The six strokes of the cane imposed by the Pahang Syariah High Court on a Muslim man and woman caught consuming liquor is deemed too heavy by Sabah Islamic Religious Council (Muis) Chairman, Datuk Syed Abas Syed Ali
The statement by Datuk Syed Abas, Chairman of Sabah Religious Council on the caning of two Muslims by the Pahang Syariah High Court as being too harsh and heavy, is highly regrettable and surprising particularly when it comes from the Chairman of an Islamic Council!
Being a devout Muslim, he should realise that it is incumbent upon anyone particularly those burden with authority and responsibility to uphold and safeguard the sanctity of the faith. I humbly believe he knows the hadith of the Prophet SAW which inter alia states that a leader is responsible towards his subjects and this responsibility includes the strict adherence to religious teachings.
As Muslim and with a heavy responsibility looking after Islam he should instead of criticising the move, support the enforcement since there is no such excuse and leeway when it comes to something which is clearly prohibited by Islam. Before sentencing the two, the court has certainly exhausted its sources to determine the facts. There is a maxim that says it is better to release hundred people rather than sentencing one innocent man.
His suggestion of rehabilitation is certainly laughable since mere rehabilitation without the fear of punishment for transgression is a futile and worthless effort. There is no excuse to say that since we are living in this modern era with advanced technology we should be more flexible when it comes to religion. He should understand that the do's and don’ts have been enshrined in the Quran and from the Sayings of the Prophet as well as the Ijtihad of the Prophet's disciples and later scholars. The Prohibition of liquor comes in stages and Surah Al - Maidah verse 90 delivers the final ultimatum, prohibiting the faithfuls from consuming liquor:
Being a devout Muslim, he should realise that it is incumbent upon anyone particularly those burden with authority and responsibility to uphold and safeguard the sanctity of the faith. I humbly believe he knows the hadith of the Prophet SAW which inter alia states that a leader is responsible towards his subjects and this responsibility includes the strict adherence to religious teachings.
As Muslim and with a heavy responsibility looking after Islam he should instead of criticising the move, support the enforcement since there is no such excuse and leeway when it comes to something which is clearly prohibited by Islam. Before sentencing the two, the court has certainly exhausted its sources to determine the facts. There is a maxim that says it is better to release hundred people rather than sentencing one innocent man.
His suggestion of rehabilitation is certainly laughable since mere rehabilitation without the fear of punishment for transgression is a futile and worthless effort. There is no excuse to say that since we are living in this modern era with advanced technology we should be more flexible when it comes to religion. He should understand that the do's and don’ts have been enshrined in the Quran and from the Sayings of the Prophet as well as the Ijtihad of the Prophet's disciples and later scholars. The Prohibition of liquor comes in stages and Surah Al - Maidah verse 90 delivers the final ultimatum, prohibiting the faithfuls from consuming liquor:
O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.
In a hadith reported by Anas r.a, The Prophet is reported to have said that Allah SWT curses among others those who consume liquor.
In fact, six strokes of the cane imposed by the Syariah court is much lighter than what has been practised and accepted as the proper way of punishing for those found guilty of consuming liquor - 80 strokes!
In fact, six strokes of the cane imposed by the Syariah court is much lighter than what has been practised and accepted as the proper way of punishing for those found guilty of consuming liquor - 80 strokes!
Being modern is not an excuse to have lackadaisical attitude when it comes to religious indulgence and transgression. The Muslims need to realise among the reasons why Muslims and Islam no longer command respect but rather ridicule nowadays is because of our 'liberalism' when it comes to religious practices by giving away too much on those who dare to ridicule and ignore Islamic teachings. Instead of following the teachings of Islam to the letters, we become selective and even argue with those who are more knowledgeable on those matters. We need to return back to the basic as we have pledge our life to serve His commands at least ten times a day through the Syahadah we utter in our five times obligatory prayers - Subuh to Isya', day and night. It is indeed worthless and tantamount to defiance if indeed we are selective and argue the Sunnah of the Prophet.
Muslims today are seen to be much influence with the importance and over dependency on logic and the mind. It is certainly not wrong to use logic and our mind as what certain things should be. But, we need to remember and remind ourselves that logic and our mind faculty however intelligent we are both are still limited in their functions. There are matters which are beyond explanation and logic, death and life themselves are complex and certainly difficult to comprehend if we depend too much on our limited logic. God Himself is an example where logic fails us but still we believe in His eternal existence.
