JULY 31 — Muslims might want to ask themselves: what does it mean when former Disney star Selena Gomez’s concert in Shah Alam earlier this week went without a hitch, despite mass requests for divine intervention to stop it? Perhaps God is a fan?
And they should also realise how an elected representative from Islamist party PAS, Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, had blatantly abused his power as Selangor exco in charge of religious affairs to unilaterally order mosques in the state to hold special prayers last week against Gomez.
Ahmad Yunus’ order has since been disavowed by not only Selangor mentri besar Azmin Ali, but also the state religious authorities. But not before numerous mosques had held the prayer sessions after their Friday prayers.
Ever since a change in its leadership last year, the Youth wing of PAS had steered away from public protests against entertainment events — something that has since been associated with it. Until now.
The protest against Gomez was ostensibly because the concert was held in the Syawal month in the Islamic calendar, the start of which was celebrated by Aidilfitri.
According to PAS Youth, “sexy” Gomez would tarnish the nobility of the month, which is “celebrated with gratitude and penitence” by Muslims.
This is in a way, new. Aidilfitri has always been marked as a month of joy and festivities, not a month of restraint and quiet contemplation like Ramadan is supposed to be.
That PAS tried to impose abstinence even in Syawal, points to its continued fight to deny all sorts of fun. Would we see protests in every Islamic month, just because it is deemed holy by Muslims?
For Gomez though, PAS has failed its mission. For all its fire and brimstone preaching, nobody from PAS had even bothered to actually come and hold a public demonstration outside the concert, unlike before.
Instead, the torch was carried by a handful of activists from Muslim groups Pertubuhan Kebajikan Darul Islah Malaysia (Perkid) and Pertubuhan Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Aswaja), who recited the Yasin chapter of the Quran and held their own special prayer session outside the concert.
To what end? We might never know.
It was however ironic to see that while Gomez’s fans were free to wear what they wanted, the pop singer was resigned to a small number of drab outfits fit for office lunch meetings.
One of which was a pair of oversized pants, paired with a black top complete with long sleeves and turtle-neck, and round sunglasses. You could be forgiven for expecting Gomez to deliver a Stevenote announcing the latest Apple device with a “one more thing...”
But do not kid yourself. Gomez certainly did not jump with abandon into fashion crime just to “respect” Islam and Malaysian culture.
And her covering up was certainly not a victory that PAS can shamelessly claim.
After all, respect is earned. And Gomez’s dress-code was ultimately mandated by Malaysian rules and regulations imposed by the State. Concert organiser PR Worldwide had worked painstakingly to ensure that Gomez appeared “modestly” so the concert could go on. And they delivered.
Gomez did it because otherwise she would not be allowed to perform in Malaysia, disappointing thousands of her fans. She did it out of love for the fans — and perhaps money — but respect? Unlikely.
Forget what you might think about how Muslim values and codes would only apply to Muslims. It is clear that for Islamists, they would only rest when everybody submit to their narrow brand of Islamic code and morals.
And this moral policing starts early, as with the case of a female student who was reportedly hospitalised due to neural cramps after she was slapped by her religious teacher, or ustazah.
This was despite the Form Three student having previously been hospitalised for a slip, and was suffering from neurological problems. She was warned against strenuous work and joining sports.
Although she has checked out of the hospital, there were fears by her family that she might become paralysed due to the corporal punishment.
The ustazah’s excuse? The girl had allegedly shaped her eyebrows, a practice seen by some Muslims as forbidden for “tampering” with God’s creation.
It does not matter that the family has denied that. Let that sink in for a moment. Slapped. For waxing or threading one’s eyebrows.
And this was not an isolated case, as many women who have gone through the local education system would attest to.
This was not even the worst part of this story. Instead, not only was the student hospitalised, but she and her family were then allegedly slandered in social media, accused of trying to tarnish the reputation of the ustazah.
Teacher’s NGO Kelab Intelek dan Pendidikan Malaysia accused the student of wearing “tight clothes”, “small tudung”, and being rude to justify her getting slapped. There were other anecdotal posts on Facebook defending the ustazah for slapping her, and shifting the blame to the student.
Some people chose to believe these viral posts, even when the ustazah herself never came out to clear her name, either with a police report or to the media.
Why? Because many apparently could not accept that a religious teacher could ever be responsible for violence, or capable of fabricating a story to cover up her crime.
In one way, the Islamists have won a battle in Malaysia. They have won a long time ago when now such concerts have to submit to conservative values held only by a certain quarters of our society — and certainly not the kind of people who would go to concerts anyway.
They have won another battle when our daughters are being subjected to moral policing that early in life, making them think it is okay for women to be treated in such a way, and when bad things happen, it is the women’s fault.
Some Muslims believe that the prayers of the oppressed are more potent, not when you are the oppressor. Is it any wonder some prayers fail?
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
