The Syariah Law Controversy in the UK

Rowan Williams did not expect the storm he unleashed when he mentioned that it was inevitable that aspects of syariah law would be implemented in the UK. This sparked off a flurry of hostility and calls for his resignation as the leader of the world's Anglican community. The Western media has been playing up the parts about hand-chopping and discrimination against women. However, the current debate in modern UK on Syarian law is probably instead more intended for divorce, inheritance and business for Muslims trying to reconcile both their Muslim and British identities. The Archbishop of Cantebury is enlightened enough to open this topic up for debate despite the howls of his critics. Should there be only one law in a liberal democracy but if so, how does multiculturalism fit in? In Singapore there is a Syariah court which mainly handles marriage-related issues. Maybe the Archbishop had this model in mind.

Too bad that the Islamphobes in the UK are loud and pushy enough to drown out any constructive discussion.

LIDAH PENGARANG AKHBAR CINA, LIANHE ZAOBAO, TENTANG PENAHANAN ISD TERBARU, KELMARIN

BIARKAN AGAMA TERUS MEMBAWA MANFAAT BAGI MASYARAKAT
JABATAN -CyBerita(1 Feb 2008)

Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISD) telah memberkas dua lelaki Muslim radikal yang terlibat dalam kegiatan pengganasan dan mengeluarkan Perintah Sekatan ke atas seorang lagi baru-baru ini.

Insiden terbaru itu pula menyusuli penahanan seorang lagi lelaki Muslim yang mempunyai fahaman radikal pada Februari tahun lalu.

Penyelidikan telah menunjukkan golongan belia yang menjadi radikal dengan sendiri melalui risalah, video dan Internet mungkin menyimpan hasrat untuk ke luar negara bagi menjalani latihan dan menjalankan kegiatan sabotaj.

Malah ada sebahagian daripada mereka rela juga mati syahid.
Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis) telah mengeluarkan kenyataan menyokong langkah yang diambil ISD dan berharap ketiga-tiga lelaki itu akan berubah dan pulang ke pangkal jalan.
Menteri Bertanggungjawab bagi Ehwal Masyarakat Islam, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, juga telah berkata pihak berkuasa mahu mereka yang ditahan menyedari bahawa pengganasan dan fahaman radikal tidak sihat dan Singapura tidak boleh menyokong fahaman sedemikian.

Namun beliau tetap akur ia merupakan masalah jangka panjang dan satu cabaran penting bagi rakyat Singapura sentiasa berwaspada dan menangani isu tersebut sebagai satu masyarakat.
Kes ketiga-ketiga belia dengan fahaman radikal itu dapat dibongkar dalam tempoh kurang setahun menunjukkan kumpulan-kumpulan ekstremis yang cuba menyebarkan pengganasan masih merebak dan ia sukar untuk dibendung.

Keharmonian masyarakat harus diraih menerusi keharmonian agama dan rakyat Singapura harus berwaspada ketika waktu damai dan menggalak peningkatan fahaman antara berbilang kaum, agama dan budaya bagi mengukuhkan kesepaduan negara, supaya mereka yang mempunyai agenda tidak dapat mempengaruhi kita.

Harus ditekankan bahawa pengganas tidak dihadkan kepada satu bangsa atau agama.
Oleh itu, kekuatan untuk menjaga keamanan dan damai mesti datang daripada rakyatnya dan meliputi semua lapisan masyarakat, dengan orang ramai mengambil inisiatif sendiri untuk berbuat demikian.

Dengan itu, langkah bertepatan ISD itu diperlukan, juga seperti usaha berterusan pemerintah untuk menggalak keharmonian agama, seperti menganjurkan dialog-dialog agama dan perbincangan damai.
Yang paling penting sekali, sedang kita menjadi lebih berwaspada bagi membendung golongan yang mahu memperguna agama untuk menipu dan menyelewengkan belia kita, kita harus menyokong semua kegiatan agama yang berfaedah dan mempromosi semangat keihsanan setiap agama.
Di Singapura, adalah biasa jika kita melihat gereja dan kuil dibina bersebelahan.
Apabila tsunami di Lautan Hindi melanda beberapa tahun lalu, pelbagai kumpulan agama telah juga berganding bahu untuk berdoa dan mengumpul dana untuk mangsa bencana itu.
Semua ini menunjukkan bahawa asas keharmonian agama yang dipegang tidak cetek.
Beberapa kumpulan agama lain yang tidak mempunyai profil yang tinggi, juga secara senyap-senyap menyumbang untuk manfaat masyarakat umum.

