Putting religion in the correct perspective

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Some Muslims, religious scholars included, are saying that the recent Tsunami tragedy is God’s (Allah’s) punishment for those who have sinned and deviated from His teachings. Others are saying the fact the tragedy was primarily in Sri Lanka and Aceh means this is God’s way of solving the problematic civil wars that have been raging for generations in these two regions — those of the same race and religion taking each other’s lives.

We of course cannot question God’s logic or question His actions. After all, in the insurance industry, earthquakes, floods, tidal waves (tsunamis), landslides, and such are classified as ‘Acts of God’ — so even those ‘non-religious’ people still do believe in Acts of God. So I suppose passing the recent tsunami tragedy off as an Act of God would not be wrong. But who are we mortals to analyse God’s action and come to this conclusion on behalf of God? Do we really know what God had planned that we are confident enough to pass judgment — that the tsunami tragedy is indeed God’s punishment for sinners and deviants?


It is in fact insensitive of the religious scholars to blame those who have died as ‘bringing it upon themselves’. Granted, religion teaches us that nothing befalls us that we do not bring upon ourselves. But if a plane were to crash can we also say that all those who died in the plane crash were sinners whom God wanted to punish? What about all those innocent children who died in the tsunami tragedy? Does not religion also teach us that those who have not reached puberty are not guilty of their actions? Even if they had done wrong they would not have committed any sin yet, until they are of the age where they can be held responsible for their actions? Why would God want to punish innocent children who have not sinned?

On Monday, I wrote a piece in my Monday Morning Blues column called Faith vs. Logic. Basically, what I was trying to say was; no doubt religion is all about faith, but logic must also be applied. Understandably, and as I had expected, many did not agree with my prognosis and felt that religion is all about faith and logic has no place in religion. Malays have for generations been taught that they should not question the fatwah (pronouncement) of the religious scholars. The Koran and the Prophet’s Hadith are very clear about matters of religion and, since we do not speak Arabic, we should leave it to the scholars to interpret religion and we should just follow what they say without question or dispute.

Thereby, if the scholars say that the tsunami is God’s punishment, and since they have quoted verses from the Koran and sayings of the Prophet, we should leave it at that. No more discussion on the matter.

Fine, if I were to do that, then I would have to accept without dispute the many other things I have been taught over the last many decades by those who are supposed to be more learned than me.

There was this very popular Ustaz (religious teacher) in Batu Burok, Kuala Terengganu, whom I went to listen to once. He was recommended to me by a friend who said he is very entertaining because he laces his sermons (kuliah) with jokes and humour so he not as boring as the ‘traditional’ Ustaz.

Halfway through his kuliah, he stopped for a cigarette break and everyone had a smoke, the Ustaz included, right there in the mosque. Logic told me this was not right and that was the first and last time I ever attended any of his kuliah.

So you see; I do not take everything the learned Ustaz teaches us hook, line and sinker. I ponder and reflect, and though I have absolutely no command of Arabic, I make my own decisions on what is right and wrong and what I should follow and reject. Though the Ustaz said that smoking is makruh (discouraged), I still felt one should not smoke in a mosque, especially not that renowned Ustaz in particular.

Today, of course, the scholars have ruled smoking as haram (forbidden) so I was right all along though many disagreed with my ‘ruling’ then.

One lady I know, Zaradah Mat, from Kampong Raja, Besut, Terengganu, who was married to a retried European sailor, once told me about a group in her area that did their tahlil (chants) in the dark, stark naked. The lights are all switched off and all the men and women who are in the same room strip down to their ‘birthday suits’ and sing praises to Allah.

I need not even be a Muslim, let alone a learned one at that, to tell you this is not right and I declined the invitation to join the tahlil session. They had branches in some other states as well and eventually this deviant group was exposed and it hit the newspapers.

Then we had the Ibrahim Libya group of 20 years ago who propagated suicide squads. We all know of course what happened to them but many Muslims still swear till this very day that these people were mujahideens who died a noble death in the defence of Islam.

I reserve judgement on this and will allow you to come to your own conclusion on the matter.

Then there was this religious group headed by a prominent Malay politician that combined martial arts with religion and you were supposed to be invincible if you practiced their brand of Islam. No bullets or bombs could harm you and you would become men of steel just like the legendary Superman. Even Prophet Muhammad was not invincible and he was a Prophet of God mind you. Ibrahim Libya’s people too believed they were invincible as they went down in a hail of bullets.

Yes, you may be a religious scholar. You may be a graduate of the universities of Medina or Cairo. You may even speak Arabic better than an Arab and have memorised the entire Koran from cover to cover. But I will still question your teachings and apply logic before I accept what you teach.

One such Ustaz I refused to listen to once said that no human can penetrate outer space let alone land on the moon and that the Americans and Russians are pulling off the biggest scam in the history of mankind. The sky, said the Ustaz, has seven layers and only Prophet Muhammad can reach the outermost layer. Today, you can take a Concord to prove him wrong and land in London one hour BEFORE you left New York.

I have seen so many false prophets in my lifetime that I have become very sceptical of religious scholars who expound their version of Islam. Is it not the Holy Books after all that have warned us of false prophets?

Muslims must learn to question and apply logic to Islam. Muslims must not be afraid to ask or get taken in by the argument that to question is an indication of a weak iman (faith) and that you will be committing blasphemy if you question God. We are not questioning God. We are questioning man’s interpretation of God’s teachings. The argument ‘since we do not comprehend Arabic then we should not question but just accept’ is not valid. The fact we do not comprehend Arabic is all the more reason we should question and apply logic to man’s interpretation of what God said lest we unknowingly become the victim of deviant teachings and misinterpretation.