When did you start caring if hudud is Islamic? PAS MPs ask Dr M

KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — PAS lawmakers have brushed off Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s labelling of the party’s hudud as un-Islamic and a ploy, questioning the former prime minister’s sudden concern over the faithfulness of the Islamic penal code to the Quran.

Responding to Dr Mahathir’s claim that the hudud PAS is hoping to enforce in Kelantan was motivated by politics rather than Islam, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad also said any ruse over the Islamic penal law originated from the former prime minister’s own party.

“Since when was Mahathir bothered or interested whether an action is Islamic or otherwise?” he told Malay Mail Online via text message.

“If the hudud issue is a ploy, it is a ploy by Umno as it was an Umno minister who brought the issue to the fore when he suggested PAS do a [private] member’s Bill,” he said, referring to Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, the minister in charge of Islamic affairs.

Another PAS MP, Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa, said Dr Mahathir’s disapproval of hudud was not a new development, pointing out that the former prime minister has consistently opposed the Islamic penal law since his time in power.

While Mujahid accepted Dr Mahathir’s claim that politics was involved in hudud, he said this was the reality of the country’s democratic system.

“When you want to legalise it (hudud), you need political tools to pass such codes in a democratic process. How can you say it’s not political?” the Parit Buntar MP said.

Mujahid also insisted that hudud was an integral part of Muslim faith and PAS was simply attempting to reconcile this with Malaysia’s multi religious society and legal system.

“PAS is just trying to rationalise it within that context,” he added.

When denouncing “PAS’s hudud” as un-Islamic, Dr Mahathir said applying different sets of laws to Muslims and non-Muslims would create inequality that was against the tenets of Islamic justice.

But Khalid said that different rules already applied to followers of different religions.

“A Muslim prays five times a day and fasts the whole month of Ramadhan; a non-Muslim does not.

“Is that unfair? A Muslim is prohibited from drinking alcohol and the eating of pork; a non-Muslim is not. Is that unfair?” he asked.

By this virtue, Khalid said hudud was simply an extension of the different rules that were unique to Islam and “part and parcel of the faith”.

Aside from calling the Islamist party’s push for hudud as an attempt to gain electoral support, Dr Mahathir yesterday said that Umno was also wrong to support PAS in the matter.

The Kelantan state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment on March 19 with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.

PAS has also submitted two private member’s Bills to Parliament to remove the legal obstacles that prevent the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan, which will require bipartisan support from Umno and other lawmakers to pass.