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As Kofi Annan said in his speech to the United Nations, “We are all children of Abraham.” Yes, if the Jews, Christians and Muslims understand this then they will also understand that our religion is the religion of Abraham.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
My articles on Islam always produce the same results. Those not of the Islamic faith will clap and cheer and urge me on. Those of the Islamic faith will declare I am doing Islam a great injustice and disservice. Actually, what I say is not ‘news’ to most people. What I write is something they already believe. They only needed someone else to say it so that they can jump on the bandwagon and join the cheering squad. It really does not matter what I say and whether I say it or not. Their minds had already been made up long ago anyway.
Muslims will react negatively to any adverse or unfavourable comments about the way Islam is being practiced or about the deplorable conduct of Muslims as if Prophet Muhammad himself is being criticised. To Muslims there is no such as constructive criticism. Such things do not exist. Criticism is destructive, never constructive, never mind if the criticism is founded. Criticism, in fact, must be met with violence and bloodshed.
Muslims have to understand one thing. Religion is something personal between you and God. Most people are quite prepared to leave it at that. But when religion is imposed upon others, or their lives are affected by religion, then religion is no longer personal. You have just dragged religion into the public domain so it now has to suffer public scrutiny. If you want others to stay out of your religion, then your religion has to stay out of their lives as well.
Muslims have this impression that since Islam is the official religion of this country, then Islam can dominate the lives of every citizen. How would Muslims react if Christianity is declared the official religion of Australia and therefore Christianity is allowed to dominate the lives of everyone who resides in Australia? Would not Australian Muslims become outraged?
You are free to wear a headscarf if you so believe that your religion makes it mandatory to wear one. You certainly can’t force others to wear a headscarf as much as the government can’t force you to not wear one. Ironically, a ‘Christian’ country like England (or is it France?) allows the Muslim policewomen to wear a headscarf while a Muslim country like Turkey bans the use of the headscarf. You can see lovely Muslim women in police uniforms walking around in a headscarf while Muslim students in Turkey have to remove their headscarf just before they enter the gate of their university. One Muslim lady Member of Parliament was evicted from the building because she insisted on entering Turkey’s Parliament wearing a headscarf.
Watch television. All day and all night long, everyone talks about Islam. They talk about Islamic hub, Islamic food production, Islamic banking, Islamic financing, Islamic insurance, Islamic investments, Islamic laws, and whatnot. They talk about forcing people to pray five times a day, arresting Muslims who don’t fast, arresting Muslims who drink and gamble, arresting Muslims who indulge in extramarital sex, and much more. They want separate swimming pools and checkout counters for men and women. They want to ban lipstick, high heels and bareback clothes.
But that is all they talk about. They talk about form. They do not talk about substance. They talk about the Shariah of Islam. They ignore the Akidah of Islam. They talk about the Hadith saying this and that. They refuse to touch on what the Quran says. They focus on what Islam should look like. However, what Islam should be like escapes their attention.
Sure, we don’t speak Arabic, so we can’t read the Quran since it is in Arabic. And we are not allowed to read the Quran in English since it is a mere translation and we should not read translations since translations may not be accurate and may be full of errors. How do we read the Quran then? Well, we first have to learn Arabic. But 99% of Malays don’t speak Arabic. So what do we do? Well, then we go look for a guru who will explain the Quran to us.
Okay, I can buy that. But will the guru explain the Quran in its ‘correct’ language, Arabic, or will he explain it in the language we understand, English? Of course the guru will explain the Quran in English (or Bahasa Malaysia as the case may be).
Is not, then, the guru explaining a translated version of the Quran -- English or Bahasa Malaysia -- and not in its original language? What’s the difference then? Are we not receiving a translated explanation of the Quran? Since the guru is speaking to us in English or Bahasa Malaysia, is this not also a translated version of the Quran?
Okay, the guru speaks both Arabic and English (or Bahasa Malaysia), so he knows what he is talking. Hello…..the chap who translated the Quran into English (or Bahasa Malaysia) also speaks Arabic. Why is the English translation of the Quran not accurate whilst the guru who is speaking to us in a non-Arabic language accurate?
Take the Hadith as another example. The original Hadith are also in Arabic. But we are allowed to read the English or Bahasa Malaysia translation of the Hadith. That is okay. That is accurate. But not the English or Bahasa Malaysia translation of the Quran. That is not on. That is not accurate. Why are we allowed to read the Hadith in a language we understand but we can’t do the same thing when it comes to the Quran? When it comes to the Quran we must go seek the help of a guru to translate it for us. Yes, it is still a translation since the guru is not speaking to us in Arabic.
Let us now go to the word ‘Islam’. What is Islam? What is the religion of Islam? Islam merely means to submit. So what then is the religion or system or way of life that we are asked to submit to? The Quran has already made this point very clear and it is actually very simple but Muslims prefer to make it complex. The Quran says very clearly that all those who follow the religion of Abraham are the true submitters, be they followers of Moses or Jesus. Note this point. The true submitters are those of the faith of Moses and Jesus who subscribe to the religion of Abraham. Do you see Muhammad’s name mentioned anywhere in that doctrine?
Prophet Muhammad himself declared that he is not inventing a new religion but merely reminding the Arabs to revert to the correct religion before this. And this was exactly the same message brought by Moses and Jesus. Jesus, in fact, was a Jew and he died a Jew. As much as Christians may whack me for this, I have to say it because I believe this to be so and it is my duty to say what I believe, not to say what will make people love me.
Jesus did not ask his followers to invent a new religion and neither did Muhammad. And Moses before that also wanted his followers to do the same thing. And what the three great Prophets of the people of the book asked of us was exactly the same thing, to revert to the religion of Abraham.
That is the Akidah of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. And these three great Prophets are united on this doctrine. The rest that divide us is the Shariah. Each religion has its own Shariah. And the Shariah is translated into rituals.
In fact, the Shariah has also divided the three religions to the point they are embroiled in internal conflicts. Yes, the rituals or Shariah have badly divided us -- inter- and intra-religion. And these same rituals or Shariah that have divided us have made us forget that we are united in Akidah.
Go back to the Akidah of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. It is there in the Quran. And the Quran explains that this Akidah is the Akidah of Abraham. As Kofi Annan said in his speech to the United Nations, “We are all children of Abraham.” Yes, if the Jews, Christians and Muslims can only understand this then they will also understand that our religion is the religion of Abraham. And this is what the Quran says. And this is what Muhammad said. And Kofi Annan understood this. But the Jews, Christians and Muslims do not. And that is why we are at war with each other.
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The Blogs 
very good one YM 
