Ustaz Shahul has been sliced up. What will the IRA do?
Who should do what to Ustaz Shahul? This is a problem for the eleven corporations he maligned and for the Islamic authorities responsible for halal certification and the presentation of Islam in Malaysia.
Rama Ramanathan
400+ police reports have been made about Islamic religious teacher Ustaz Shahul Hamid, whom the media call “curry powder preacher.” The complainants are mostly Indians outraged by his comments about curry powder and a Hindu idol. His comments were in a video clip which surfaced on the internet last week.
The Ustaz has apologized. He has clarified that the troublesome comments were a small part of a speech he gave to a closed-door audience of Muslims. He has said he did not intend to offend. He has said he doesn’t know who uploaded the clip or why they did so.
I’ve not seen the original clip. I have seen a segment mated with the apology by the Ustaz. In the segment, the Ustaz says that at the entrance to the curry powder manufacturing facility of a prominent brand with an Indian name, there is a Hindu idol with its tongue sticking out.
The Ustaz insinuates that the tongue is sticking out so the idol can taste and approve ingredients which go into the curry powder. So, the Ustaz says, the curry powder is haram (forbidden for Muslims) and should not be purchased or consumed by Muslims – especially since curry powder is also made and distributed by Muslim businesses.
The video and its content
I wondered why the Ustaz targeted Hindus. I wondered who his audience was. I wondered where he spoke. I couldn’t find this information in the news stories I located. So I Googled and found the 90 minute speech from which the 1 minute segment (which begins at 1h 01m 10s) was culled; it was uploaded on 26 April 2014.
According to news reports, the Ustaz says he made the speech 4 years ago. What follows is what I found when I sliced up his speech.
Venue. The Ustaz, from Penang, had been invited by either a surau or a mosque in either Kuala Lumpur or Selangor to speak about what is haram for Muslims. I say “either” because the evidence I have does not conclusively favour one over the other. He spoke for about 90 minutes to a full house. He received, at best, a luke-warm response – but his speech was posted online.
His training. The Ustaz says he has some Indian ancestry, and that he was educated in village schools (sekolah pondok) in Baling, Penang, Thailand, Indonesia and Egypt; he has a Masters degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He seems fluent in modern and classical Arabic.
Dr Kassim Ahmad. Although the Ustaz’s assigned topic was “halal and haram in the life of a Muslim,” he spent a third of his speech attacking Dr Kassim Ahmad, Malaysia’s elderly and best-known Muslim critic who says many Muslims idolize the Prophet of Islam, give too much emphasis to the Hadith (“traditions”) and add burdens upon believers which Allah never intended to be mandatory for all.
Students. The Ustaz reveals that he has many students, and that on more than one occasion he, together with his students, has gone to public meetings to confront Dr Kassim about his teachings.
Alcohol. The Ustaz mocks Dr Kassim and his associates. He says he was prevented from asking further questions at one of the meetings. He insinuates that Dr Kassim and his associates teach it is okay for Muslims to consume alcohol, so long as they don’t pray while intoxicated.
Islamic Malaysia. The Ustaz says “the Federation” is Islamic; he says Islam is expected to be in the warp and woof of the Federation, not to be merely symbolic. He reveals no knowledge of the equal status Sabah and Sarawak have with Malaya in the Federation.
Eggs. The Ustaz has a materialistic view of halal and haram. In purple prose, he lambasts those who do not wash eggs before cooking them. He tells of occasions when he’s told stall owners to wash eggs before cracking them.
The Ustaz says he told an Indonesian he would have him deported if he didn’t wash an egg before cooking it. He says he went to a stall reputed to have “the best mamak mee goreng,” then refused to eat what was presented to him when, under interrogation, the cook admitted the eggs weren’t washed before being added to the dish.
Salted fish. The Ustaz says salted Tenggiri fish is not halal because it’s a larger fish and it’s innards have to be removed before it can be considered halal.
Ah Pek. The Ustaz repeatedly refers to Chinese as “Ah Pek,” in a derogatory tone.
Toothpaste. The Ustaz doesn’t approve of toothpaste made by Zaitun, a Muslim company which he says is unacceptable, even though the Chinese owners are Muslims. Go figure.
