Do these so-called ulama’ endorse the hereditary monarchy system (not only in Malaysia but in most Muslim countries)? If they do then they are endorsing a Jahiliyah system of leadership. So what type of ulama’ are these people when Islam is supposed to be based on the Quran, Hadith and Sunnah and the system they support and endorse is absent in all three ‘holy references’?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Half of all Afghans paid bribes in 2012

(AFP, 6 February 2013) — KABUL: The cost of corruption in Afghanistan has risen sharply and half of all citizens paid a bribe to public officials last year, a new United Nations study said Thursday.

More than 11 years after a US-led invasion led to billions of dollars in aid flowing into one of the world’s poorest countries, Afghanistan ranks among the most corrupt nations on earth.

And Western nations due to pull their troops out next year have linked future financial support to the aid-dependent nation to a crackdown on graft.

The report by the UN office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Afghanistan’s anti-corruption unit says that while there has been some tangible progress, the total cost of corruption increased to $3.9 billion in 2012 — 40 per cent up on 2009.

“The bribes that Afghan citizens paid in 2012 equals double Afghanistan’s domestic revenue or one-fourth of the Tokyo pledge,” the report says, referring to the $16 billion promised by donors at a conference in Japan last year.

“Nobody doubts the seriousness of the issue, the art is to design the correct strategy to remedy the situation,” said UNODC regional representative Jean-Luc Lemahieu.

The report shows that corruption appears to be increasingly tolerated by ordinary people.

More than 68 per cent of those surveyed considered it acceptable for a civil servant to top up a low salary by accepting small bribes — up from 42 per cent in 2009, the report noted.

And 67 per cent considered it sometimes acceptable for a civil servant to be recruited on the basis of family ties and friendship networks — also up from 42 per cent four years ago.

While the cost of corruption had risen, the total number of people paying bribes had dropped from 58 per cent in 2009 to 50 per cent last year — but they were paying more often.

The survey was based on a representative sample of 6,700 citizens interviewed across the country.

President Hamid Karzai in December blamed foreigners for most of the corruption in Afghanistan and said the withdrawal of NATO troops in 2014 would help rid the country of graft.

The Afghan government has previously pointed the finger at the contract systems of the international community for spreading corruption, although it admits graft is rife within its own ranks.

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A former Indonesian lawmaker has been found guilty of corruption in a case relating to the procurement of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

(Channel News Asia, 31 May 2013) – JAKARTA: A former Indonesian lawmaker has been found guilty of corruption in a case relating to the procurement of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

An anti-corruption court in Jakarta found Zulkarnaen Djabbar and his son guilty of receiving more than US$1.4 million in kickbacks.

Zulkarnaen – a lawmaker from Golkar Party – was a member of the parliamentary commission that oversaw the religious affairs.

Assisted by his son and another accomplice, Zulkarnaen rigged the bidding process for the Koran procurement.

Zulkarnaen was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined US$30,000.

His son, Dendy Prasetya, received 8 years in prison and fined US$20,000.

The case is one of the corruption cases that have raised eyebrows in Indonesia.

It shows that corruption in Indonesia knows no boundary – even if it involves the holy book.

But to many Indonesians, the case comes as no surprise.

The religious affairs ministry is known to be the least honest among Indonesian institutions.

The National Audit Agency has raised questions over its handling of billions of dollars from Indonesian Haj pilgrims annually.

The anti-graft agency is expected to dig deeper into the case even after Thursday’s sentencing.

Several top officials from the religious affairs ministry – including the deputy minister – and been called up for questioning.

The Deputy Speaker from the Golkar Party has also been implicated in the case but has denied any involvement.

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Qatar has approved a draft law to enact a law on fighting cyber-crimes and to refer it to the Advisory Council.

The law punishes anyone who manages, via the internet or any information technology means, without a right, to enter an electronic website and informational system of any of the state’s organs, institutions, authorities or otherwise affiliated bodies or companies thereon, and anyone who establishes or runs an electronic site via the internet or any information technology means, or publishes false news with the aim of jeopardizing the state safety, its general order, internal or external security.

The law also punishes anyone who infringes on the social principles or values or otherwise publishes news, photos, audio or visual recordings related to the sanctity of the private and familial life of persons, even if they were true, or infringes on others by libel or slander via the Internet or other information technology means.

