JUNE 3 ― Let me ask you a question. We live in a modern, democratic 21st century. Suppose someone came up to you with a set of law books. We will not consider the origin or claims of divine authorities at this point.

Let us focus on the actual laws themselves. These include:

1. Killing people who leave a particular religion.

2. Stoning adulterers to death.

3. Restriction of movement for women.

Without any consideration as to the origins of these laws, who in their right mind would ever accept them? Only people with proclivities towards violence and an obsession with sexual misbehaviour, I surmise. Yet, if we add the divine tag to these laws, they suddenly become “obligatory” for Muslims to support without any critical thinking. That is what happens when you have religion sans reason.

Hadi Awang would do literally anything to realise his vision of an Islamic state. What ISIS seeks, Hadi does too but he does it through Parliament rather than with guns.

Hadi’s latest dance move regarding hudud is to propose that the authority of the Shariah courts be expanded just falling short of the death penalty itself. The prime minister has tried to assure us this is not about hudud at all.

The PM's statement is literally true if we take the word “hudud” to literally mean “limits.” This Bill will not take us to the very limits of Islamofascist law. In that the PM is right but conceptually speaking, the statement is false. It really is about hudud. It is about pushing the boundaries of Shariah law till it finally reaches its limits ― the Islamofascist state.

What does the PM hope to gain from this? Firstly, some applause from the PAS grassroots. Throwing some support behind Hadi would allay the resistance somewhat.

Secondly, perhaps the PM's support can drive a wedge between component parties of the fledgling Pakatan Harapan.

Pakatan Harapan is on a far better footing than Pakatan Rakyat, to be sure. However, the Amanah component is still on the “not ready for hudud” excuse. “Not ready” implies “can be ready someday” and so the potential for Pakatan Harapan to split is ever present.

How would rational people counter Hadi’s Hudud Bill? For a start, by questioning its divine origin. Hudud’s main thrust is that Hadi and his gang tell us that these are God’s laws.

What they don’t tell you is that these laws do not even have a single version even among Sunni schools of law. They also don’t tell you that these laws are not even found in the Quran!

No, hudud laws originate from the Bible, specifically the Old Testament. Christians themselves do not subscribe to these laws anymore but ironically, Muslims do.

Another thing we need to ask Hadi is, why does he want to inflict harsher punishments? Why are the current punishments not enough? Why does Hadi and his priestly class not focus on education and rehabilitation? Why can we not appeal to the rational in people? No, they would rather choose the most irrational and barbaric path because it is the simplest.

Finally, we need to ask them, what is their final goal? Is their final goal the actual hudud which are the barbaric punishments mentioned above? You will find that it is.

If that is the case, then the current Bill is nothing more than a surreptitious creep towards that final goal. And believe me, that goal is not that far in the distance.

I personally do not believe this latest Bill would pass. Already the “heroes” of MCA and MIC are doing their own little dances to counter Hadi’s first move.

Soon we will see this proposal die off but gullible Malaysia would think that Najib and Hadi tried to implement Islam but MCA and MIC defended non-Muslims from the Islamic onslaught. The hudud dance will continue until the Malay-Muslims transcend it.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.