Church stamps: Don't jump to conclusions, Mujahid tells Isma

De facto Islamic Affairs Minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa has urged the Muslim community to stand up against the "corrupt narratives" of certain groups or individuals as such thinking does not promote Islam.

To combat such groups or individuals, Mujahid said the Pakatan Harapan government has launched a counter narrative, a new policy dubbed "compassionate Islam".

"As far as the government is concerned, we stood up against orthodox ideas, but it is not enough," said the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, when met in Teluk Kumbar, Penang, last night.

"The whole Muslim society must stand up against these thoughts which will lead Muslims and Malays into backwardness," he told reporters at an iftar event at Masjid Maqbul, attended by about 300 people.

Mujahid was asked to respond to a controversy sparked by Isma president Aminuddin Yahaya, involving Pos Malaysia stamps depicting places of worship in the country to promote multi-religious harmony.

The stamps depicting a church, mosque and temple, were issued on May 15, while the first series was issued in November 2016.

The incident irked Aminuddin (photo), who in a Facebook posting on May 16, described the stamp as “another example of Muslims being bullied".

“So, if outsiders label Malaysia as a Christian nation, we should not be angered because we have been portrayed as such,” Aminuddin had said.

However, he has since deleted his earlier remarks.

Mujahid pointed out that the Muslim NGO leader had the guts to say that he gives Harapan "zero percent" for its Islamic administration.

"He (Aminuddin) has already concluded that in his mind so that whatever he says, sees, thinks, his conclusion will be the same.

" Muslims should not accept such rigid thinking and ideas, " said the Amanah Parit Buntar MP.

Mujahid said people who espouses such ideas should be dealt with in debates and dialogues instead of (resorting to) "negative emotions and sentiments".

"When such people like him (Aminuddin) said we do not care about Islam, he is merely talking about his Islam, not the Islam we understand," Mujahid said.

"It is unfortunate that such thinking exists in our society but nevertheless, we allow him to speak his mind, and let others judge," he added.

"Through our counter narrative - compassionate Islam - the people can see the flaws and fallacies of such (narrow) misinterpretation of Islam," he stressed.

Meanwhile, Mujahid said Muslims must study or investigate the situation (issuing of the stamps) first before "jumping to conclusions" , especially in matters concerning religion.

Pointing out that the stamps were first issued during BN time, he said there was nothing wrong to reflect Malaysia's multiracial and multireligious society living in harmony.

"But our friend (from Isma), I don't even know his name, has already jumped to conclusion. Whenever he does that, he will not look smart as he did not study the situation or see the bigger picture," Mujahid said.

"I regret that there are such people around, but I must reiterate that such mindset would not develop the Muslim mind... such thinking will only make the community backward, especially when there are people like him who spread such slander to Muslims, " Mujahid added. - Mkini