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Those are but three news items out of thousands regarding Muslims or Muslim countries. Reading those news items, what would be the first thing that comes to your mind?

I suppose those critical of Islam or Muslims would say that this proves that Muslims are corrupt (as what ex-IGP Musa Hassan said a few days ago). The Islamists would argue otherwise. They would say that there is less corruption under a ‘proper’ Muslim government like the Taliban running the country and with the harsh Islamic laws of Hudud keeping the people on the straight and narrow. Under a secular system they would even use Qur’ans to commit corruption like in the case of Indonesia.

In fact, back in March 2004, before the birth of Malaysia Today, I had revealed the corrupt act of one of the Imams of Masjid Negara (the National Mosque) — the Umno candidate who contested against Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in Permatang Pauh in the March 2004 general election.

This ex-Imam turned Umno candidate of Permatang Pauh was asking for kickbacks before he would award companies the maintenance contract for the mosque. I actually met the company concerned and published the contract documents so this allegation came with testimony and evidence.

How do you explain ‘men of God’ using the name of God (or the Qur’an) to commit corrupt acts? Actually corruption in religion and using the name of God to commit corrupt acts is something that has been happening long before the birth of Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad. In fact, it was because Christ wanted to end this corruption that He opposed the system — which in turn opposed Him and is the foundation of the Christian dogma (the Crucifixion and the Resurrection). 

Today, PAS said that the ulama’ (religious scholars) must be the foundation of the party leadership (READ HERE). This is based on the assumption and the argument that the ulama’ are noble, sincere, beyond corruption and whatnot. But then the ulama’ have been the problem for Judaism, Christianity and Islam since the birth of those ‘Religions of the Book’.

The Christians say that the Jews corrupted the true religion of Abraham and hence Christianity was born. The Muslims say that the Christians corrupted the true religion of Abraham and hence Islam was born. Then there are those who say the Muslims corrupted the true religion of Abraham and hence Agnosticism was born.

Abraham, Moses, Christ and Muhammad never invented the hierarchy of the ulama’, rabbis, priests, imams, Muftis, Popes, etc. All these never existed during the time of these four great Prophets of the Abrahamic faiths. These positions and classifications were invented later, after the death of these Prophets. Hence are these positions valid?

In fact, Islam also never invented the monarchy and the hereditary system of leadership. After the death of Prophet Muhammad the leaders were elected through a committee. It was only after the deaths of the four ‘Rightly-Guided’ Caliphs it reverted to the pre-Islamic system of hereditary monarchs, what the Muslims call the Jahiliyah period or ‘the Era of Ignorance’.

Do these so-called ulama’ endorse the hereditary monarchy system (not only in Malaysia but in most Muslim countries)? If they do then they are endorsing a Jahiliyah system of leadership. So what type of ulama’ are these people when Islam is supposed to be based on the Quran, Hadith and Sunnah and the system they support and endorse is absent in all three ‘holy references’?

The problem is not only that Muslims and Muslim countries are corrupt. The problem is the very system itself is corrupt. And the fruit of a poisonous tree is poisonous. That is the long and short of it all.

Imam Ghazali is regarded as one of the most revered Imams in Islam. And Imam Ghazali was anti-monarchy, as were some of the other renowned Imams as well. In fact, Imam Ghazali said we should stay far away from these monarchs and not even accept their gifts (award of titles included) and food lest these monarchs corrupt us. (And how many PAS people carry Datuk titles?). And if you were a true Muslim you would listen to what Imam Ghazali said. After all, are we not using his kitab as one of the books to follow? And throughout history many ulama’ have opposed their leaders/rulers, the famous Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah a.k.a. Hamka of Indonesia included.

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以神的名義

這些所謂的宗教學者是贊同世襲君主制系統的嗎（不僅只是在馬來西亞，也包含了大多數穆斯林國家）？如果他們這樣做那麼他們是在支持著Jahiliyah的領導方式。那麼，儅伊斯蘭教應該是個遵守古蘭經和回教聖訓的宗教而古蘭經和回教聖訓都沒有提及這個領導系統時，請問支持這個領導系統的宗教學者到底是些怎樣的人呢？

 

（AFP，2013年2月6日）–喀布爾：根據一份聯合國的研究報告，阿富汗因貪污而造成的成本損失急劇上升，而他們有一半的公民去年曾付錢向政府官員行賄。

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（亞洲新聞頻道，2013年5月31日） – 雅加達：印尼一位前國會議員就一件有關採購古蘭經的貪污案件上已被判有罪。

