At odds over sacred word

 

Hadi has become known for his flip-flops but this particular issue has cast more doubts on his ability to lead the party. It is clear he cannot be relied upon to defend the party’s interests and he will be lucky if PAS retains him as president at the party polls due this year.

Joceline Tan, The Star 

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu was walking on cloud nine after the success of his Stadium Merdeka rally. He had pulled off something big and his supporters claimed the event had raised his profile in PAS.

Mat Sabu, as he is known by all and sundry, is aware that not everyone in PAS thinks highly of him because he lacks the religious credentials demanded of top PAS leaders. He knows that party members call him “Raja Lawak” (king of laughs) but they would have to take him more seriously after this.

But the bubble burst on Sunday night when news trickled out that the Syura Council of Ulama, the party’s highest decision-making body, had ruled that the word “Allah” is sacred to Islam and cannot be used to describe God in any non-Muslim religious books.

The Syura Council said the “kalimah Allah” could not be used as the translation for the word God from any other language.

The Syura Council overturned what Mat Sabu along with his party’s two top leaders, Mursyidul Am Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Matand president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, had been telling the media just days earlier that non-Muslims can use the term “Allah” as long as they do not misuse it against Islam.

Mat Sabu’s stand even won praise from Dr Paul Tan, the controversial Catholic Bishop who has raised many an eyebrow with remarks that have made him sound more like a politician than a man of the cloth.

But Mat Sabu has since done a U-turn, saying that “my stand is the same as the Syura Council”; and the Bishop who has been waltzing with PAS is now dancing solo.

Everyone in PAS has fallen in line because the Syura Council is the most powerful body in PAS and the decision was pushed by the party’s leading scholar in usuluddin (Islamic faith) Datuk Dr Haron Din. He is the sort who speaks softly but carries a big stick, and he has used the stick to great effect.

It was an embarrassing blow to Hadi and Nik Aziz because they are big names.

Dr Haron had been deeply disturbed by the compromises made on the “kalimah Allah” issue since 2010. Everyone has noticed how he has scaled back on political activities in the party but he has held his tongue.

He was also furious that Hadi had given the go-ahead for the use of “kalimah Allah” without first going through the Syura Council.

Hadi had appeared at a press conference together with DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and PKR’s Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the same day the Sultan of Selangor released a stern reminder to Selangorians that there is a state fatwa on the usage of the term.

Many in PAS were shocked by Hadi’s action. They thought it showed poor judgement and some claimed he was manipulated by the Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

Hadi has become known for his flip-flops but this particular issue has cast more doubts on his ability to lead the party. It is clear he cannot be relied upon to defend the party’s interests and he will be lucky if PAS retains him as president at the party polls due this year.

Some claimed this is what happens when the top leadership of PAS is made up of non-ulama figures apart from Hadi, the deputy president and the three vice-presidents are non-ulama.

PAS Dewan Ulama chief Datuk Harun Taib, also a member of the Syura Council, told people he could not understand why the party was so concerned about pleasing people on the west coast when it should be looking after its traditional supporters in Terengganu and Kelantan.

People like Harun are convinced the faith would be in serious jeopardy without strict control over the “Allah” term.

“Muslims are very sensitive with the usage of certain sacred words. I am very relieved and I thank the Almighty for the decision of the Syura Council,” said Kelantan state exco member Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah.

Nik Amar is normally quite a jovial person but he has been in a grim mood over the issue. He admitted that he is upset with DAP leader Lim Guan Eng for raising it.

“He should not touch on it,” said Nik Amar who is also the deputy state PAS commissioner.

Read more at: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/1/20/nation/12581443&sec=nation