Hudud – The Muslim pride and priceless gem

Musa Ismail, Harakah Daily

The provision of Hudud is like sparkling jewels studded to the crown of the Holy Quran. Allah the Most Beneficient had over 1,400 years ago ordained through the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Pbuh that Hudud be implemented forthwith. True to his prophethood, when the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Pbuh set up the Islamic State of Medina, he wasted no time in implementing not only the specific Hudud laws but put into practice in the realm all the Quranic judicial and legal provisions, the Divine punishments and moral reforms as magnificiently enshrined in the Holy Quran.

Rising from the buzzing desert sands the majestic State of Medina became the first ever proud Islamic State that was modelled wholly according to true spirit and soul of the Holy Quran and a state dedicated to the glory of God’s laws wherein every facet of life was confined to the resplendent pages of the Holy Quran. Politics, administration, economy, education, social fabric, trade, moral and psychological development and so forth were all gleamingly woven and regulated by the dictates of the Holy Quran.

This Islamic State of Medina is the “Kingdom of God” which Prophet John referred to and proclaimed “to be at hand” in the Bible wherein every citizen submitted earnestly to the laws of God (Quranic laws and Hudud). All citizens Muslim and non-Muslims were protected and treated fairly by the State. There was not any incidence of discrimination. All loved to be the humble servants of Allah irrespective whether they were intelectuals, poets, soldiers, tradesmen, farmers etc. No one openly or obliquely claimed to be the specialists, experts, the think-tanks, scholars,”gurus” or the like on the corpus of Islam. Everyone listened to and practised to his heart delight the teachings of the Beloved prophet Muhammad Pbuh. And Hudud ranked solemnly high in the legal hierarchy of the state.

It is tragic and pathetic to learn that Dr Chandra Muzaffar in his article “Pas’ ill-conceived hudud move” (Strait Times dated 23 April 2014) bluntly questioned Kelantan’s bid to introduce Hudud by asking “how would the punishments prescribed in the hudud laws reduce crimes in the state?. This is outrageous. It is not within our province to know whether crimes would be reduced by way of the application of the hudud laws or otherwise.

The writer does not see the wood for the trees. The point here is that “once ordained the Hudud must be implemented”. That was the Will of Allah. As a mortal servant of Allah our duty is to earnestly apply the laws to our lives. And that was what was precisely done by the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Pbuh with all his mighty but humble heart. He did not parade his own opinion, made hair-splitting comments or felt uneasy or entertained doubts or asked outrageous questions as to the efficacy of the Hudud laws particularly asking for guarantee that crimes would be wiped out from the face of mother earth.

The Beloved Prophet Pbuh did not undertake an in-depth study and delayed the application of the Hudud laws. No! He  merely said “I hear and I obey”. Let it be known that if Allah wanted the earth to be free from all crimes Allah would have easily willed so without instructing the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Pbuh to apply the Hudud laws. In short it is merely Allah’s will, that’s it. And our duty is merely to say “we listen and we obey”.

I would like to caution every Muslim out there that making personal comments on the Hudud laws is like treading a perilous slippery path in the darkness of the night. A wrong opinion would lead oneself to the Door of Apostacy without we realising it.  We might mislead the ignoramus or rattle rubbish to the many profoundly learned Muslims out there. Nay, do not rely on our presumed vast knowledge, our academic credentials and laurels, our voluminous writings and discourse or the praises from other well-accolade academics. Be wary that Allah had stated in the Holy Quran eloquently “ Allah knows but you do not know”.  Yes, how little knowledge we possess and how pretentiously tall we parade ourselves to the world as holding the light of knowledge.

The article stated further that with the introduction of Hudud laws, Kelantan would have a dual judicial/legal system, one –  the man-made common law and the other – the Hudud laws from Allah the All-Knower. Hence the writer argued that “one could be more severe than the other. Would that be just? Would that be morally right?”