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卡塔爾已批准了一項法律草案以打擊網絡犯罪；這項草案在較后會被呈上法律諮詢會。

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以上只是數千个有關穆斯林或穆斯林國家新聞項目的其中三個。当你閱讀這些新聞項目时，你脑海中出现的第一件事就到是什么呢？

我想那些批評伊斯蘭教的人會說，這證明穆斯林都是道德腐敗的（如前縂警長慕沙前幾天的說法般)）。伊斯蘭教徒則會說出相反的言論。他們會說，在一個‘適當’的穆斯林政府管理下（像塔利班回教刑法嚴苛治國下）人民會奉公守法；但在一個世俗的制度裏，他們甚至會使用古蘭來犯貪污,就像是印尼這個個案一樣。

事實上，早在2004年3月MT誕生之前，我已經透露了國家囘教堂宗教師貪污的事情 — 這個人是2004年3月選舉時上陣對壘旺姐的巫統候選人.

這前宗教師和後來的Permatang Pauh巫統候選人在給出清真寺的維修合同之前要求那些公司給他回扣。我後來有跟這閒公司接洽和把有關合同文件刊登出來，因此我的指控是附帶的證詞和證據。

你要怎麼解釋這些‘神的追隨者’以‘神的名義’（或古蘭經）來進行貪污行為呢？其實，早在耶穌基督和先知穆罕默德誕生之前，引用‘神的名義’來貪污腐敗發生了。事實上，就是因為耶穌想結束這些貪污腐敗所以他站出來反對這系統 —-這個系統隨後反過來反對他，進而形成了基督教的基礎（耶穌的受難和復活）的。

今天，PAS講説宗教學者必須成爲黨領導階層的基礎。這背後的假設是宗教學者都是高尚，真誠，超越腐敗。。。。等等的。但宗教學者一直以來都是猶太教，基督教和伊斯蘭教的‘頭疼問題’。

基督徒說，猶太人損壞了亞伯拉罕宗教所以基督教因此誕生。穆斯林說基督徒損壞了亞伯拉罕宗教所以伊斯蘭教因此誕生。然後又有人會說，穆斯林損壞了亞伯拉罕宗教，所以不可知論因此出生。

亞伯拉罕，摩西，耶穌和穆罕默德從未發明這些宗教學者，拉比，牧師，阿訇，穆夫提，教皇，等這些‘官階系統’。這些東西在這四位偉大的亞伯拉罕信仰先知時代是從未過出現。這些位階是在這些先知死后才被‘發明’出來的，因此，這些職位是否有效呢？

事實上，伊斯蘭教也從未發明君主和領導世襲制。先知穆罕默德去世後，卡立法是通過一個委員會選出來的。但在四個‘正確引導’的卡利法死亡后，這才變成伊斯蘭時代前的世襲君主制度，這就是被穆斯林稱爲Jahiliyah的時代，或‘無知時代’。

這些所謂的宗教學者是贊同世襲君主制系統的嗎（不僅只是在馬來西亞，也包含了大多數穆斯林國家）？如果他們這樣做那麼他們是在支持著Jahiliyah的領導方式。那麼，儅伊斯蘭教應該是個遵守古蘭經和回教聖訓的宗教而古蘭經和回教聖訓都沒有提及這個領導系統時，請問支持這個領導系統的宗教學者到底是些怎樣的人呢？

這個問題不僅僅是穆斯林和穆斯林國家是腐敗的；這個系統本身就是腐敗的。來自一顆毒樹的果實也一樣是有毒的，這就是所有問題的所在。

伽薩里Imam Ghazali 被視為是一個最受尊敬的伊斯蘭宗教學者。伽薩里是反君主制，就像一些其他著名的學者一樣。事實上，伽薩里曾說，我們應該遠離這些君主，甚至也不應該接受他們的禮物（包括冊封頭銜）和食品以免這些君主腐蝕我們（PAS有多少人有拿督頭銜？）。如果你是一個真正的穆斯林，你會聽伽薩里所講的。畢竟，我們不正也是使用和遵守著他所使用的經書嗎？縱觀歷史，許多學者都站出來反對他們的領導人/統治者，包括著名的Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah （又名印度尼西亞的Hamka）。