Al Jazeera – Khalid Samad flays Yusri of ABIM, says nothing can stand in the place of knowledge
Khalid Samad takes a bold stance on the Allah issue on Al Jazeera. He said “There is no substitute to knowledge. You have to understand your own religion. You cannot use it as an excuse to prevent other religions from practicing their beliefs.”
Bravo to Khalid for his enlightened views on Islam, tolerance , reason (‘akal) and the quest for knowledge. Islam puts a high premium on knowledge. Knowledge is key to the Truth and human understanding. Allah (God) endows human beings with ‘Akal. We must use our akal, not our emotions, in our relations with our fellow beings and in solving problems. Also only people with Knowledge can really appreciate the Greatness of Allah, the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate.–Din Merican
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Yusri,
You can go back and tell Fatwa Council that they can made whatever rulings as long as their advice does not infringe on the rights of others who have the right to worship whatever God they prefer.
Now , this Yusri think that by being the with majority, he is right. In other words might is right. Bullshit.
tean - January 15, 2010 at 10:26 am
Tean
The guy is an idiot, and what I am really sad for his children and immediate family, is that he doesn’t know it. His friends in UMNO know he is an idiot but they could not tell him, as that hurts his feelings… he might run amok and firebomb churches!!!
Frank - January 15, 2010 at 10:52 am
Frank,
He is not an idiot. Actually he is trying to jack up his price hoping that UMNO will reward him contracts. This is part of marketing in rent seeking business. And you know that in Malaysia, rent seeking is the best business in town. There are people even willing to use his asshole as seed capital in order to get into the inner circle of corruption businesses. they are not s…fools or idiots.
tean - January 15, 2010 at 11:03 am
Hei, it is Friday and we should be happy. Listen this fatty Israel and his lovely song. Let the owner of certain words burning their own hearts with anger while we enjoy our lovely song over the rainbow.
tean - January 15, 2010 at 11:16 am
khalid samad rocks!
yusof - January 15, 2010 at 11:22 am
jeff - January 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm
jeff - January 15, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Food for thought:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/201001/american-decline
America welcomes brainy immigrants (such as Dr Bakri Musa)
Malaysia drives away its own brainy citizens.
Phua Kai Lit - January 15, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Yusri, who? ABIM has come a long way from the days of Anwar Ibrahim and Ustaz Fadzil Noor. If Yusri is their official spokesman, then ABIM is regressing. Islam is a religion of peace. Allah created diversity and we must learn to respect pluralism and the dignity of difference. This is a fundamental point.
On Fatwa, let us go back to Tariq Ramadan’s interview in the The Sun which I posted on this blog. This is what Tariq said about our reliance on Fatwa:
“Ordinary Muslims should stop acting like blind followers … What is their job? It is to come with a critical mind – there is no deep faith without a critical mind. You know there is one principle to be followed when you go to a scholar and you ask him for a fatwa. But when he gives you the fatwa, you have to ask him, or her where does it come from. Give me the evidence. Not only do you get an answer but you have to understand where the answer comes from.“. Yusri makes a big play on fatwa. Those on our National Fatwa Council are not infallible.—Din Merican
dinobeano - January 15, 2010 at 12:25 pm
These are UMNO friendly fatwas. Never has the National Fatwa Council made a fatwa to annoy UMNO leaders. Did they make any fatwas on corruption or leaders insulting women? Any fatwas on Malay Superiority or the NEP?
In any case these fatwas are meant for non-questioning Muslims. They cannot be binding on Non-Muslims.
What right has the NFC to impose its advice (thats what a fatwa is) on non Muslims?
I never realized ABIM has an such an idiot has it chief. He deserves a datukship from UMNO for his international display of his stupidity.
As for Khalid Samad, you are a gem of a Muslim. Well done.
Sam01 - January 15, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Now UMNO says Sabah and Sarawak can use Allah.(Check out Malaysiakini)
So this simply means its all politics. So we have different Allahs in East and West Malaysia.
UMNO is a big joke.
Sam01 - January 15, 2010 at 3:04 pm
While we see this Ranter (same description as the fundamentalist – including ‘diggers’ and ‘quakers’ – purtanical Christians during Oliver Cromwell’s time in England) Yusri, getting his ‘just desserts’, i congratulate both Khalid and Marina for their principled stand.
Obviously, the “Fatwas” that were frequently brought up, were not Quran nor Hadith-centric, but political.
