Define ‘progressive’ please, Dr Dzul

By MT Webmaster Last updated Oct 2, 2014

So we need to be clear on what Dr Dzul means by progressive and how far this progressiveness extends. If it is only as far as abandoning the Islamic State and the Islamic Sharia laws of Hudud then this is not progressive. That is political expediency aimed at making sure that non-Muslims vote for PAS.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Progressives ‘not minority’ in PAS, claims research centre CEO

(Malay Mail Online) – PAS’ progressive faction is “unfairly” categorised as a minority group in the party, according to PAS Research Centre head Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad who insisted they were more than just the usual “poster boys”.

According to the PAS central committee member, the faction also won big in the party internal polls last year, and many sit on the high-ranking positions now, including deputy president Mohamad Sabu and vice-president Datuk Husam Musa.

“The so-called Erdogan, progressive, moderate… they win and they win big, and you’re trying to say that we’re the minority? That’s rather unfair,” Dzulkefly said in the Symposium on Islam, Democracy and Secularism here.

The faction — comprising professionals and activists instead of Islamic clerics — is also nicknamed the Erdogans, after three-term Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, popularly known for his economic reforms.

“Why did they vote us? They believe, want to see PAS move forward… Stop calling us the minorities,” he told the forum co-organised by Penang Institute and the Islamic Renaissance Front.

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I personally know Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and know him well after having worked with him since 1999 on many assignments. So I can vouch for him and testify that he is very sincere in what he says and does.

However, what Dr Dzul needs to do is to define what he means by ‘progressive’. Progressive means different things to different people and no two people have the same interpretation of what the concept means.

There are different degrees of progressiveness and one person’s progressive can be another person’s transgression. If Dr Dzul is looking at progressiveness merely from the Islamic perspective then non-Muslims may view this as not progressive enough.

Is Dr Dzul prepared to look at progressiveness beyond the boundaries of Islam or should it be confined to the very narrow and strict does and don’ts of Islam? In that case is this progressiveness really progressive enough?

I suspect Dr Dzul means progressive confined to the very narrow and strict boundaries of Islam and not to extend beyond that. In that case while this may be considered progressive enough for Dr Dzul it will still be seen archaic and medieval to society at large.

So when we talk about progressive we are not talking about modern or western progressiveness but Islamic progressiveness, which would still be very un-progressive for most people, non-Muslims in particular.

For example, if a non-Muslim were to marry a Muslim, would the non-Muslim partner need to convert to Islam? If the answer is yes then this is not progressive.

And what if a Hindu man marries a Muslim woman and he wants his children to become Hindus? Will this be allowed since the children can follow the religion of the father? If the answer is no then this is not progressive.

And what if a Christian marries a Muslim and the Christian partner wants a church wedding? Will this be allowed? If the answer is no then this is not progressive.

And what if one partner is Muslim and the other non-Muslim and they want to allow their children to decide which religion they want to follow once they reach 18? Hence the children are not given any religious education. Will this be allowed? If the answer is no then this is not progressive.

This is only one example involving marriages between Muslims and non-Muslims and I have not even gone into the other ‘sensitive’ areas. Even then you can see that Muslims may find it very difficult to accept such progressiveness.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK