The Vampire Brotherhood and Malaysia

“Blood! We want his blood. Bring him back so we can get the blood of this apostate. An apostate’s blood is halal! We want his blood!!”....

This is not a scene from a box office movie that had infatuated millions of girls around the world. It is also not taken from a “Twilight Zone" script either. This is a reality facing a Saudi youth of 23 years, Hamza Kashgari. A nightmare that will come true for him very soon indeed.

Shocked by the reaction

On February 2012, on the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), Hamza had published a 3-stanza poem on his twitter page. The poem tells us of how Rasulullah had inspired him. However, Hamza said he would only regard him as a friend, an equal. His poem had a deeper meaning than just those words, and it was far from insulting Rasulullah S.A.W. Unfortunately for Hamza, many Muslims had misconstrued the meaning of his poem or did it so on purpose. Thus, Hamza was accused of blasphemy and labeled as an apostate.

Shocked by the reaction of the Saudis, Hamza deleted his poem and sincerely apologized through Twitter. He also pronounced his shahadah to make sure that his faith has not been compromised because of the poem. However, the forgiveness that was due to him was completely ignored. [Shahadah means to verbally declare his wholehearted belief that there is only one God, Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger]

Fearing his safety, he fled Saudi and arrived in Malaysia in the hope that we could offer help. His attempt proved to be futile because like Saudi, vampires also exist here in Malaysia. Not ones that are good looking like the movie heartthrob Edward Cullen, but evil and vicious ones like “The Newborn Army” who are as bloodthirsty as ever. They refused to forgive and by their actions agreed that death is more fitting for the likes of Hamza.

Newborn Army

On 12 February 2012, Hamza was deported by the Malaysian government, also previously known as the Islam Hadhari government. Accused as a terrorist by the Minister of foreign affairs, “The Volturi” Hamza was secretly flown to Saudi to face his execution. Even after an injunction was issued by the High Court of Kuala Lumpur to stop Hamza’s deportation, Malaysia's Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein arrogantly denied the existence of such an order. Without the slightest guilt, the 1Malaysia government under the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak proudly sent Hamza to the gallows.

In Malaysia, many have turned into ‘Vampires” resembling the “Newborn Army” after reading unethical local headlines with their misleading news which are very typical of them, such as “Saudi writer insults the Prophet”.These Malaysian vampires scream - wanting Hamza to be deported and thus be executed due to his ‘blasphemous’ poem without any clue as to what the poem was about. Neither did they bother to find out the truth behind the story of Hamza’s apprehension.

Political, not at all religious

Only those who sincerely seek the truth will know that the capture of Hamza has a hidden political motive and not religious at all. The activity of Hamza and his friends have long been watched by the Saudi government. His poem was a mere pretext for the arrest and execution because of his involvement in the youth movement in Saudi Arabia. Only a handful knew that about a year ago, Hamza had also posted a poem with a similar theme, however, it never attracted any negative comments and no action had ever been taken at all towards him.

Without even trying to seek justification or truth, the Muslim community in both Saudi and Malaysia have passed judgment on Hamza. Filled with rage and hatred, they want to see Hamza tortured till his last breath. They craved for his blood as if Hamza is the foulest criminal that had ever lived. It is sad that followers of the religion that is devoted to peace should turn the most vicious. Islam means peace or purity but its followers are far from that. It seems that they have forgotten the principles of fairness and just before passing judgment on a person.

Islam used as a tool of execution

The Muslim community may have forgotten the true teachings of Islam. The religion has been reduced into a tool of execution with all wrong doings punished severely, without hope of clemency.

Islam is used to oppress the weak by those in power. Muslim leaders are too obsessed with finding faults and sins. Islam has been tainted by Muslims who are too fixated with religion and sins and in the name of defending the purity of Islam, persecutions swing out of control.

Have we forgotten that Allah is most gracious and forgiving? If Hamza did insult the Prophet, is it impossible to forgive him? The Prophet himself had forgiven the people of Taif who did not only insult him but even threw faeces at him. God would still forgive us if our souls have not left our body and accept our repentance. So, who are we to question Hamza’s penitence? Could it be that the Sheikhs in Saudi feel that they are greater than God? In sura An –Nur, verse 21, the Most Gracious and Merciful had reminded us:

“..they should forgive and forbear. Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

A lyric from the song Maafkan Kami taken from the film Pendekar Bujang Lapok also reiterates that “Even the Prophet forgave his ummah.” So, does the Muslim community still wants Hamza’s blood? Yes or no, it does not make any difference now because Hamza has been sent home to face his death sentence.

This means the vampires of “The Newborn Army” can shout for joy as Hamza’s blood can now be enjoyed. These end-of-time Ummah are truly the Vampire Ummah!

Written by Farhana Abdul Halim, a member of the Lawyers For Liberty NGO, and translated by Huzaimah Abdul Rani, Malaysia Chronicle