Kita harus jelas bahawa sifat murah hati dan kebajikan adalah prinsip universal setiap agama dan tidak terhad kepada satu agama sahaja.
Sedang kegiatan agama yang dirancang harus digalak, mereka perlu mengamalkan disiplin dan ketelusan sewajarnya dalam perniagaan dan kewangan.

Untuk membendung pengganasan dilakukan atas nama agama dan membina masyarakat aman damai, berharmoni dan penyayang, selain membangunkan pertahanan psikologi yang kukuh, memberi kelonggaran kepada kumpulan agama menebar semangat kebajikan dan membenarkan kegiatan agama menjadi satu kuasa yang akan bermanfaat bagi masyarakat adalah satu pendekatan yang perlu diiktiraf.

Jihad is the Way?

Warga Singapura Ditahan Bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negara (ISA)

Tercetus lagi kes warga Singapura dipengaruhi pahaman radikal melalui alam maya. Jika dahulu kita digegarkan oleh berita seorang peguam dengan pahaman radikal, kes yang terbaru ini membabitkan tiga orang anak muda berusia 26 tahun.

Menurut liputan akhbar, dalang pahaman radikal ialah Zamri. Beliau telah menyebarkan pahaman radikalnya kepada rakan kenalan. Zamri dipercayai menuai pahaman radikal melalui lelaman-lelaman yang berlegar di alam maya. Kebanyakkan lelaman yang dilawatinya berunsur Jihad mengganas dan menpunyai penerbitan dan video yang bertemakan sedemikian. Kedua-dua rakannya yang ditahan telah depengaruhi oleh idelogi jihad mengganas Zamri.

Tatkala menerima berita ini semalam, saya cuba melungsuri dan mencungkil lelaman-lelaman kumpulan pengganas. Menemui lelaman tersebut tidaklah payah, malah terdapat ribuan lelaman sedemikian. Sebahagian besar lelaman sedemikian menggunakan ayat-ayat dari Al-Quran untuk pengaruh sedangkan masyarakat umum tahu Islam adalah agama damai. Persoalan yang berligar di benak saya adalah mengapa masih ada lagi separuh dari masyarakat kita yang terjebak dengan pahaman radikal ini?

Opresi terhadap penganut Islam memang berleluasa di Negara-negara seperti Palestine dan Chechnya. Bagaimanapun, haruskah keganasan dibalas dengan keganasan? Sedangkan Rasullullah(SAW) sentiasa mungkin menyelesaikan segala pembalahan dengan damai, mengapa umat Islam tidak mungkin mengikut contohNya?

Masyarakat damai Islam Singapura terjebak ke lembah syak wasangka sekali lagi apabila berita penangkapan mereka bertiga diiringi dengan penjelasan bahawa mereka cuba sedaya upaya mempelajari kegiatan pengganas. Salah satu daripada kegiatan mereka adalah menerima latihan luar Negara daripada kumpulan pengganas serantau.

Segala usaha untuk menjernihkan syak wasangka terhadap masyarakat Islam Singapura selepas 9/11 seperti sia-sia sahaja menyusuli berita buruk terbaru ini. Walaupun begitu, Kak Pah berharap jurang keretakan kepercayaan masyarakat lain terhadap Islam tidak akan menjadi lebih keruh. Semoga segala kekusutan diselesaikan dengan cepat dan segala keruh diperjenihkan.

From Holland, a Storm is Coming

Geert Wilders - Out to score political right wing points by inciting Muslim-bashing and Islamophobia.

In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published the infamous Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons. This started a storm of reciprocal anti-Muslim and anti-Western anger. Was self-censorship expected of the Western media like Jyllands-Posten? Some of the Western media didn't think so and they imposed their cultural world view on an "anything goes" onto us Muslims. They hold nothing sacred except the idea of freedom of expression. When the protests against the cartoons intensified, some other European newspapers further reprinted the cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims to stir up unrest.

Muslims were right to be angry but whether we were right to resort to violence is something that is hard to defend. The Western media had the right to publish what they want but did they have the right to provocatively offend for the sake of controversy and publicity?

Now, it is now not the Danes, but right wing Dutch politicians who are out to incite and raise controversy. Hopefully, the controversy would not blind people to rage and calm would prevail abroad and in Singapore.




Politician to launch film denouncing Quran; Dutch govt fears violent protests

Monday January 21, 2008

AMSTERDAM The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast, later this week, of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician, who has threatened to denounce the Quran and broadcast images of the holy book being torn up and desecrated.

