I smell arrogance, dear PM

Recently, at this year’s Umno general assembly, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak mocked how Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng almost teared up upon requesting assistance from the federal government during the flood crisis in Penang last November.

He spoke of how incapable the state government was in handling the crisis, so much so that they needed a hand from Umno.

Najib’s speech reminded me of something my ustazah (female Islamic teacher) back at school used to teach us.

You see, when I was in primary school, Ustazah Hasnah used to teach us during agama classes about the inhabitants of heaven and hell.

She used to tell us that heaven is a place for those who do good deeds.

According to her, females are lucky because Allah has blessed women with so many opportunities to do good deeds – obeying parents, being loyal to husbands, giving birth, nurturing children, caring for the family and playing an important role in the development of a society.

At the same time, Ustazah Hasnah said that although women can easily reserve a place in heaven through their good deeds, they also may end up being the largest number of inhabitants of hell.

 “This is because women have a tendency to remind others of their good deeds. It sort of gives them a sense of pride.

“Being proud of having carried out good deeds is fine, however, when we begin to publicise our deeds to others and feed our ego in the process, it contributes to arrogance. And there is nothing good about arrogance,” I remember her saying.

Leaders feeding their egos

Now back to Najib and his little speech about Guan Eng and Penang’s crisis. I cannot help but smell so much arrogance in his speech – the same arrogance which Ustazah Hasnah claimed to be a characteristic of inhabitants of hell.

Astaghfirullahalazim.

Come to think of it, I believe that, like women, leaders are also blessed by Allah with so many opportunities to reserve places in heaven through their never-ending good deeds – for every idea, discussion, and plan carried out for the benefit of the people will certainly be worthy of merits awarded by Allah.

However, as Najib has demonstrated at the Umno general assembly, like women, leaders also have the habit of proudly publicising their good deeds, feeding their self-pride, ego, and arrogance - exactly the traits of those who will end up in hell (according to my ustazah).

But what’s even worse is the fact that on top of boasting about helping the people of Penang, who happen to be under the responsibility of Najib as the head of the country, Najib also spoke of a fellow leader who was carrying out his responsibility towards his people in a demeaning way.

Now, I am not so sure if taunting and mocking someone qualifies a person to become an inhabitant of hell (my ustazah seems to have left that part out), but I am very sure that it does not qualify them to earn merit points for heaven either.

It is my biggest hope that the prime minister who speaks fondly of Islam and portrays himself as the protector of Islam (like he does annually in the Umno general assembly), takes some proactive steps in order to gain sufficient knowledge about the dos and don’ts according to our beloved religion.

As a matter of fact, if my primary school ustazah happens to read this article, I hope she can reach out to Najib in Putrajaya and offer him some private tutoring on performing good deeds and refraining from succumbing to one’s ego and arrogance. I am sure the prime minister would appreciate it very much.

After all, being a Muslim leader who makes speeches that contradict the teachings of Islam, to a cheering and applauding hall full of Muslims, does nothing but bring shame to every Muslim in our country.

Insya Allah, if Najib is willing to improve his knowledge of Islam as well as his behaviour as a Muslim, I pray that he will be blessed by Allah.

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a growing media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a regular director, a struggling producer, a self-acclaimed photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot.- Mkini