Prof dismayed by Asri’s remarks about Hindus

Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi of UCSI University says people should not oversimplify religions they know little about.

PETALING JAYA: A university professor has questioned the depth of Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin’s knowledge of Hinduism following his remarks on cow worship and the practice of sati.

Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi of UCSI University, claiming he had studied classical Hindu texts, said Asri had oversimplified Hinduism.

He said neither the Mahabharata nor the Upanishads gave any idea of the centrality of cow worship in the religion.

“From my study of these texts, the ideas are more about controlling the self,” he said. “They are about having the knowledge of the true self, the spiritual self. I do not see any idea of worshipping cows.”

Tajuddin said it was particularly distressing that it was a learned and respected person like Asri who had made the remarks.

He was referring to a poem that Asri posted on his Facebook. The poem refers to people who “idolise cows” and defends an unnamed preacher against attempts to hand him over to an “evil government”.

The “evil government”, according to the poem, “worships fire”, “practises sati” and “divides humans into castes”.

Sati refers to a funeral custom, now banned in India, that requires a widow to immolate herself on her husband’s pyre.

Asri did not mention names in the Facebook posting, but he is on record as having criticised Hindu rights group Hindraf for its opposition to Mumbai-based preacher Zakir Naik.

Tajuddin recalled an incident in which a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia had portrayed the Hindus as “dirty”. Slides of the lecture were leaked online last June, causing a furore.

“The lecturer’s services were terminated,” Tajuddin said. “He had oversimplified things too.”

Referring to Asri’s remark about sati, he said every country had its own dark past. He gave the example of the killing of Jews in Germany during World War 2.

He also noted the mention, in a book by the Malay scholar Munshi Abdullah, of misdeeds by certain royal families. He said this should not be seen as any reflection of the character of any of the current sultans.

“The burning of widows in India happened in a different era,” he added.

Tajuddin also commented on the report that Indian authorities had proven their charges against Zakir Naik. He said Malaysia should cooperate with India, even if the issue involved “a famous personality or someone seen as doing good work”.

“Zakir uses his religion to make fun of other religions,” he said. “That’s not a good approach. It’s appalling. He should be more civilised. It is easy to become popular by making fun of people with derogatory comments.”

He also said it was time to take another look at the traditional teaching of Islam. “I am not saying it is wrong, but we now live in a different context. In the past, you could be using certain methods of instruction because the society was homogeneous.” In the context of modern, multicultural Malaysia, he said, people should not talk about religions they knew little about. “In the age of social media, anything can go viral,” he added. -FMT