Don’t just label me, come debate with me, Kassim Ahmad tells Muslim critics
“They disregard the views and opinions of others. That is how they have come to this conclusion. In other words, they are not honest. God is all-knowing. I do not fear them. They (Jakim) are small fries.”
Looi Sue-Chern, The Malaysian Insider
Dr Kassim Ahmad is no stranger to controversy, and only recently he has been accused of another wrongdoing, encouraging apostasy.
The only prominent person who has openly defended him so far is former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, his junior during their years at University of Malaya in Singapore.
Kassim, who once headed Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM), was repeatedly slammed for his views on the hadith, or the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, at a seminar in Putrajaya last weekend.
But Dr Mahathir said Kassim was labeled “anti-hadith” because detractors failed to debate with him on religious issues.
“Tun (Dr Mahathir) is a thinker,” Kassim said. “He gives his views on what is happening and many people respect him for it,” Kassim told The Malaysian Insider at his home in Kulim, Kedah, recently.
Kassim, who joined Umno in 1986, praised Dr Mahathir, saying he “has great drive to correct what he deems as mistakes”.
He recalled telling Dr Mahathir upon the latter’s retirement that they both belong to the old generation, lamenting they could not do anything if the younger generation did not want to listen to them.
He said Dr Mahathir had then answered that he would continue to give his views.
He and Dr Mahathir go a long way back. Kassim’s childhood home was in Bukit Pinang, Jitra, some four miles from Titi Gajah, where Dr Mahathir used to live.
“After he was expelled from Umno in September 1969, I called on him at his house there. When he saw me at his doorstep, he told me that I did not look like a communist,” said Kassim, who said they used to write to each other on contemporary Malaysian problems.
“I was heading PSRM at the time,” he said, adding that it was Dr Mahathir who had him released from Internal Security Act detention in 1981 shortly after becoming the prime minister.
Kassim was PSRM president from 1968 to 1984, and was detained for almost five years for his views. Now 80, he is again in the spotlight for his non-mainstream views about Islam, namely the hadith.
He is being investigated by the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) over some controversial statements he made at “The Thoughts of Kassim Ahmad: A Review”, a seminar organised by the Perdana Leadership Foundation, of which Dr Mahathir is the patron.
Among others, Kassim had accused some ulama (religious scholars) in Malaysia of imitating the “priesthood caste” system.
He riled up Muslims on both sides of the divide when he questioned the use of hadith to interpret the Quran, and described the Prophet as “just a messenger of Allah”.
In his lecture titled “The Nation’s Direction in the Next Thirty Years”, Kassim also questioned the hijab (Islamic headscarf) worn by Muslim women, saying that “the hair is not part of the aurat” (parts of the body which need to be covered according to Islamic teachings).
Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha said they would question Kassim on his controversial views.
In its latest Friday sermon text, Jakim reminded Muslims of the obligation to believe, accept and obey the hadith, saying the words of the Prophet’ were divinely inspired and the source of the Islamic law.
Kassim, who said he had anticipated such a reaction from Jakim, challenged it to prove the accusation that he insulted the Prophet.
“They disregard the views and opinions of others. That is how they have come to this conclusion. In other words, they are not honest. God is all-knowing. I do not fear them. They (Jakim) are small fries,” said Kassim.
Kassim said the reactions to his lecture were mixed, with some challenging him to debate and while there were others who congratulated him.
He said his views on the hadith were not new, recalling that his work “Hadis: Satu Penilaian Semula” (Hadith: A Re-evaluation), which was banned in 1986. He urged the Home Ministry to lift the ban, but the matter was referred to Jakim, which meant he was back in square one.
On his view on the ulama “caste”, Kassim said he used the term “priesthood” because the ulama have become “dictators” of the Muslim’s understanding of his Islam.
“This class of priests control the interpretation of religion to the masses. They are dictators. There is no freedom,” he said.
