MAY 9 — “Kalau kita cakap kita tidak boleh melaksanakan hudud kerana ia tidak sesuai, ia merupakan syirik besar dan kita akan dicampakkan ke dalam neraka.” (Translation: “If we say hudud law is not suitable in Malaysia, we are committing shirik and we will be thrown into hell.”)

Those were the words that made me cringe in the lecture hall during my 3 hour Islamic Studies class. It appalled me to know that some lecturers don’t teach you how to think anymore, but rather, they teach what to think. With no explanation, the ustaz that lectured the class just went on to tell everyone that if we don’t think hudud can be applied to Malaysia, they were meant for Hellfire for sure. He didn’t even bother to understand why people did not agree to it. He merely just said whoever does not agree is “our enemy”. As usual, people result to fear-mongering to get others on their side.

A lot of Malaysians, especially the conservative Muslims, misunderstand when some Muslims disagree with the implementation of hudud law in Malaysia. They think that we disagree with the law itself, or even worse, disbelieve in God’s divinity. Most of the time, however, this is not the case. A lot of Muslims (me included) disagree with the implementation of hudud law, not the law itself. This is because we don’t trust people, not because we don’t trust in Islam. We disagree in fear that the evil, unjust, corrupted and tyrannical will manipulate these religious laws to achieve their own selfish agendas. We disagree in fear that it will taint the justice that it was supposed to serve. When a religious law is being handled by petty human beings like ourselves, injustices are bound to happen.

Islam flourished as a great world civilisation between the eight and fourteenth centuries because of what it did for human dignity and social justice, not due to some attraction to hudud laws. Islam came as a liberator to all sorts of suffering and oppression. Many in favour of the implementation of the law will argue saying “It’s God’s law. We have to do it no matter what. It is the right thing to do and God will eventually show the way.” The simplest way to test this hypothesis is to look at other Muslim countries that adhere strictly to hudud law and ask yourself, “How do they treat their women, children and minorities? Are they treated justly and fairly?” You’d find the answer to be a resounding “No”. There are a few Muslim regimes today who adhere strictly to hudud law, and yet their people are still trapped in poverty, ignorance and ill health.

A significant amount of Muslims continue to believe that allegiance to hudud laws will eradicate all social ills, to the extreme point where they are willing to label “murtad” those who question the relevance of the law. From case studies of strict Islamic states (who by all means are only Islamic in name but not in essence), we should realise that these ills cannot be overcome through mere imposition of hudud laws. It is worth noting that elite corruption and oppression have caused the downfall of Muslim empires in history.

Hudud itself is a reminder to human beings of the importance of observing boundaries. In its philosophical sense, hudud is not a rigid and dogmatic set of rules. However, many Muslims choose to adopt a traditionalistic approach to Islam, and say that laws — not its values or principles — embody the sanctity of religion. There are only about 300 out of 6666 verses in the Quran that deal with various types of laws, but these verses are being overemphasised by ulamas to enhance their own power as they know that they alone have authority over interpretations.

The Quran does not prescribe any specific punishment for intoxication, but hudud laws do. Subsequently, the Quran too does not lay out punishment for apostasy (though it is condemned) and homosexuality, but in hudud, it is punishable by death. Similarly, the punishment for adulterers are 100 lashes in the Quran, but in hudud law, it is stoning to death. Most Muslims today accept these hudud punishments as divinely decreed, and this goes to show that legalistic and traditionalist Islam has a more powerful grip upon Muslims than the Quran itself. Many would also argue that these punishments are approved through ahadiths, but they seem to forget that when a saying goes against the essence of Islam, always fall back on God’s final word and give precedence to the Quran.

While it is important to reassert one’s identity as a way of protecting Muslim independence from Western domination, it does not mean one should be uncritical and unthinking. As I have mentioned above, interpretations by contemporary ulama, oppression, corruption and rigid conformity to tradition has caused the downfall of Muslim empires. So what does this have to do with hudud in Malaysia?

Everything.

Where our religious leaders say things like “Dia buka aurat, padan muka dia dirogol!” (Translation: “She didn’t cover up, she deserved to get raped!”), how can we expect justice to be served?

Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah (Kelantan Deputy MB) also said that “If a woman can prove that she was raped, she won’t be accused of adultery.” In a country where rape is underreported, now they wish to add burden to the victim’s trauma by saying she has to have a male witness, or else she will get stoned (for adultery) or lashed 100 times (for premarital sex). How does this discrimination coincide with the Quran?

Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman, president of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA), warned that “non-Muslims have no say in determining the future of Muslims in this country”. Does this not go against the universal message of Islam? There was once a time where Islam liberated people regardless of race and religion, but now it has been monopolised.

The harsh punishments of hudud law were meant to deter people from committing crimes. But in this modern world, it can be seen as means to achieve selfish political agendas. Malaysia is as corrupted as it is already with our current judiciary system and Shariah courts, yet some still want to implement a code of law that will be administered by people who have the same backward mentality as those who stoned 13-year-old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow. And to top it all off, because hudud law is a religious law, it “cannot be questioned” and thus, whatever the judge says, goes. No matter how unfair or unjust it may seem.

Let us concentrate on Islam’s universal message of peace, equality and justice. Islam is also a religion where its doors for repentance are always open, but how would you expect a person to repent if they had been stoned to death? Surely this is not the way of our All-Merciful and Compassionate God. Corruption happens no matter if governance is secular or Islamic, thus let us not get fooled by politicians who claim that imposing hudud law will immediately create utopia. The Quran itself teaches that life is a process of progressive creation, so let us not get sucked into regression. Let us stop politicising and monopolising Islam. The last thing Malaysia needs are seditious mouths and poisonous minds to control the country and spur it into further corruption.

I leave you with a quote from the late Islamic scholar, Fazlur Rahman Malik: “To insist on literal interpretations of the rules of the Quran, shutting one’s eyes to the social change that has occurred and that is so palpably occurring before our eyes, is tantamount to deliberately defeating its moral-social purpose and objectives. It is just as though, in view on the Quranic emphasis on freeing slaves, one were to insist on preserving the institution of slavery so that one could earn merit in the sight of God by freeing slaves. Surely, the whole tenor of the teaching of the Quran is that there should be no slavery at all.”

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again.

I trust in Islam. I don’t trust in people. 

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.