Datuk Syed Abas suggests that Muslims who are guilty of drinking liquor should instead be rehabilitated rather than being punished. He seems to forget that punishment in Islam is itself part of rehabilitation process and deterrence to the offender and others so that they will not repeat the same in the future. Relying too much on rehabilitation will not serve the purpose of making the society learn that certain things are bad. We have seen repeat offenders and recurring drug addicts although they have been through rehab for at least two years.
Disciplinary cases among students today are common and instead of executing a two pronged approach combining punishment and rehabilitation cum education we are too obsess with the latter. Today, we are suffering from this approach as cases of gangsterism, bullying, truancy and many others keep on occurring and the statistics show that it is on the increase. Teachers nowadays are more afraid of the students rather than the opposite. Nowadays, no teacher is ready to become disciplinary teacher since it is a mere post without enough or at least effective authority to make the students tow the line.
I beg us to compare students nowadays with students of yesteryear. The differences are humongous and we can see the quality of previous generation of students whereby they are more successful and most importantly they have high sense of respect towards others and the laws unlike new generation who view regulations as something that one can override and nobody dare to tell them that they are over the line.
I beg us to compare students nowadays with students of yesteryear. The differences are humongous and we can see the quality of previous generation of students whereby they are more successful and most importantly they have high sense of respect towards others and the laws unlike new generation who view regulations as something that one can override and nobody dare to tell them that they are over the line.
Syed Abas in his wisdom questions the rationale of caning the offenders by saying that there will be thousands who will be caned for consuming liquor. His point to me is that caning is inhumane and a futile effort to curb the offence from happening. He seems to forget that our drug law is among if not the toughest in the world where an offender will lost his life via the rope but still many are undeterred by such prospect. Is he saying that because the law is ineffective we should put a stop to it?
As an educated and at the same time holding a post looking after Islam, his shallow banter seems to defeat and invalidate his job and at the same time seriously put a dent on the credibility of a court in its quest to uphold the teachings of Islam. It is funny when he suggests that the offenders instead of being caned should be confined instead until they come to their senses! Confinement, I truly believe will not solve the problem as well as caning per se but being adults those offenders may have become immune by confinement and a responsible government need to be creative in enforcing the law to bring over changes.
It is futile and worthless to enact such laws if nobody to enforce them. Syed Abas may view such offence as being petty and thus calls for leniency but as petty as it may seem to him, drinking liquor is a major offence since Allah SWT in His utmost wisdom imposed the prohibition in stages until it is finally outlawed by the verse mentioned above. It means we are past the leniency stage whereby we can tolerate such offence.
Muslims will always be looked down by others when we become liberal in our treatment towards behaviour and action clearly transgressing what we are commanded to follow. Others see us as being unfaithful to our own faith when we start making excuses for now following our own teachings. It is certainly bring negative impacts when a person of authority starts to prioritise logic over the letters of his faith. Being the Chairman of MUIS and a descendant of the Prophet SAW (Those with Syed or Shariffah as part of their names are reported to be descendants of the Prophet through his daughter, Fatimah Az - Zahra) he should know better than criticising the decision of a court. Clearly his view brings forward disrepute not only among Muslims but others as well.
Muslims will always be looked down by others when we become liberal in our treatment towards behaviour and action clearly transgressing what we are commanded to follow. Others see us as being unfaithful to our own faith when we start making excuses for now following our own teachings. It is certainly bring negative impacts when a person of authority starts to prioritise logic over the letters of his faith. Being the Chairman of MUIS and a descendant of the Prophet SAW (Those with Syed or Shariffah as part of their names are reported to be descendants of the Prophet through his daughter, Fatimah Az - Zahra) he should know better than criticising the decision of a court. Clearly his view brings forward disrepute not only among Muslims but others as well.
The genocide in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinians should serve as a wake up call to all Muslims to start reforming themselves by returning to basics when it comes to religious observations. To my non Muslims brothers and sisters, you need to understand that coming back to basics does not mean that we Muslims will forsake the world but rather it is to correct the misleading and wrong view that religion is a private matter, instead religion is a concern of everyone and therefore every Muslim will be accountable for his or her undoing for not advising his or her fellow believers.
"It is that you should serve Allah as though you could see Him, for though you cannot see Him yet He sees you.” - Al- Hadith
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