PAS ought to organise a 'know Islam' conclave

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng has asked PAS to accept that Malaysia is a secular polity should the party want to gain the support of non-Muslims.

Islam does not recognise a division between mosque and state, between religion and politics, which is the basis of secularism.

An Islamic party would lose its reason for existence if it were to recognise that division.

Hence Lim’s call to PAS to recognise that Malaysia is a secular state is not feasible.

Herein lies the rub - for non-Muslims to accept PAS, the party would have to abandon its avowed goal of establishing an Islamic state.

Non-Muslims would not want to live under an Islamic theocracy.

PAS, at the conclusion of its 69th muktamar in Shah Alam last weekend, has resolved to campaign for non-Muslim support, as without it, they know cannot obtain the numbers – in terms of parliamentary support – to rule the country.

That bit of realism has now led PAS to recognise they have to garner non-Muslim support for their goal of gaining the keys to Putrajaya.

One method would be to explain to non-Muslims what the party understands Islam to be.

This is all the more necessary because Muslims generally are put off by attempts by non-Muslims to interpret their religion.

Think of the controversy Ipoh Timor MP Howard Lee got into when he tried to interpret a Quranic verse during the campaign for the recent Pelangi by-election.

It can be baffling the commotion that non-Muslims get into when they try to expound on Islamic verses.

Consider the trouble that landed on Basuki Purnama, the Indonesian politician who cited an Islamic saying while campaigning to become governor of Jakarta some years back.

Ipoh Timor MP Howard Lee

He was jailed for blasphemy and his political career came to an abrupt halt.

Prior to the contretemps, Purnama was on course to become the first ethnic Chinese to be elected governor of Jakarta.

That position would have given him the platform to be considered as the running mate on presidential tickets.

Such an outcome would have been a pathblazing development in Indonesian politics.

Back home, because PAS is now the largest political party in Parliament and is shaping to govern federally, it knows it has to win support from non-Muslims to realise its goal of running the country.

It can’t manage that by gaining majority support from Malay voters only. It has to garner electoral backing from non-Muslims, too.

It becomes necessary, then, to explain to non-Muslims what PAS understands of Islam. It is better for non-Muslims to obtain their understanding of Islam from PAS itself.

Hear it from the horse’s mouth

The party is not exactly the custodian of Islam, but from its inception in 1951, it has behaved like it is.

So, it’s best for non-Muslims in Malaysia to obtain their understanding of the religion from how the biggest Islamic party in the country understands the purpose of its existence, which is to strive for the establishment of an Islamic state.

Hearing interpretations from PAS leaders’ mouths would be much better than from other sources.

Hearing from the horse’s mouth would be somewhat liberating for non-Muslims in the decision-making process.

How often have non-Muslims been baffled when they hear, after some violent outrage had been committed by a member of the Islamic State, that the atrocity-committing behaviour is “not Islam at all”?

The puzzle deepens when the discussion revolves around the use of terms such as “moderates”, “fanatics” and “extremists”.

The religion seems impervious to such descriptions. Islam is Islam, take it or leave it.

That is why it’s imperative to hear it from the ostensible custodians of the faith.

PAS’ quest for non-Muslim votes must begin with a mega explanatory conclave - where there is a premium on clarity and a willingness to give candid answers to sharp questions, even of the irreverent kind. - Mkini

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TERENCE NETTO is a journalist with half a century’s experience.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.