The Doctrine of the Trinty is not 3-in-1, nor 1-in-3 but is very, very simplistically stated as : The Father (Creator), the Son (I Am), and the Holy Spirit (Who lives in us). They are co-equal and Jesus is the First Fruits of ‘I Am, which I Am’ – the ‘absolute’ self realization. All Christians aspire to be ‘brothers and sisters’ of Christ which enables their salvation. But i guess it is too difficult for many to ‘understand and rationalize’, so i ask this simple question: “Does God exist without humaans”? Merely an ‘existential’ question. Nothing else…
Menyalak-er - January 15, 2010 at 3:32 pm
A church located in Java, Indonesia where the words ‘ALLAH ITU KASIH’ are displayed on the its main building:-
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac35/mikelkopio/allah.jpg
KK - January 15, 2010 at 4:43 pm
The National Fatwa Council is nothing more than an Umno lapdog. I had the opportunity to attend a function in Seremban a few years ago with almost the entire NFC members in tow. They were not the enlightened ones as I had expected them to be. One of them, the former mufti of Federal Territory (KL), was enquiring with his peers whether he would make the Agong’s honour list for the year. Another was absorbed in small talks about his new house and new staff car. Yet another was engrossed in a discussion about seniority and pay scale.
The Council will come up with all sorts of fatwas which are not only irrelevant but inconsequential. But it’s conspiciously silent about power abuses and corruption among Umnoputras who are Muslims and who journey to Mecca at least once a year.
What a letdown.
Tok Cik - January 15, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Tok Cik
These people are mere mortals. Try putting together Sharizat and your Cooper S. Given the right time of day when their wives are out of town, if they end up reading the Koran in the back seat calling on God to help fight Devil’s temptation I will change my sex tomorrow – as tean is my witness.
Mr Bean - January 15, 2010 at 8:46 pm
tean,
It is Thursday morning! It is not yet Friday. Tok Cik’s Cooper S is still in his garage.
Mr Bean - January 15, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Its Friday. I think it was Fauziah Ibrahim who got my attention!
Habib RAK - January 15, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I think the interviewer missed a golden opportunity. She came close but failed to follow up with questions regarding Articles 3, 11 and !60(2) of the federal constitution of 1957.
I rate that interview 2 on a scale 1-10 in terms of helping viewers to understand the undercurrents behind what seems to many as an innocuous issue over a term or word.
Mr Bean - January 15, 2010 at 8:54 pm
ooopss ..
innocuous issue to some
Mr Bean - January 15, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Can’t do that in that short session, Bean. You too got the hots for Fauziah Ibrahim like Habib RAK? Definitely better English than M.Ozawa, and smarter too.
I think there were too many contentious issues debated, but Marina played the foil well. Rating 4/10.
Menyalak-er - January 15, 2010 at 10:18 pm
All three are flirting with the real issue. We all know that religion (read: Islam) has been politicized in Malaysia. We already know it is a political issue. We also know it is a race issue.
The real issue is the constitutional status of Islam in the federal constitution and how our civil courts have reneged on their responsibilities and how the federal court has given a pass when the opportunity presented itself to them (and instead left it to the syariah courts to decide); and how the UMNO and Malay led government have imposed their views on the judiciary – politically motivated or not.
All three including the interviewer Fauziah Ibrahim failed to take the bull by the horns. That Khalid guy went so far as pulling the bull by its tail ( tean would say ‘teats’). As for Yusri he opened the door to the real issue when he said that Islam and Malays are “so intertwined, so in harmony” and this is an issue specific to Malaysia. On the other hand Khalid came close to accepting the UMNO’s position when he was asked how PAS would deal with the issue. He said they would call all the clerics, debate the matter together, discuss and find ways and “do a proper explanation” that even though something is allowable but in order to maintain public security you may not allow it to be used.” Khalid is actually defending the status quo by putting the issue on the back burner.
Marina Mahathir is right to point out that the AG or somebody did a bad job at allowing the matter to go to court and failing to consider the various scenarios that could emerge that would be bad for the country.
Late in the conversation Yusri says it is wrong to politicize religion and points to his NGO background. A lame attempt, in my opinion, to neutralize the attacks on his position.
But all in all I think the interviewer Fauziah Ibrahim did a poor job at framing the issue. After having led all participants to where the real issue lies, where the door is, she failed to make them walk through it. It is frustrating just to watch her blew the opportunity away.
Mr Bean - January 15, 2010 at 10:40 pm
The UMNO led government has used an obscure provision in the Federal Constitution of 1957 (found under at the very back of the document under “Interpretation”) to justify their position which is that Malays are legally Muslims by definition.
