How souls get blackened

Religious bigots have hijacked the Malay mind.

COMMENT

Many have observed that in conservative Malay society, women are often vulnerable. If a woman is married, she is not the mistress of her own destiny. Religion is used to manipulate her.

“I thought we were the perfect couple until he asked for my permission to take a second wife,” said one Malay woman. “When I said ‘no,’ he turned violent and threatened to divorce me.

“I had given up my career to start a family. So, what could I do? I and our three children were dependent on him. So, I let him do as he pleased. It hurt to know that the other woman was younger than our teenage daughter.”

Versions of this story are more common than some may think.

In his book, Assalamualikum: Observations on the Islamisation of Malaysia, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim says, “Making religion the basis of public policy has only distracted our people with a never ending list of instructions from religious authorities.”

He’s right. We’ve forgotten to think for ourselves. We may wish to help a fellow man, but then we are stricken by a moral dilemma. “Why should I help him? He’s a non-Malay and a non-Muslim. If I help him, he will advance himself and promote his Christian or his Buddhist ideology. Islam will be threatened.”

So, in the end, the Malay often does nothing. Religious indoctrination has corrupted his reasoning and blackened his soul.

It does not end there. Even within the Muslim community, the conservatives will criticise other Muslims, calling them liberals, secular, feminists, or people who are lost.

Woe betide you if you try to do something which is not the norm. The religious cyber troopers will come out in full force and promote hatred with their offensive remarks. Sometimes, they blame the non-Malays.

They abhor critical Muslims and will attack the person rather than the argument. They say, “Who wants their opinions? They are not scholars of Islamic jurisprudence.”

Does one have to be a learned professor to question or make a common sense observation? What did the Prophet say about seeking knowledge? How can we make a mark in the world when our minds are closed?

A week after the publication of an article which said that men should be more manly and control their wives and daughters, two violent incidents were recorded on video. Were these men trying to exercise “control” over their women?

In one video, a man kicks and slaps his wife, who is believed to be in post-natal confinement. In the other, a religious teacher hurls a chair at his 13-year-old pupil. Two bones in her hand were broken because she tried to protect her head from the chair.

Don’t let the bigots hijack your religion. Defend your religion and highlight the stupidity of the bigots. You don’t have to be an Islamic scholar to speak up.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.