocrity in most Islamic discourse.
We see that Muslim activities have arrived at an impasse.
It is obvious from the Islamisation project, thanks to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s (left) developmentalism that bureaucratised religion by means of his political agenda, which helped in shaping public opinion on the 'homogenous' version of Islam. The political realities that Malaysia has suffered since the emergence of the Islamism political awakening of the 80s have managed to bring the notion of political Islam as a tool of contestation.
It is clearly seen in Judith Nagata's ‘Islamic Revival in Malaysia in 1980' thesis as she refers to the consolidation of Islamic movement in Malaysia that began to replace the mainstream political mode and later, encouraged the expansion of religious authoritarianism as dominated by the PAS version of Islam - which was seen as the traditional, orthodox form of Islam - and Umno's image as moderate, bureaucratic and institutionalised.
Time to salvage our wisdom
However, it is important to note that the obscurantism of Islamic discourse that dominates the sphere of Malaysian society has contributed a profound reason for the current impasse in Islamic discourse.
Islam in Malaysia is at a critical juncture. It is for us to either move beyond the complicity of becoming dormant and hostile towards the commencement of reason and faith, or be trapped with a perverse understanding of Islam. We don’t need preachers to dispense the compulsion of a five times-daily prayer or fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, but it is timely for us to salvage our wisdom and become a functional intelligentsia to resolve the absurdity of current Islamic thinking.
The question of Islam will remain obnoxious if Muslims fail to grapple with the fact that Islam is a religion of peace, love and respect. As an advocate of Islamic reform, Abdul Karim Soroush - an Iranian philosopher, a radical intellectual who remains a source of inspiration to many Muslim intellectuals once said in his interview, "We do not have much choice at the moment.
The Muslim world is caught between states and governments that are secular in orientation, and the ulama who are conservative in theirs. The duty and task of reform falls on the shoulders of Muslim intellectuals, who need to retain a critical distance in between".
The ambiguity of Islamic discourse in Malaysia would be cured if we as Muslims understood that Islam excludes any form injustice, violence or self-loathing fear, and for us Muslims to transcend the boundaries.
The ambiguity of Islamic discourse in Malaysia would be cured if we as Muslims understood that Islam excludes any form injustice, violence or self-loathing fear, and for us Muslims to transcend the boundaries.
MUHAMMAD NAZREEN is a writer. He is currently associated with Islamic Renaissance Front and Institut Rakyat.
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