Counting on Hudud to Unite the Muslims?

Firstly, I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Mr. Karpal Singh. Karpal was not a statesman or a hero, but he was surely an exceptional lawyer, a true politician and a gentleman. May he rest in peace.

Much had been said about Karpal’s lives and death, and so I’m not going into that. I am not going to discuss about Karpal’s role in the Hudud dispute either, as one death in DAP does not make any difference in the party’s stance towards the issue.

Hudud is a problem of the Malays, and the Malays only. It is the Hudud that divided the Malays and now they are talking about Hudud as a vehicle of unity. I am just wondering how practical is the strategy?

“United we stand, divided we fall” is a universal quote understood by all.

Today, our beloved Malaysia is no longer united. The country is divided into pieces of political ideology, fanatical supporters, race and religion. Still, we boast of our growth in economy, and positive ratings and believe that we stand as strong.

The only unity that exists is among the chinese community. The chinese has always stand together through thick and thin, through right and wrong. That way, they can force everybody else to accept that it is their rights to claim their wrongs as right. And that way, they can do no wrong and others are never right.

The Malays however, is totally the opposite of the chinese. They are aware that they are divided and very much concern over it. They want to unite, but too damn ‘holly’ to do so. The Malays always find their fellow Muslims brothers and sisters as wrong. Therefore, many of them choose to be in a party that can do no wrong that is, PAS. Muslims, especially UMNO members who are not a member of PAS are judged as unIslamic or in worse cases, non-Muslims.

Through naked eyes, there is no difference in the way both parties practice Islam except that UMNO has done more for Islam than PAS, in every way. If I am not a Malaysian and looking from the non-Muslim’s point of view, I would believe that PAS portrays the true Islam and that Islam is backward, unintelligent, and even barbaric. Fortunately, I am a Malaysian and I’ve been reading enough about Islam to know that PAS is not anywhere near to Islam.

In order to justify their ‘holliness’, PAS needs to differentiate itself from UMNO. Since both are practicing the same Islam, PAS needs to find a way to stand up as the only real Islamist. And so, PAS choose to wear gowns like the Arabs and announce the fight for a total implementation of sharia law, the Hudud.

As for now, Hudud, has been the only excuse left for PAS to not unite with UMNO. It is the only reason left to argue on UMNO being un-Islamic and PAS the true Islamist. The only problem is that DAP and PKR are not going to accept Hudud - not in a million years. Without DAP and PKR, PAS might as well kiss their dream of power goodbye and forget politics altogether. PAS is not willing to do that. And so, PAS hangs on to Hudud on one hand, and on DAP, on the other hand.

UMNO has always been very clear that the party does not see Hudud as a necessity, what more a priority in Islam. I have taken the trouble to ask around and found the same answer that there are no particular, specific guidelines on Hudud. In fact, again and again I found that the Prophet Muhammad had tried to avoid having to punish wrongdoers by Hudud’s punishment.

According to Hudud, rape victims are supposed to provide 4 witnesses with no deadly sins in order to prove the crime. However, problem number one is that Islam also stated that humans are no judge of other human’s sins. Problem number two is that, any sane person, what more a non-sinner, would never let such crime takes place in front of his eyes. And we are talking about 4 non-sinners!

These problems are what we called the impossible.

Failing to prove the crime would let the victim to being punished as a liar and should she got pregnant by the rape, she would be stoned to death for adultery.

Now, why would God give such impossible cases as guidelines, unless the law is not meant to be implemented?

Hudud is a picture of a perfect world where it is possible for humans to commit no sins and no rape would ever take place. A world where humans are so true and pure that no one will ever steal anything. And if the humans ever did commit such crimes, it would not be impossible to get a confession from them. For all we know, the wrongdoers that were mentioned in the story of the Prophet and Hudud, they all confessed to the crime and asked to be punished.

Unfortunately, our world is far from perfect. Our world is full of sinners and hearing them confessing to a crime is something out of this earth, what more begging to be punished! Even religious scholars can be evil, and the Quran had specifically stated it clearly. That is how corrupt our world is.

Although Hudud is the problems of the Malays, it starts to bothers me when UMNO chooses to play the same Hudud game. UMNO starts speaking the same language with PAS in the quest for Muslims unity. What UMNO forgets is that PAS brought Hudud up not because of Islam, but rather as a political tool. UMNO should never have tried to grab or share the tool with PAS. UMNO should just stick to its original stance on Hudud that it is neither a necessity nor a priority.

By showing support for Hudud, UMNO is opening doors for the suspicious eyes of the busybody superpower to peek into our affairs. Should Hudud be fully implemented, Malaysia will not be their ‘friend’ anymore, but rather their ‘enemy’. Every step we make will be monitored and watched carefully. Pretty soon, we might also hear about honour killing or craps like that and provide every reasons for foreign ‘intervention’ as the lines between justice and injustice is blurred.

In no time, the colour of terrorism will be painted in our country.

The Prime Minister has been promoting the spirit of moderation but somehow he does not see the importance to stop all these talking about supporting Hudud by UMNO members. It seems that he gives full freedom for every leader of UMNO to say anything they like and to make their own assumption on UMNO’s stance towards Hudud. He seems to not hear the shouts for Muslims unity through Hudud.

While unity should make the Muslims stronger, unity through Hudud will not give them the same effect. A united Muslims practicing Hudud Law will only be weaker than they already are. They will be busy judging and punishing people on every little thing rather than looking at the bigger picture of living. There will be more angry and mentally disturbed Muslims and there will definitely be more social problems and more crimes. Of course, not all will be reported so as to safeguard the name of Islam.

Admit it or not, the Muslims are not striving for the sake of justice, but for the law itself – not for the sake of Islam, but for the hypocrisy of it. Therefore, destruction is almost certain.

If Muslims are serious in wanting to build up strength, they should start with mastering science and mathematics, not Hudud. Until then, no law or prayers would save the Muslims from destruction.