ARE YOU TRUE TO YOUR BELIEF?

The Jewish ulama’ have summarised Judaism to just one thing. Treat others the same way you expect others to treat you. Christianity says the same thing. Do unto others as you would others do unto you.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I am curious about your belief, YM RPK…mohon pencerahan…(Aliff Al Amien)

That was a comment or question posted in Facebook below my series of articles regarding Malays and fake Muslims. I did not respond because while the question looks simple enough the answer is not. Hence allow me to respond to that query in my normal cheong hei manner.

First of all, belief is a very broad word and could mean anything, even if we are just talking about religion. There is belief in God, belief in religion, belief in the holy books, belief in the ummah(community), and on. Hence that is an issue that needs to be discussed because you might believe in one but not the other.

Furthermore, belief in God comes in two parts. There is belief in God such as belief in the existence of God. Then there is belief in God such as faith in (trust) and faithfulness to (loyalty) God. Again, you may be doing one but not the other.

Many people may believe in God such as believe in the existence of God. They believe that a powerful creator exists somewhere whom we shall all be going back to one day. But whether they have faith in and are faithful to this God is another thing altogether. Most people fail on that score.

For example, you may say you believe in Anwar Ibrahim. And I am not talking about believing in the existence of Anwar because we all know that he does exist. I am talking about the other belief in Anwar — believing (having faith) in his cause and being loyal (being faithful) to his cause.

Okay, would you follow Anwar Ibrahim to the end of the world? Would you die for his cause (teachings)? Would you sell all your property and donate all that money to Anwar’s cause? Are you prepared to abandon this world and all the comfort and security that come with it and serve Anwar fulltime for absolutely no payment? If your family is homeless and penniless would that worry you or would you be more concerned about serving Anwar? Are you more concerned about your own wellbeing or about the wellbeing (success) of Anwar’s cause?

If you believe in Anwar then Anwar’s cause (teachings) comes first while your own welfare (or that of your family) is not important. You will sacrifice all your time, energy, wealth, comfort, etc., for the sake of the cause. You will not be selfish by worrying about yourself. And if you were given a choice between suffer death or give up your cause, you would choose death. This is how people committed to the cause become shahids or martyrs — they put the cause above themselves.

You may say you believe in Anwar and his cause but not to the extent of sacrificing everything and suffering for it. You will certainly vote Pakatan Rakyat in the general election any maybe even donate RM1,000 to the party. But that is as far as you are prepared to go. Other than that, you and your family would have to come first, even if your family all happen to be Umno or MCA members and supporters. You will not turn your back on your family or allow them to suffer for the sake of Anwar’s cause.

So, in that sense you are not really fully committed to Anwar’s cause (or teachings).

Okay, let us now talk about God. Let us replace the word ‘Anwar’ with the word ‘God’ and pose all those questions again. How would you reply now? Would that ‘no’ reply now change to ‘yes’? Or would the reply still be ‘no’?

Most of you would still reply ‘no’. How many are prepared to die for God’s cause? How many would choose death rather that give up the cause? How many would sacrifice all their wealth and comfort for the sake of the cause and live the life of a homeless, penniless bum? How many are prepared to see their family suffer for the sake of the cause?

Even if you were told that if you give up this world and devote your entire life to God’s cause you will not suffer because God will repay you with an even better life in the Afterlife, that is not enough an assurance for you. You will serve God’s cause but only as far as you are not inconvenienced in any way. Once you or your family need to face difficulties you will draw the line.

So, in that sense you do not really believe in God. You do not really believe in God to the extent that you have faith that God will look after you and if you have to suffer in this world because of the cause you will still not lose out because God will repay you for all this suffering in the next life.

Sacrificing and suffering for the cause is the real test of your faith in and your loyalty to God. Your reluctance to sacrifice and suffer means you lack faith and loyalty. You will serve the cause only as long as there is no loss to you. Once a loss is involved you will back off from serving the cause.

And that is what most who believe in God would do. Hence while they believe in God (meaning in the existence of God) they still do not believe in God (meaning putting their faith and trust in and their loyalty to God).

So, when Aliff Al Amien asks me about my belief, which belief is he talking about — belief in God or believe in God? There are two types of beliefs in God.

Now, you may say that you believe in God — not only believe in the existence of God but believe in God’s teachings as well. I mean you cannot say you believe in God but at the same time you do not believe in God’s teachings. If you do not believe in God’s teachings that would mean you do not really believe in God.

It is like saying that you believe in Anwar Ibrahim but then you go and vote for Umno or MCA. That would mean you do not believe in Anwar, right? If you believe in Anwar you would support him and vote for his party or for the coalition that his party belongs to.

Okay, so let us discuss this one point because it would be impossible to discuss all the issues in one article unless I write a 200-page book.

What is the fundamental teaching of the very complicated Abrahamic faiths or Semitic religions? There are so many teachings but let us talk about the core issue. What do Judaism, Christianity and Islam teach us?

The Jewish ulama’ have summarised Judaism to just one thing. Treat others the same way you expect others to treat you. Christianity says the same thing. Do unto others as you would others do unto you.

Islam has refined this by introducing the zakat so that the less fortunate can benefit from the more fortunate — a sort of welfare system that existed long before the west even invented the word ‘welfare’. It is like if you do not like going hungry then make sure no one else is hungry as well. Islam says feed your neighbour before you yourself eat.

So it is a good teaching. If you do not like your daughter, wife and mother to suffer rape then do not rape other women. If you do not like sleeping on the street then make sure others do not sleep on the street as well. If you do not like to suffer persecution and injustice then do not persecute and treat others unjustly.

And the list goes on.

But is this what people do? Do people really follow God’s teaching to the letter? Are you just to others while you expect justice for yourself? Or are you unjust to others while you demand justice for yourself?

You oppose the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act and many more laws that you consider draconian because you say that these laws are unjust. People should not be unjustly punished or punished for crimes they have not committed. Even if they are suspected of having committed a crime they must be tried in an open court and allowed the right to defend themselves. And unless it has been proven by way of evidence that they have committed a crime they should not be punished.

Those are certainly noble ideals and ideals that God has taught us. Humankind should live by these ideals. This is what Reformasi is all about. This is what Anwar Ibrahim is telling us and that is why we support his Reformasi cause and vote for his opposition coalition.

But when it comes to Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim we do not live by those ideals. Anwar does not like Khalid and since Anwar says Khalid is no good then Khalid must be punished. Whether Khalid has been tried by a tribunal such as SELCAT or tried in an open court and has been found guilty is not important. We do not need a trial or evidence to punish Khalid.

Is this what God asked us to do? No! Would we like to be treated the same way? No! Is this doing to others as how we want others to do to us? No! Would we accept punishment for a crime we never committed or for a crime that we have not been proven to have committed? No! Is this in the spirit of justice? No!

But then we are okay with this even though this means it violates the core teachings of our religious belief — justice and do not do to others what you would not like others to do to you.

So, is Aliff Al Amien still curious about my belief? And mind you, I have so far just talked about one issue — belief in God. I am yet to talk about the other issues — belief in religion, belief in the holy books, belief in the ummah (community), and on.

Anyhow, let me stop here because if I continue to talk about all the other issues as well this article may be too long for some people who only read the heading or title of the article and then start commenting.