Again the parameter of the issue has been taken on the unlikely perspective. The issue here is the implementing of the Hudud laws to the Muslims, not of comparing the two legal/judicial system that “one is severe than the other”. The issue is as far as the Muslims are willing to obey the Almighty’s Hudud  and likewise the non-Muslims to submit their lives to the man-made common laws, such harmonious milieu would go well for a cohesive foundation of a enriched stable State. Each community is free to exercise one’s willingness and devotion to live under the system one is pleased with. Hence, there would not be any reason for any upheavel social or otherwise. Please do not look at this scenario as a badly painted chair.

The disparity of punishments cannot be the yardstick for the measurement of justice between the two systems. It is also not an indicator of whether it is “morally right” or otherwise between the two. There is no justification for comparison. The scenario is of a community divided by two set of judicial/legal system well compartmentalised by their own choice in a mutually respected coexistence.

Amid the furore of the implementation of the Hudud laws and the spectre of its antagonism, let us put ourselves  in the proper light and be guided by the Divine favour. All of us as Muslims have an obligation to see that the Hudud laws see the light of day. In fact we have failed miserably in our duty by knowingly or inadvertently letting the days go by without lifting our fingers to assist in the application of the Hudud laws. In this respect, truly, we have sinned. We have lagged behind for more than 1400 years from the day Allah the Most Magnificient sent down His Will for the implementation of the Hudud laws to the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Pbuh. And we are still wanting to stretch ourselves in the unending polemics and unfruitful discourses and thus keep delaying the implementing of the Hudud laws. How long more we have to wait? Until nature bares its teeth?

Neglecting and throwing Hudud out of the windows of our domain put us squarely in the like of the Jews and the Christians of the Biblical times when the Jews viciously and the Christians wickedly rejected the laws of God (Hudud of the times) brought forth by Moses and Jesus respectively and thereby incurring the Wrath of God upon themselves. Repeating history and like the Jews and the Christians we have fallen miserably out of the Favour of Allah and eternally if we continue to slight Hudud.

My advise is let all of us as God-fearing Muslims, shedding our differences and  dissenting views, work together and assist the move by PAS to implement the Hudud laws instead of opening our mouth loud and in the process stifling this graceful move towards this Divinely blessed destination. Let us strengthen our Muslim Brotherhood in this particular undertaking seriously “even if we have to sacrifice our wealth and lives”. These are not my philosophical words but the Divine Words of the Almighty in the Holy Quran. Have you forgotten? Let us learn from the colony of ants which organized themselves in a cooperative strong teamwork to realize the fulfilments of the Lord, day after day until Eternity. Are we not ashamed to these little creatures?

There is one little story of chivalry which could be of good lesson to our stiff revolting mind. When Prophet Abraham was burned at a stake a little charming bird swoop a few drops of water in its beak and flew above the raging fire. There it dropped the droplets of water in its frantic attempt to extinguish the fire to save Prophet Abraham and the religion of God. Ask ourselves, like the little bird, what little thing have we done to get the Hudud laws to its rightful place amidst us. Tell that to God.

Looking back into history, we note with felicity that all illustrious Muslim personalities and sages endorsed the Hudud laws without question. Neither did they conduct “in-depth study” or fear “polarization between Muslims and followers of other faiths” etc. To name a few, personalities like Imam Malik, Imam Hambali, Iman Shafie, Imam Hanafi, Imam Ghazali, Imam Nawawi and other Muslim stalwarts in their rank had never objected or had oblique views on the Hudud laws. They were no ordinary Muslims. They were men of profound high learning and extraordinary God-fearing souls. They were close to God for they, in the footsteps of the Beloved Prophet Pbuh, stood long in the far stretches of the night in their “Solat Tahajjud” whispering to God nightly for long enchanting hours beseeching for Divine guidance. By virtue thereof little wonder that they were constantly under the blessed guidance of God and their discourses were magnificiently spectacular and beyond our reach and their sincerity unparallel.  On the contrary, I wonder whether our contemporary eloquent intellectuals spent their night like the religious thinkers of yore.

Be that as it may, in the twilight of the night and in our tender moments, ask our soul whether we are warmly sincere in wanting the Hudud laws or are we silhouettely averse to it. Do not bid around the mulberry bush. God knows.