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Friday, April 25, 2008

Islamic state for Malaysia. The point is, non-Muslim do not want Syariah law to be the Supreme Constitution for Malaysia, etc,

MySinChew.com in an "Exclusive Interview With The Kelantan MB: Pakatan Needs Time To Understand And Accept The Concept Of Islamic State", the Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat was quoted as saying he firmly believed that Pakatan Rakyat partners will eventually accept the concept of Islamic state.

The problem with many PAS leaders is that they failed to understand why so many Malaysians do not want Malaysia to be an Islamic state if the concept of an Islamic state is similar to what some says are characteristics of an Islamic state.

Wikipedia listed 4 forms in their very brief explanation of an Islamic state:


  1. A Caliphate in Sunni Islam

  2. An Imamah in Shia Islam

  3. A Wilayat al-Faqih for the Shia in the absence of an Imamah

  4. An Islamic republic; a general term for many nation states who adopt Islam as a religion


Examination of the websites did not clarify to me exactly what does an Islamic state involves, so perhaps I would just refer to what I had written before - Should non-Muslim have a say over whether Malaysia should be an Islamic state? (click BACK button to get back to this page).

I will just summarize what in my opinion an Islamic state is:


  1. the Supreme law is the Syariah law, not the Constitution of the country

  2. the Supreme ruler probably is the head of a group of Islamic scholars

  3. non-Muslim do not have the same right as a Muslim

  4. women, Muslim or non-Muslim, do not have the same right as a man

  5. non-Muslim have to accept the Muslims' interpretation of morality


A PAS led Malaysia Islamic state may be relatively corruption free, non-Muslim may be more free to practice their religions, Malaysians my no longer be discriminated against along racial lines, etc. But the main point is, non-Muslim are subject to the Syariah law which originate from a religion to which they do not subscribe, they have to pay a special tax to the Islamic authorities, they cannot lead in the government or military, they cannot be a judge, morality of actions like non-married couples holding hands in public is subject to Islamic interpretation and a whole host of other issues that non-Muslim finds very hard to accept. So while Malaysians may no longer be discriminated along racial lines, the will still be discriminated along religious lines.

The only question is, will PAS be able to look at the issue from a non-Muslim point of view?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

# the Supreme law is the Syariah law, not the Constitution of the country

# the Supreme ruler probably is the head of a group of Islamic scholars

it will never happen in the foreseeable future whatever PAS leaders may want to say!

Manature said...

"foreseeable future"

Probably true, but how about the more distant future when PAS gets stronger, non-Muslim population become smaller, maybe even PKR, UMNO and PAS teaming up together to change the Constitution?

Frighthening thought.

Unfortunately you have chosen to comment as anonymous as I would like to engage you further on this issue.