What is now perceived to be an attempt to dilute the constitutional position of Islam in Malaysia is now seen as an attack on the constitutional rights of the Malays.
Mr Bean - January 15, 2010 at 10:50 pm
I don’t think Fauziah was given the liberty to even reach the door. The constituitional and federal court issues will not play well in Al Jazeera anyway.
I think there should be a televised debate between PAS and Umno ulamaks. The moderator should be the Archbishop of the Catholic diocese of Malaysia and Singapore, so that if all hell breaks loose, he can whack them on the head with his tassles. I really think this would be rated best comedy of the year.
Menyalak-er - January 15, 2010 at 11:05 pm
When Muslims in other countries say that there is no problem for “Allah” to be used in other languages that have the term “Allah” as in the case for the Malay and Sikh languages, the UMNOputras countered back: “Our landscape is different from other countries. Malays here are different from other countries”. LOL, now instead of “Allah” being a universal God, He has now being downgraded as a racist God that can be patented by UMNO.
If that is so, then the Arabs can also say that the Malay language should not used any Arabic words in Malay or to claim Islam as their religion because Prophet Muhammad is not a Malay. Or the Indians can also forbid the Malays from using thousands of terms taken from Sanskrit. Or the English and American can also prevent Malays from using thousand upon thousands of English words.
Then the Malay language would be reduced with only groans, growls and grunts for communication.
vsp - January 15, 2010 at 11:08 pm
vsp,
like the humorous way u put this issue into…. humorous enough for some umno guys to understand, to see how irrational their argument is…
like now, east mysians can use “Allah” while west mysians cannot. If the original argument is that it is to prevent muslims ( I sincerely apologise to all muslims here for saying this..because i sincerely believe that this is not the real reason in this “Allah” issue) from been confused…. then it means that the govt feel that east maysians muslims are not confused while west mysian ones are more easily confused.
if so, west mysians shd not be too happy with such solution… it just mean that their west mysian UNMO feel they are more easily confused ???
or is there 2 “Allah” now, One in east mysia that allows other religion to use His Name while the other western One does not allow ?? LOL
Ali - January 15, 2010 at 11:36 pm
And the Indians can also forbid the Malays from cooking curry, eating roti canai and drinking teh tarik. They can also prevent Maha Firaun from claiming himself a Malay.
This Allah issue is really getting out of hand, vsp.
Bean, the backseat of my Cooper S is meant for Sharizat only not some ketayap-wearing NFC goons.
The only thing on their minds when their wives are away is how to acquire a second or third wife. No, you need not change your sex.
Tok Cik - January 15, 2010 at 11:51 pm
This Allah issue has been so screwed up by Umno that it’s left licking its wounds. It now looks like PAS is more sane than Umno is. Umno is prepared to lose its supporters in Sabah and Sarawak in favour of the Malay votes lost to PAS and PKR in the last GE. If this is the plan than it’s not working.
Tok Cik - January 16, 2010 at 12:01 am
I am not interested to even read the high court’s reasoning as to why others could use the word “Allah”. Because that is not the issue and the high court’s ruling has solved nothing.
Like Marina Mahathir I blamed those who let the matter go to court. Either they are short-sighted fools or fools who are short-sighted in need of a new pair of glasses. Or neither. Just diehards among UMNO bigots clinging on to power whose political agenda is to use the high court’s ruling, they knew was coming, to score political points and to drive home the message that they are prepared to go the full distance and file a declaration that it involves a national security issue and throw in dissidents into an 8′ by 6′ concrete hole for two years.
Mr Bean - January 16, 2010 at 12:29 am
This has been brewing for a long, long time and it was Marina’s dad who kept a lid on it. The symptoms was already there in the early 80′s when he ‘Arabized’ the Muslims in tandem with the Iranian Revolution. It is a consequence of this parochial, narrow worldview, that the ‘traditional’ Malay tolerance for other religions started to decay. It used to be race, but as you say the Muslim became synonymous as Malay and not as it should be.
A whole generation of Malays were bred with this idealogical fascism. They are still trying to maintain this as seen in the actions of headless chicken of a home minister, an incompetent AG and a meek, eunuch of a judiciary.
In essence, the only copy-right issue here is the wholesale regurgitation of bumno radicalization.
Among the choices you have pointed out above, Bean, they were just fools and scoffers who didn’t know the score.