Cabinet ministers and officials, fearing a repetition of the crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper two years ago, have held a series of crisis meetings and ordered counter-terrorist services to draw up security plans. Dutch nationals overseas have also been asked to register with their embassies and local mayors in the Netherlands have been put on standby.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told Dutch public television: "We have seen other crises but this is a substantial one."

Dutch diplomats are already trying to pre-empt international reaction.

"It is difficult to anticipate the content of the film, but freedom of expression doesn't mean the right to offend," said Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, who was in Madrid to attend the Alliance of Civilisations, an international forum aimed at reducing tensions between the Islamic world and the West.

Government officials are urging mainstream media not to show the film. An Interior Ministry spokesman said: "A broadcast on a public channel could imply that the government supported the project."

The politician at the centre of the storm is Mr Geert Wilders, from the extremist VVD (Freedom) party in the 150-seat Dutch lower house, whose anti-Islam comments have led to death threats. He has promised that his 10-minute film will be aired on television or the Internet regardless of any pressure.

In Amsterdam, Rotterdam and other towns with large Muslim populations, imams have been trying to "calm" growing anger. The Grand Mufti of Syria Ahmad Badr Al Din Hassoun warned last week that Mr Wilders was "inciting bloodshed" and it was the "responsibility of the Dutch people to stop him".

Benazir Bhutto: First Muslim Female Head of State

Two-times former Pakistan Prime Minister was assassinated a few days ago by unknown figures. Those behind the attack might be from within the government, a rival politician or even Al Qaeda-linked groups. Benazir Bhutto was a popular but not a perfect leader. Her ability to become PM twice is sign of her popularity. She could never dispel the rumours of her corruption and there is no smoke without fire especially in such countries where power, nepotism and wealth are rolled into one package. But what is inspiring about her despite all the controversy surrounding her and her family, Benazir Bhutto was the first female Muslim leader of a Muslim country and that is something to command respect. Her violent end only makes her a bigger political legend.



Obituary: Benazir Bhutto
BBC 27 December 2007

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell victim to an apparent suicide bomb attack.

Her two brothers also suffered violent deaths.

Like the Nehru-Gandhi family in India, the Bhuttos of Pakistan are one of the world's most famous political dynasties. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was prime minister of Pakistan in the early 1970s.

His government was one of the few in the 30 years following independence that was not run by the army.

Born in 1953 in the province of Sindh and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Ms Bhutto gained credibility from her father's high profile, even though she was a reluctant convert to politics.

She was twice prime minister of Pakistan, from 1988 to 1990, and from 1993 to 1996.

Stubbornness

On both occasions she was dismissed from office by the president for alleged corruption.

The dismissals typified her volatile political career, which was characterised by numerous peaks and troughs. At the height of her popularity - shortly after her first election - she was one of the most high-profile women leaders in the world.

Young and glamorous, she successfully portrayed herself as a refreshing contrast to the overwhelmingly male-dominated political establishment.

But after her second fall from power, her name came to be seen by some as synonymous with corruption and bad governance.

The determination and stubbornness for which Ms Bhutto was renowned was first seen after her father was imprisoned by Gen Zia ul-Haq in 1977, following a military coup. Two years later he was executed after a much criticised trial on charges of conspiring to murder a political opponent.

Ms Bhutto was imprisoned just before her father's death and spent most of her five-year jail term in solitary confinement. She described the conditions as extremely hard.

During stints out of prison for medical treatment, Ms Bhutto set up a Pakistan People's Party office in London, and began a campaign against General Zia.

She returned to Pakistan in 1986, attracting huge crowds to political rallies.

After Gen Zia died in an explosion on board his aircraft in 1988, she became one of the first democratically elected female prime ministers in an Islamic country.

Corruption charges

During both her stints in power, the role of Ms Bhutto's husband, Asif Zardari, proved highly controversial.

He played a prominent role in both her administrations, and has been accused by various Pakistani governments of stealing millions of dollars from state coffers - charges he denies, as did Ms Bhutto herself.

Many commentators argued that the downfall of Ms Bhutto's government was accelerated by the alleged greed of her husband.

None of about 18 corruption and criminal cases against Mr Zardari has been proved in court after 10 years. But he served at least eight years in jail.

He was freed on bail in 2004, amid accusations that the charges against him were weak and going nowhere.

Ms Bhutto also steadfastly denied all the corruption charges against her, which she said were politically motivated.

