In the right perspective

On top of that, Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said that he is not introducing a new religion but is perfecting/improving the old religions of Abraham. Hence Islam is NOT a new religion. It is ‘Version 3’ of Christianity, which is in turn ‘Version 2’ of Judaism — if I may be permitted to use that modern/IT terminology to explain what I mean. And in that same spirit, the ‘operating system’ for Versions 1, 2 and 3 is the religion introduced by Abraham.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Police report over Facebook post on Islam and Prophet Muhammad

Parti Cinta Malaysia has lodged a police report against the owner of Facebook account for allegedly insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

The party’s vice-president, Huan Cheng Guan, said they wanted police and the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to take stern action against the account owner.

“The account owner is irresponsible and obviously has insulted Islam and Prophet Muhammad in her comments today and many Muslims are angered by her actions,” he told reporters after lodging the report at the Perai Police Station in Butterworth yesterday.

The account owner is alleged to have commented that Islam was a religion plagiarised from Christianity.

Huan said the party had set up a special team, called Semut, participated by more than 200 people around the country to monitor social media websites and blogs. — Bernama, 25 June 2013.

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Prince Charles fears rise of anti-Semitism in Britain

LONDON: Prince Charles on Monday spoke out against the “apparent rise in anti-Semitism” in Britain and warned of “other poisonous and debilitating forms of intolerance” after a series of attacks on mosques.

Charles was speaking at a London event celebrating Jonathan Sacks, Britain’s outgoing Chief Rabbi.

“Running throughout your time as Chief Rabbi has been that all-important principle of which this country has long been an exponent, the principle of tolerance,” he said.

“I sometimes fear not enough recognition is given to the role of the faith communities in the life of our country in promoting such a critical principle, and I join with you, in mounting anxiety, at the apparent rise in anti-Semitism, along with other poisonous and debilitating forms of intolerance.”

A police investigation is under way after the discovery of a home-made bomb at a mosque in central England, the latest in a series of reprisals for the apparently Islamist-inspired murder of soldier Lee Rigby in London. — AFP, 25 June 2013

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To be honest, I did not read the offending Facebook posting reported above. Hence I am going to make my comments based on what Bernama reported: ‘The account owner is alleged to have commented that Islam was a religion plagiarised from Christianity’.

Okay, I suspect the offending part of that posting is: ‘plagiarised from Christianity’. Plagiarised is a dirty word, as is wishy-washy, turncoat, etc. Instead of using ‘wishy-washy’ the word ‘flexible’ would be better and instead of accusing someone of being a turncoat the more positive thing would be to say that that person is re-evaluating and reassessing the direction he/she is taking. And I suppose instead of saying that Islam has been ‘plagiarised from Christianity’ it would be better (more pleasant) to say ‘Islam’s roots is from the Abrahamic faiths’.

What this person said is not actually wrong, fundamentally. It is the way she said it and her choice of words that can be regarded as offending. I mean, it is not wrong to refer to a woman as ‘mature’ (it even sounds sexy to say that) but to say she is ‘old’ is asking for trouble. ‘Old’ is negative while ‘mature’ makes her sound ‘hot’. Hence never use the word ‘plagiarised’. It upsets people even though that may really be what happened.

The Qur’an says that there were 124,000 Prophets since the beginning of time but only 25 are mentioned by name in the Qur’an and that Muhammad is the last Prophet. Furthermore, each and every community has received a Prophet, sometimes more than one at one time. Hence we would have seen two or more Prophets running around at the same time. Hence, also, even the Incas, Celtics, Eskimos, Aborigines, Maoris, and so on, have all received Prophets.

Now, the Qur’an also says that the ‘true religion’ is the religion of Abraham and all those — whether they are Jews (followers of Moses), Christians (followers of Jesus) or Muslims (followers of Muhammad) — who follow the religion of Abraham are Muslims. Islam not only recognises all the ‘People of the Book’ but also recognises ‘The Books’ of the other Abrahamic faiths.

On top of that, Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said that he is not introducing a new religion but is perfecting/improving the old religions of Abraham. Hence Islam is NOT a new religion. It is ‘Version 3’ of Christianity, which is in turn ‘Version 2’ of Judaism — if I may be permitted to use that modern/IT terminology to explain what I mean. And in that same spirit, the ‘operating system’ for Versions 1, 2 and 3 is the religion introduced by Abraham.

We must note that Muslims are compelled to pray five times a day and they have to face the House of God (Baitullah) when they pray. And the Ka’bah (picture above), the centre of the House of God, was supposed to have been built by Abraham and his son, Ismail (Ishmael), Abraham’s second son from his second (slave) wife.

Hence Islam definitely has the same roots as Judaism and Christianity. This cannot be denied. Maybe the use of the word ‘plagiarised’ sounds antagonistic and insulting and should not have been used but what that woman (or girl) posted in Facebook is not too far from the truth. Maybe she should withdraw the word ‘plagiarised’ and choose another word instead — such as ‘Islam was a religion that evolved from Christianity’ instead of ‘Islam was a religion plagiarised from Christianity’.

I would argue that Islam ‘evolved’ not only from Christianity but also from Judaism. And any Muslim who denies this is only fooling himself/herself. And that is why Muslims are allowed to eat meat (other than pork, of course) from an animal slaughtered by Christians and Jews. In Islam, ‘halal’ meat is not only meat from animals slaughtered by Muslims but also meat from animals slaughtered by the other ‘People of the Book’.

Parti Cinta Malaysia’s vice-president, Huan Cheng Guan (picture above), may now want to withdraw his police report. This woman (girl) he made the police report against was not wrong (other than wrong in using the word ‘plagiarised’). And maybe that woman/girl who made that Facebook posting should post an apology for using the ‘wrong’ word and correct her posting by saying that Islam ‘evolved’ from Judaism and Christianity.

I think this is such a trivial matter and we have enough ‘hate crimes’ as it is, even here in the UK (which even Prince Charles is worried about).

Oh, and one more thing, a Jew or Christian (even females) are allowed to marry a Muslim without the need to convert to Islam (although in Malaysia they ‘persuade’ the non-Muslim partner to convert to Islam). And ‘halal’ meat in Malaysia is only meat from animals slaughtered by Muslims but not meat from animals slaughtered by Jews and Christians.

Hence, just because the Malaysian government says so, it does not make it right. It is time we corrected this misconception and put things in the right perspective. The majority of Malaysian Muslims (meaning Malays) are actually ‘deviants’ who do not understand Islam.

And I take it Parti Cinta Malaysia’s vice-president, Huan Cheng Guan, who made that police report is a Muslim who has studied Islam in great depth.