Menyalak-er - January 16, 2010 at 1:17 am
ocho-onda - January 16, 2010 at 6:08 am
The truth is you don’t know.
Mr Bean - January 16, 2010 at 6:51 am
Fauziah,
Don’t worry! Tomorrow morning I’ll still love you.
Mr Bean - January 16, 2010 at 7:23 am
“I rate that interview 2 on a scale 1-10 in terms of helping viewers to understand”-Mr. Bean
The interview was a letdown. I gave the whole program a D-minus for value.
But I give a B+ for exposing Yusri as a vacuous intellectual.
Fauziah Ibrahim looks like an amateur. I think she should stick to reading news. She has a long way to go as a panel interviewer. She should watch more this Sebastian guy on BBC “Hard Talk” and learn a few tricks.
In an interview like this, her job is pin down on the guests’ views, and not let them get away with their “sound bites”.
Frank - January 16, 2010 at 8:18 am
Mr Bean,
If tommorow never comes for Pakatan Rakyat, then I dedicate this song to Din and all Pakatan Rakyat supporters (especially those who whine and whinge more than act more)
AND the following song has been selected as the THEME SONG of PAS and UMNO after the GE 13:
Frank - January 16, 2010 at 8:41 am
“Fauziah Ibrahim looks like an amateur. I think she should stick to reading news. She has a long way to go as a panel interviewer. She should watch more this Sebastian guy on BBC “Hard Talk” and learn a few tricks.”
– Frank – January 16, 2010 at 8:18 am
I think it goes with the territory – different rules apply at different school, so to speak.
It also depends on what she was try to achieve and more importantly, what she was allowed to achieve out of the interview ?
ocho-onda - January 16, 2010 at 9:10 am
oops, trying to achieve….
ocho-onda - January 16, 2010 at 9:11 am
ocho onda
Fauziah is useless as a panel interviewer. It was a lost opportunity to educate the viewers on the Allah crisis from the panelist and too much cross talk and she could not even manage that.
If she is a quick learner, she shouold spend a bit more time and watch how BBC panel interviewers handle a programme such as this, and she will do well.
She speaks very good english which Yusri spent more time thinking how he could learn to speak like her.
Yusri had khalwat in his mind, the way he looks at Fauziah.
Frank - January 16, 2010 at 9:34 am
frank – ” fauziah is a useless panel interviewer “.
of course she is useless . she is not employed for her usefullness . i am sure you can’t be that naive frank?
stephen - January 16, 2010 at 4:24 pm
stephen
She certainly has the good looks (she is pretty, I must say) and speaks excellent english. If that is what you meant.
Frank - January 16, 2010 at 5:37 pm
They were waiting in anticipation for her to open and cross her legs like Sharon Stone did in the movies with Michael Douglas. Then they will say Masha Allah and Yusri will quietly say Alhamdullilah
shrek - January 17, 2010 at 7:33 am
Khalid is rude. He interjects often when he should just listen. Hate his holier than thou attitude.
He keeps saying that UMNO equates Islam to Malays. How stupid can that be? UMNO never equates Islam to Malays! Islam is far more important and great than Malays will ever be. What UMNO is doing is actually simply tying Malays’ way of life to Islam. Nothing is wrong with that. Each country in this world has its own historical peculiarities. For Malaysia, the constitution is clearly spelt that to be Malays you need to be a muslim.
I agree with the host. This is a debate between liberal Malay muslims versus conservative Malay muslims. It will define the future of this country. And the Malays will have to be ready for it.
uzbek65 - January 21, 2010 at 3:41 am
For those who thinks Mahathir “arabized the Malays”, please check your facts!
It was PAS and none other than Anwar himself (through ABIM) who managed to corner the government to be more “arabized”. UMNO the governement was merely responding to waves of Islamization cries from the Muslims as a result of being influenced / provoked by PAS and Anwar.
One of the reasons why Anwar was quickly brought into UMNO by Mahathir was to stop him from going into PAS because a combined forces of Anwar and PAS would spell more radical Islamization in the country. But the damaged was done earlier. Even after Anwar became UMNOrized, the call for Islamization of Malaysia had already started and quite unstoppable. The Iran’s Islamic revolution further fueled this, so much so that by the 1980s, UMNO had no choice but to step up its moderate Islamization (enough to pacify the Islamists among the Malays) to avoid the country falling into radical hands. If it did, Malaysia as we know it today would be a totally different country.
uzbek65 - January 21, 2010 at 3:58 am