Fair, secular nation better label than Islamic, says ex-Perlis Mufti
Amin Iskandar, The Malaysian Insider
The debate over Malaysia’s Islamic nation status has been described as a “branding” quarrel by popular cleric Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, who said a secular nation that is fair is better than an Islamic country that exploits religion.
The Federal Constitution is Malaysia’s supreme law but minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said this week that the country was never declared a secular nation; he stopped short, however, of calling it an Islamic state as declared by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“You can name the country as [an] Islamic country but you exploit Islam, for what? You name the country secular but give the people rights; that is better. The most important (thing) is the values carried. People like to exploit brands.”
“However, I am not interested in terms; I am more interested with the content of a country,” the former Perlis mufti told The Malaysian Insider after the 15th Sinar Harian Wacana titled “Ulama’s Role, Advising Leaders (Peranan Ulama, Menasihati Pemimpin)” at the Karangkraf Complex yesterday.
“I ask from PAS especially, don’t fight about branding. We have to think whether social justice can be carried out in a multiracial country,” he said, talking about the Islamist party that has accused Umno of using a secular constitution inherited from the British colonial masters.
Repeated accusations from PAS led then-prime minister Dr Mahathir to announce in 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic state, in his bid to regain support from the Malay community who had voted for the opposition in the 1999 general election.
Mohd Asri, who resumed teaching in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) after leaving his post as Perlis mufti, agreed that Malaysia was an Islamic state rather than secular.
“The definition of Islamic state is when the country is controlled by Muslims and at least part of the Islamic laws (Syariah laws) are implemented; that is enough.”
“The strongest proof that Malaysia is an Islamic state (is) when we Muslims in Malaysia demand for Islam (to be) strengthened in the country,” said the scholar who ironically was arrested by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) in 2009 for allegedly being linked with spreading puritanical Wahabi teachings from Islam’s birthplace, Saudi Arabia.
Then-JAIS director Datuk Mohammed Khusrin Munawi said Mohd Asri’s arrest was for lecturing without approval and not for any other offence.
But Dr Mohd Asri pointed out that being Islamic did not mean forcing non-Muslims to comply with religious laws and practises.
“We cannot demand the non-Muslim to pray, we have to recognise he’s a Muslim first, then only we ask him to fast.”
“When we ask our country to practise Islam, that means we recognise that it is basically Islamic,” he said.
