Here we go banning books again
Malaysian Muslims are a weak and stupid bunch. We have established that for a very long time now because we constantly need supervision so that we don’t fall prey to manipulation.
Zan Azlee, The Malaysian Insider
We have all kinds of rules and laws telling us what we can and cannot do. We have all kinds of people, the so-called leaders and authorities, telling us what we can and cannot do.
It looks like all the religious studies that have been compulsory for us Malaysian Muslims students who go to national school have not worked at all.
We still don’t know anything about the religion. So many books have been banned because it doesn’t conform to the Islam the so-called leaders and authorities want us to believe in.
Hence the most recent banning of books imposed by the Home Ministry about two months ago have been a slew of religious ones that have somehow found their way into the country.
They are:
1. The teachings of the Quran by HU Weitbrecht.
2. Bahaullah And the new era and introduction to the Bahai faith by JE Esslemont.
3. Detik-detik pembongkaran agama: mempopulerkan agama kebajikan menggagas pluralisme-pembebasan by Nur Khalik Ridhwan and Sirsaeba Alafsana.
4. Jalan yang lurus: kita harus meneroka jalan ini by Kassim Ahmad.
5. Tabut: penjelasan tentang segala sesuatu by Abdul Kahar Bin Ahmad Jalal.
The first two books in the list above were published so long ago, almost a century ago to be exact, that one can wonder how much of a threat it can be.
Both are actually books about different religions (Christianity and Bahai) and written by Europeans. Sure, The Teachings of the Quran is about Islam but from a Christian’s perspective.
Having the books around actually gives us Muslims an opportunity to study other religions and equip ourselves with good comparative religious understanding.
That would actually strengthen our own faith, wouldn’t it? Unless, of course, we don’t understand our own religion enough to be able to compare it.
