Ever since Bar Council announced its decision to organise a forum on conversion to Islam under Article 121 (IA) the hullabaloo started until it was staged yesterday for only a few hours. Many so - called Islamic NGOs are enraged with such 'provocative' approach to the extent of waging 'mini' holy war against the Bar.
May be due to such increasing pressure, the forum only managed to discuss mundane and banal issues relating to conversion, which at least shed some light into the predicaments suffered by affected parties. Indeed, on the positive side, the Muslims particularly should not reject such forum outright on the premise that it is provocative, inciteful and insult to Islam. Well, without the pressure the forum might gone overboard and encroached on sensitive issues.
The authority particularly the governing coalition seems to view the forum as a golden opportunity for them to divert the people attention away from the fact that their power is slipping ever so fast or slow. Some quarters start to point fingers accusing the Bar as being manipulated by hidden powers.
As stated by the Bar, their intention is only to share the experience but not to question or even suggest any changes to the Constitution or the fact that Islam is the official religion of the nation. Since they have declared their stand therefore we need to accept and only act if they transgress their original stand. Nonetheless, being followers of Islam which Allah Himself declared as the most perfect and the only acceptable faith and the fact that Islam is based on justice and fairness should trigger our rationale as to why the Bar dared to stage a controversial forum?
The obvious reason is none other than the feeling of discontentment and umbrage among non Muslims particularly those who are directly affected by conversion. In order to discard such feeling and protect Islam from being labelled and viewed as authoritarian instead of a universal religion, the authority including the courts be it civil or Shariah need to look into the matter thoroughly so as to satisfy both parties - the convert and the non convert.
Instead of just bulldozing its decision, the court need to look into the welfare of all parties. While declaring a person to be a convert the court at the same time need to provide for those who haven't. Such is seldom heard of though Islam through the concept of Hibah for instance can provide some solution to the problem.
Articles 3 and 11 of the Federal Constitution should be looked upon in tandem with each other and not separately as happened in most cases which ultimately cause discontent. We will cross the bridge when we come to it should no longer be applicable as such practise will only make the matter worst just like sweeping the dirt under the carpet which only provides temporary solution which threatens to emerge again in the future. I stand corrected.
"We need to accept that Islam is Special in this nation"
No comments:
Post a Comment