Are religious scholars the bane of nation-building?

By admin-s On Jul 30, 2018

The problem with Muslim religious scholars is that they seem to project that they know everything… correction – that they know everything that should be known to live a good life and to go to heaven. Other knowledge is irrelevant.

Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi, Free Malaysia Today

The education ministry should take another look at the Islamic education syllabus with a view of the bigger picture of nation-building.

I read the very disturbing report that one of the most progressive thinking religious scholars in Malaysia had written a Facebook post in support of a demonstration over allegations of Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy’s dubious ties to a Tamil terror group.

I find this action extremely disturbing because if there had been an unfortunate clash between the supporters of Asri Zainul Abidin and Ramasamy, who should we blame for any loss of life, especially from among our young adults who are the sons and daughters of innocent Malays and Muslims?

This action by Asri pains me deeply because I am one of his strongest supporters regarding his views on Islam and the problem of backward thinking in Malay society.

It is no secret that PAS, Umno and a whole group of “Islamic officials” disagree with the many judgments, opinions and statements of the educated mufti. Asri’s action also came a few days after he made what to me was an extremely childish and ridiculous suggestion that there be a debate between preacher Zakir Naik and Ramasamy, and that the loser be sent back to India!

I thought this was the most racist statement that Asri could have made after his earlier quarrel with Hindraf’s P Waythamoorthy concerning, again from his Facebook postings, insults against Hindus. In the Ramasamy case, how can we, as Malaysians, build a country when we keep telling our fellow citizens to “pergi balik negeri”?

I have had my tiff with Ramasamy over the Rayani Air issue. He said many unkind things to me but I never once said such a thing as “balik negeri” to him – a fellow citizen of Malaysia. Umno has always been the party to say such stupid and derogatory things, and we Malaysians have gotten used to the low level of thinking of the members of that outdated party. But to have a mufti with a PhD echoing such sentiments that reek of racism and bigotry drove a knife right through my heart.

Before this sad incident, we were shaken by another so-called religious scholar (without a PhD) who said that the Chinese are a dirty people because of their toilet habits. This was followed by the incident in which non-Muslims were denied the use of a launderette. Again, we have Zamihan Mat Zin, a highly influential cleric and one who works for the government, making shallow and shoddy statements unbecoming of a ranking official.

Before this, we also had the mufti of Pahang proclaiming that those who voted against PAS’ proposed motion to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or RUU355 in Parliament could be considered kafir harbi and, therefore, could be legally killed from the so-called Islamic perspective.

What followed was a disgusting forum held at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia on which kind of citizens could be killed and under what conditions. Zamihan was one of the panelists and he and a few others were extremely traditionalist in their views. The only panelist who demonstrated reason, compassion and the academic credentials of a doctorate was Maszlee Malik, who is now education minister.

The question for us Malays and Muslims in Malaysia is: What are we to do with our religious scholars? If non-Muslims say something, it might be construed as blasphemy and elicit statements such as “Ini tanah Melayu lah!” As an educated Muslim, I have studied many branches of knowledge from architecture to religion, spirituality and sustainability, as well as a host of other things using the fundamental knowledge construct and methodology of the West.

Being a Muslim by birth was never enough for me to go around condemning other religions and looking down on anyone and everyone who does not think like I do. As a professor, I teach young academics that PhDs are nothing more than a drop in an ocean of knowledge, and that the higher you climb, the wider the realm of the unknown becomes.

I once asked a professor of education at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia at a seminar after his talk on the idea of knowledge generation and critical evaluation the following question: “Well, I agree with your discourse on the modern knowledge construct, but what happens when an ulama starts saying that the only construct worth studying is the Islamic one which disagrees in its entirety with your discourse on modern knowledge?”

The UTM professor kept quiet and just shrugged. Therein lies the problem. Malays do not dare to question what is considered “the religious authority”.

Somehow, there are some people who have been acknowledged by a body or an organisation or a “special personality” as being in possession of the truth and nothing but the truth.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is not how I understand knowledge in the university construct. The number one rule of academia is simply: the greatest professor is the one who DOES NOT KNOW THE MOST. Confused? Shouldn’t a professor be the one who knows the most? No. You see, the greatest professor is the one who dares to climb the highest ladder and has observed the furthest boundary of knowledge. He or she knows that there are more things we do not know than what we think we already know.

This is the difference between the true academic and the true religious scholar as opposed to the so-called religious scholars that we have in Malaysia. Even the great Imam Shafiee said that there were great limitations to his own breadth of knowledge several centuries ago. But somehow, we seem to have great experts in Islam who think they can do no wrong.

This problem of religious scholars being a bane to nation-building can only be resolved by Malays and Muslims using their brains a bit more often and understanding that there is no one who knows absolutely everything about Islam or the topic of religion in a modern nation-building construct.

It is most sad that many of my friends who have been educated at the master’s and even PhD level demonstrate a simplistic dependence on these so-called populist ustazs for Islamic knowledge.

So, I come back to the question: If a religious scholar supports a mass religion-tinged demonstration against another citizen of this country, who are we to blame if there is a riot and lives are lost? The religious scholar, or the simple-minded Malay Muslims who allow themselves to be led by the nose by religious personalities with dubious private agendas?

Whatever the answer, we are headed into deeper and deeper waters in the next few years.

It is high time that Muslims educated at the tertiary level wake up and smell the stink. Malays and Muslims in Malaysia should establish their critical thinking on issues of religion and nation-building. It would be a great help if the education ministry takes another look at the Islamic education syllabus with a view of the bigger picture of nation-building, sustainability through mutual coexistence and being a part of human civilisation.

We should never have an education system that produces future politicians who say “Ini tanah Melayu dan kita kena fikir hanya untuk Melayu dan Islam saja!” (This land belongs to the Malays and we must only think about the Malays and Islam).