Hadi calls hudud critics 'ANJING'

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has introduced a new slogan to send a message to all that he will continue to champion hudud law in Parliament despite the noisy opposition to his plan.

He said all Muslims from DAP, PAS, Umno or any other political parties must support the law as it is their responsibility as Muslims.

“We are doing this to test Muslims who are involved in politics, whether they are aware or ignorant, whether they know or do not know (of their responsibility).

“The approach we take is to educate people, in a peaceful manner. We do not want to fight although there are still certain quarters that want to fight with us,” he said.

“This is our slogan; let dogs or wolves bark, we will press on with our agenda, towards our destination,” Hadi told about 200 supporters at the party’s operations centre in Pongsu Seribu, Kepala Batas, last night.

Hadi has been blamed for Pakatan Rakyat’s demise after PAS’ 61st muktamar held in Selangor earlier this month accepted the ulama council’s proposal to cut ties with DAP.

DAP severed ties with Hadi when he tabled a Private Members Bill in Parliament to put Kelantan’s hudud law into motion, without consultation with Pakatan’s leadership council.

Although Hadi had retabled the bill last week, after the House failed to hear the bill in the first tabling last September, the bill has yet to be debated in this parliamentary session.

‘Civil law more brutal’

Hadi Awang

Hadi said the enemies of Islam, including the media, would choose to use the issue of the hudud - especially its punishment like amputation of limbs and stoning to death of criminals - to instil fear against Islam.

He gave assurance that punishment in Islam would be carried out in a just manner, based on evidence provided by credible witnesses.

He claimed that he had even explained the intricacies of the Islamic law to non-Muslim academics when he was invited to speak at Singapore’s Nanyang University at the height of the hudud controversy.

“I told them the first thing is that they must understand is that Islam is not a religion but ‘adeen’, a way of life.

“One cannot define Islam as a religion as in the western language, nor agama in the Malay language,” he said.

“Allah’s hudud law is to educate the society and not merely to punish people, Islam encourages criminals to repent, and for people to forgive one another,” he added.

“If the matter is brought to court, the Islamic judge will carefully weigh the arguments. If there are 100 arguments, and one is doubtful, we cannot apply the hudud law,” he stressed.

Hadi explained that when the hudud law is implemented, criminal would not be let free as the law protects victims and scares the wrongdoers.

Without elaborating further from time constraints, Hadi said the current laws do not care for victims - whether from robbery or murder - but protects criminals.

However, hudud is not cruel as the current civil laws the country, Hadi added, citing the example of caning.

“In Islam, when we cane a criminal, we ensure we do not break their flesh or skin. 100 lashes, it does sound frightening, but it is more to educate and scare the criminals not to repeat the crime,” he said.

‘Media ignorant’

Hadi said PAS has conducted dialogues with various groups including DAP, PKR and Umno, on its plan to implement hudud in Kelantan.

However, he expressed disappointment that those who have the most questions, like social media writers, did not attend such dialogues.

“They act as if they are learned but they have destroyed their faith (rosak akidah) as this is a law not created by PAS or the Prophet Mohamad, but is the law is from Allah, the almighty,” he warned.

“Do not play a fool with hudud for that is akin to playing a fool with Allah, write that down,” he told journalists who attended the ceramah, which ended past midnight. -M'kini