She faced corruption charges in at least five cases, all without a conviction, until amnestied in October 2007.

She was convicted in 1999 for failing to appear in court, but the Supreme Court later overturned that judgement.

Soon after the conviction, audiotapes of conversations between the judge and some top aides of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were discovered that showed that the judge had been under pressure to convict.

Ms Bhutto left Pakistan in 1999 to live abroad, but questions about her and her husband's wealth continued to dog her.

She appealed against a conviction in the Swiss courts for money-laundering.

During her years outside Pakistan, Ms Bhutto lived with her three children in Dubai, where she was joined by her husband after he was freed in 2004.

She was a regular visitor to Western capitals, delivering lectures at universities and think-tanks and meeting government officials.

Army mistrust

Ms Bhutto returned to Pakistan on 18 October 2007 after President Musharraf signed into law an ordinance granting her and others an amnesty from corruption charges.

Observers said the military regime saw her as a natural ally in its efforts to isolate religious forces and their surrogate militants.

She declined a government offer to let her party head the national government after the 2002 elections, in which the party received the largest number of votes.

In the months before her death, she had emerged again as a strong contender for power.

Some in Pakistan believe her secret talks with the military regime amounted to betrayal of democratic forces as these talks shored up President Musharraf's grip on the country.

Others said such talks indicated that the military might at long last be getting over its decades-old mistrust of Ms Bhutto and her party, and interpreted it as a good omen for democracy.

Western powers saw in her a popular leader with liberal leanings who could bring much needed legitimacy to Mr Musharraf's role in the "war against terror".

Unhappy family

Benazir Bhutto was the last remaining bearer of her late father's political legacy.

Her brother, Murtaza - who was once expected to play the role of party leader - fled to the then-communist Afghanistan after his father's fall.

From there, and various Middle Eastern capitals, he mounted a campaign against Pakistan's military government with a militant group called al-Zulfikar.

He won elections from exile in 1993 and became a provincial legislator, returning home soon afterwards, only to be shot dead under mysterious circumstances in 1996.

Benazir's other brother, Shahnawaz - also politically active but in less violent ways than Murtaza - was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.

Mahram needed for Singapore Women Performing the Haj

"He added that the challenge for Singapore pilgrims is that to perform the Haj, Singapore has to fulfil all requirements set by the Saudi authorities."

As Singapore becomes more modernised, some practices are harder to understand for some. Female pilgrims from Singapore now need a male family member to accompany them on the haj. On the other hand, a woman with no mahram has no obligation to perform the Haj and she should be patient for the time when a mahram can travel with her. Singapore enjoyed an exemption before for "unaccompanied" women because of MUIS but the Saudis are enforcing it strictly now. Which is sensible from their policy standpoint - how can there be double standards especially on haj issues. Besides, didn't the Prophet (pbuh) say

“No woman should travel except with a mahram.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1862)




Unaccompanied women under 45 years old cannot perform Haj
By Hisham Hasim, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 09 December 2007 2035 hrs


SINGAPORE: From next year, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) will no longer accept applications from women who are under the age of 45 and wish to perform the Haj without a close male relative.

This was confirmed by Minister in-Charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, at a Haj send-off ceremony at the Changi Airport on Sunday morning.

MUIS has clarified that Haj authorities in Saudi Arabia have all along required women pilgrims below 45 years of age to be accompanied by their male relative – called Mahram – when performing the Haj so that the young women can be properly taken care of.

Dr Yaacob said although Singapore has assured Saudi authorities that MUIS will take care of each Singapore pilgrim, Saudi authorities did not accept this.

He added that the challenge for Singapore pilgrims is that to perform the Haj, Singapore has to fulfil all requirements set by the Saudi authorities.

Previously, pilgrims from Singapore had been exempted from this ruling after MUIS appealed on behalf of a small number of women from Singapore.

But last year, Saudi authorities decided not to exempt all 70 women applicants from Singapore.

And this year, all 56 women applicants were similarly unsuccessful. But five of them eventually managed to get their male relatives to accompany them.

MUIS said for the 51 of them, they had earlier been informed that their application to perform the Haj would be subject to the approval of the Saudi Haj authorities.

Haj agents had also been requested not to collect any payment from these applicants until consent had been obtained from the Saudi Haj authorities.

MUIS has asked the unsuccessful applicants to try and arrange for a male relative to accompany them or to postpone their pilgrimage.

Every year, women make up about 40 percent of pilgrims from Singapore.