IS: Clear, present danger to Malaysia
We’ll continue to lose our young to its savage cause as its ideology continues to gain traction in our society.
Ishmael Lim, Free Malaysia Today
Will our religious authorities please make an official stand or come out with a fatwa against IS (Islamic State)? What they are doing has no basis at all in Islam. In addition to hijacking the good name of Islam for their brutal and murderous ambitions in Iraq and Syria, they are subverting the minds of our young Muslims with their insidious propaganda.
The number of Malaysians lost to this savage cause will continue to mount as IS’ deviant ideology continues to gain traction and sympathy amongst our youth. Apparently, even some politicians from PAS have been taken in, as indicated by their description of Malaysian IS fighter Mohd Lotfi Ariffin as a martyr.
IS’ influence is set to expand exponentially if nothing is done to counter its philosophy, which has garnered support even from non-Arabic speaking Muslims from the western countries.
The impulse or motivation to martyr oneself for a noble cause is there in every culture and tradition. Given the right impetus, someone who serves his faith in a quiet passive manner through prayer, study, preaching and charity may suddenly turn into a fearless hero in the defence of his convictions when persecuted for his beliefs or attacked by an invading force.
This is the kind of fearlessness that the likes of IS, with its media savvy and manifest cruelty, manipulates in an effective militaristic strategy to instil fear in the enemy. The opposing forces desert their positions in terror even before the arrival of the IS frontline troops, as shown in the wholesale desertion of the poorly trained Iraqi garrison from Mosul.
In Islam, the idea of “syahid” (martyrdom) is closely intertwined with “jihad.” Syahid literally means “bearing witness” or, in the common understanding of the word, simply “witness,” whereas “jihad” is to die for the cause of the faith, resulting in martyrdom. There is no definitive distinction made if the objective of syahid has to be met through martyrdom, only that the intention must be sincere. It is here, in the vagueness and absence of a descriptive definition, that terrorist ideals are being substituted for what is true in the classical context of defence when one is under threat.
Then there is an Arabic word that denotes a concept more innovated than the classical idea of defence. “Istishhad” refers to a militaristic strategy using jihadist justifications to inflict casualty and death, and in recent times to explain suicide or martyrdom operations against the oppressor.
Reckless and deluded
Dr. Afifi al-Akiti, a Malaysian and a visiting professor at UiTM, a fellow of Worcester College at Oxford and the current KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, in his book ‘Defending the Transgressed’, speaks harshly of suicide bombings and the targeting of non-combatants.
Killing in such a manner, he says, is haram. It is cursed because it is suicide, “or at the very least doubtful in a way such that it must be avoided by those who are religiously scrupulous.” He adds, “Any sane Muslim who would believe otherwise and think the above to be not a crime would be both reckless and deluded. The result in Islamic jurisprudence is: if a Muslim carries out such an attack voluntarily, he becomes a murderer and not a martyr or a hero, and he will be punished for that in the next world.”
