The Kassim Ahmad-Galileo Galilei parallel

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 9, 2014

Some sects in Islam do not accept Hadith. Some sects do but only a few of the 7,000 or so Hadith that the Sunni Muslims consider authentic. Then again, some sects believe in different Hadith from those that the Sunni Muslims believe. So there is no real standardisation when it comes to Hadith. Different sects have different views regarding the matter.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The Kassim Ahmad episode reminds me of what happened to Galileo Galilei in the early 1600s. He, too, contradicted the fatwah of the Christian ulama’ that said earth is the centre of the universe and that the universe is only 6,000 years old.

It was not until 360 years later that the Church admitted it was wrong and Galileo was right. However, it took 360 years before the church would openly and publicly admit that earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around and that earth has been in existence for tens of billions of years. And that was only because Pope John Paul II was one of the more progressive church leaders.

The church wanted Galileo put to death for his heresy but because he had strong links with those who walk in the corridors of power they could only put him under house arrest. That probably saved him from being burned alive at the stake.

Kassim Ahmad, too, because the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad shared his views, was spared persecution and prosecution for the last 30 years or so. Only now have they gone for him in what many believe is to teach Dr Mahathir a lesson. Hence is Kassim Ahmad the real target or is this whole thing aimed at Dr Mahathir?

I have personally heard Dr Mahathir say what Kassim Ahmad said: that some of the Hadith or reported sayings of Prophet Muhammad need to be reviewed or re-evaluated. They did not say reject all Hadith outright. They said look at them again and see which Hadith can be accepted and which may not be correct.

This is merely an opinion. Opinions may be correct and opinions may be wrong. But is giving your opinion now considered a crime against God?

The fact that originally there were about 700,000 Hadith and less than 1% (or less than 7,000) were classified as Sahih or authentic means that there is certainly grounds to ask for even the balance 1% be looked at again. In fact, if you were to delete the repetition or overlapping Hadith, you would be left with just 5,000 and not 7,000.

The orthodox or fundamentalist Muslims would defend the Hadith to the death. They would classify those who question or reject the Hadith as infidels or apostates. A true Muslim must believe in both the Qur’an and the Hadith. To only believe in the Qur’an but not the Hadith means you are not a Muslim but an apostate. And the punishment for the crime of apostasy is death, no two ways about it.

This is the stand of the orthodox or fundamentalist Muslim. Hence, if Kassim Ahmad lived during the time of Galileo Galilei (or even now in some Muslim countries), he would have been put to death.

Why do these ulama’ or mullah have so much power and authority to decide on what we can and cannot believe and what will happen to us if we believe the wrong thing? Who created this priesthood class and this religious hierarchy? And who gave them the power of life and death? All this was not there during the time of Prophet Muhammad. It was created many years later so that the power and authority over religion can be monopolised by a handful of ‘scholars’.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK