DAP Tanjong MP, Chow Kon Yeow is a very happy Christian nowadays.
His blog entry happily proclaims his joy that at long last his fight to see to it that Malay Muslims can now easily apostate from Islam is bearing fruit under the Islam Hadhari based current Malaysian government!
WOW!!! And we thought Tun Dr.Mahathir was the ‘freemason thinking’ everything goes leader!
What a total 360 degrees turnabout for the status of Islam as this nation’s bastion of faith!
Chow Kon Yeow must be thanking the ‘Elegantly Silent’ leadership for at long last opening the door for those Malays who no longer want to be Muslims to queue up and apply to apostate without fear according to what his blog entry under ‘Religion’ column says.
He quotes the Article 11 of the Federal Constitution relating to ‘Freedom of Religion’ of Malaysia’s citizens.
If you read his blog posting , the answer by the Minister in the PM’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs says that as of now, the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Administration Enactment carries provision regarding application from persons who want to get out from their Islamic religion.
The Syariah Court can hear the application to leave the religion and then would make a declaration that the person has renounced his or her religion!
WOW! Is this true? Has this Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang Pak Lah’s Islam Hadhari based BN Government really come to this?
PAS MP for Pengkalan Chepa Dato Hj. Abd. Halim Abd.Rahman is reported in Chow’s blog that he asked the Home Affairs Minister to state the number of Malays who have applied to change their names in their IC’s for the past 5 years and the number of applications approved and their reasons?
According to Chow’s blog, 3220 Malays have applied for the name changes in their MyKads from 2001 to 2005 and 2685 applications have been approved!
Lina Joy and others must truly be praising the Islam Hadhari BN Government for being so ‘Elegantly Silent’ about this latest developments in Bolehland!
Any ‘coming out’ party for Ayah Pin planned, Chow?
Tun Dr.Mahathir in the recent Dialogue lambasted the idiotic notion of reinventing the Islamic faith by his current nemesis . Wonder what the Tun has to say about this exposure by Chow?
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Mahaguru58, you criticise non-Muslims on apostasising Malay Muslims. What about Malay Muslims apostasising, say, Chinese Buddhists, or Hindu Indians? What if the same argument is used against you? You wouldn’t be too happy then, would you? The problem with people like you is that you fail to see simple things like other people’s feelings. Malay Muslims who wish to apostasise without anyone forcing them to have the right to do so. Similarly, Chinese Christians who wish to become Muslims on their own free will must never be stopped by anyone. If there are many Christian, Hindu and Buddhist clerics who are as narrowminded as you, Mahaguru58, there won’t be many saudara baru in Islam.
Let me be straight here with you sir,
When I as billions of other Muslims here on Earth say ‘There’s no other God but Allah’ what does that tell you?
That in simple English negates me or any other Muslim true to his or her Testimony of Faith in recognising any other deity or form of worship as worth considering of respect or submission to on a level befitting the Majesty of Allah, Supreme Lord, Creator, Cherisher, Sustainer of all the Worlds!
Have you got that loud and clear?
It means dear Sir that I do not recognise any of the other things considered as the Christian god, Buddhist god, Hindu god, or whatever thing mankind can conjure up in his or her befuddled mind.
I have been absolutely civil in stating my case.
Any Muslim male or female who for even a fleeting second bows down or even hs the slightest notion of fear or respect to something that has been created by man or imagined to be his or her God apart from Allah Ar Rahman, Most Compassionate Most Merciful will have apostasised from his or her faith to Allah!
It’s being explained to you so crystal clear dear Sir and I do hope you understand why as a Muslim and as one who is committed to my faith with every bit of my heart, I hold very dearly this blessed chance for me to be able to reach out to my fellow Muslims and those who are yet to realise their birthright including you dear Sir, that there is none that is fit to be worshipped except Allah, Almighty God who reigns Most Supreme above His entire Creation.
Now, having stated my stand so very clearly which I solemnly hope that you Sir shall accord me my due rights to state it so, would like to reiterate that we as Muslims however are enjoined by our Faith not to mock your faith or deities in any way.
We are commanded by Almighty God in His Final Testament to Mankind (that includes you too Sir) to ‘Invite All (mankind) to the Way of Thy Lord (Islam) in ways that are best and most gracious (which I am doing right now right here)and Reason (argue,discuss,debate) in the best of manners (same situation here).
Care to check up on it.
The Surah is An Nahl. Verse 125.
The Good Book-Al Qur’an Al Kareem.
~ Calling yours truly narrow minded is simply a libellous thing for you to do for it reflects your blinkered view that Mahaguru58 is a royal pain in your neck or whatever- which I seriously am not.
I do thank you for coming in to comment or argue your stand with me . It can be the start of a mutually benefitting dialogue or even a blog war between us ; I welcome it anyway.
Who knows ? We might even end up as fellow Muslims, God willing 🙂
Anyway, please care to check up on matters concerning Apostasy in Islam before engaging me further on the subject matter.
As it is , I am quite busy with work and would appreciate it very much if any further arguments can be based on the topic itself and attacks on my person be avoided as we really do not know each other that personally yet to go to such extents.
Can we agree to that please?
mahaguru58..i don’t find meriambuluh’s comment offensive in any way. That’s a bit of an over-reation on your part.
Apostasy is a offence against God. Who are u O man, to judge? The most you can do is to reason; failing that, you ought to leave the matter to the offender and his Creator.
Of course u may quote apostasy precedents in the Hadiths. But i hope u remember that Ummah is matter of mind and relationships; not a legalistic entity or tangible kingdom
My point is this: If you, mahaguru58, have such convictions about your religion, others who profess other religion do too. They view in the same way, which is why they act like you. Everytime you make a move to condemn, berate, insult, admonish etc etc people or acts of people of other religion, remember that they have the exact same sentiments in their mind and willact as you do.
Point taken, blogger meriambuluh.:)
I was only looking out for myself and my faith as well as my fellow Muslims.
When others start encroaching into our domain of religious areas, I am sure that you will agree that we have the right to protect our own.That’s what I did and I have no regrets about it at all.
I was only stating the obvious that as a Muslim, one can’t accept any other thing or being as God, that’s all. Clear and simple.
I do not intend to carry on about this and I hope you will too.
Let’s move on to the other topics worth discussing. Have a nice day.
Again, dear mahaguru, when the arguments don’t seem to be going your way, you end it.
There were valid questions asked, like ‘who is man to judge?’ – not answered.
Anyways, being a Christian means that I also cannot accept Islam, Buddhism etc. Voila, another Christian-Islam similarity.
I hate the fact that I am bound to believe that those who don’t believe in Jesus, as their lord and saviour, shall go to hell.
It’s an inconvenient truth to me, and I am still struggling with some other Christian beliefs and ideas.
Well, my point is that, despite being so difficult to believe (it is called faith afterall), I wouldn’t like anyone else, man or government, to tell me what to- or not to- believe.
Man and government would like to think that they are looking out for me, but I think that that’s a misguided attempt to prevent me from making my own choice, right or wrong.
As for God’s (whoever He/She/It is) law, as a tiny, sinful, insignificant, imperfect being, I would prefer to let Himself administer it.
I think we should continue discussing, with respect.
Brother Lim,
For your information, it is an act of madness to dwell on something that is not going to change no matter how long mankind debates on it such as the matter of realising God Almighty for who He truly is !
There’s a verse in the Qur’an that explains God’s Will in creating us to be made up of so many tribes and races yet all derived from one source.
Transliteration:-
“Walaw shaa rabbuka lajaAAala alnnasaommatan wahidatan wala yazaloonamukhtalifeena”
” If thy Lord had so willed, He could have made mankind one people : but they will not cease to dispute, except those on whom thy Lord hath bestowed His Mercy: and for this did He create them.”
Al-Qur’an Surah Hud. Verse 118-119.
http://www.muslimaccess.com/quraan/arabic/011.asp
~~~
“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Apostle to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Apostle, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.”
http://www.muslimaccess.com/quraan/arabic/033.asp
The above verse states clearly that if Almighty Allah and His Apostle have decided a matter such as apostasy to be punished as decreed by the Qur’anic Laws, we who are Believers in Allah must not dispute it !
I am not judging anyone. I am just sharing the info found in the Qur’an. As a Caller to Islam, it is my duty as well as other Muslims to help spread the truth about such matters.
It is Allah SWT who judges but it is our duty to stop the rot for the Prophet SAW has asked us to put a stop to any transgression if we come across such things with our hands (power/authority) failing which we are to speak up against it(vocal/writing/expression) which is exactly what I am doing and if I can’t even do that, to hate it in my heart which would be a symbol of the weakest in faith/Imn which God forbid I am not and never shall be as God is my witness!
I do not seek yours or anyone’s approval or blessings to do what’s right by my faith and whatever you say carries no weight before God for you do not know the truth of Islam hence you object to my stand.
I am not closing the subject for reasons that you stted earlier but to me after 18 years of dealing with people in the line of dakwah, know when to stop and when to start.
Repeating the same arguments over and over again and expecting a different outcome is a sign of madness.
For young ones like you, it might be frustrating not to be given way to your demands but to me, I have much more better things to do then to stay and repeat myself like an old scratched record, can I?
You’ve said your piece, I have stated mine. We don’t agree? Fine, let’s move on. That’s it.
Don’t keep harping on something which I will never accede to anyone here on Earth when it comes to the matter of Faith in Allah, God Almighty.
I understand where you are coming from. But I guess that you write a blog for a certain reason, just like everyone else. You are trying to share something – whatever that is – with your readers. By blogging, you engage your readers. I am trying to understand what you believe in.
I am not here to judge you. But sometimes I feel that although you have a very good opportunity to explain your values and beliefs to people like me, you aren’t very friendly with sustaining conversations longer than you feel like.
That’s your right. This is your blog. But as I said before, it’s a waste that when people with open minds like me come over here, read your stuff, sometimes require a little bit more persuasion and explanation, you paint them out to be destroyers-of-other-people’s-beliefs and insatiables.
If you read my comment, I wasn’t putting down what the Quran has called you to do. I was only trying to explain, how being a Christian, I feel about the process of believing.
It (the previous comment) was done in good faith. 🙂
I’d hope you would have appreciated perspective.
Perspective to you might not be the same for others.
Bloggers have a certain attitude of being so high and mighty.
Reason?
Because we (yeah, that includes moi)can just write whatever the hell we want (and get screwed later for it) and think we are so perfect! 😛
We all think that we have the absolute right to push our mindsets to others.
The song ‘O Lord..it’s hard to be humble’ comes to my mind!
I have a bloody ego myself. At times it takes over and I get pissed off just like you and every other blogger.
At times I realise that hey, I am just another mortal not free from sin and slip ups.
That’s where prayers kick in and I sincerely and fervently beseech God Almighty to Forgive me, Bless me with guidance and sees to it that I don’t get bigheaded!
I am just as any other blogger who’s out there wanting to help save the world and ourselves in the process.
Just try to accept me for trying to reach out to others including you with my good intentions.
If I am wrong, please help me out by advising me decently.
Not that I don’t accept criticisms, but at this late 40s age, my ego demands that I be corrected in a manner befitting my age as one who has sons your age and thus ought to be handled accordingly! 🙂
I am sure that you will have no problems according me that!
Have a nice day Lim. I mean it.
It is not a matter of apostasy by rather renunciation. You cannot force upon someone a religion that they no longer believe in. You cannot force someone to continue believing in the words of a prophet if they no longer believe in it. Lina Joy is no longer a Muslim, you may not want her to leave the faith, but it isn’t your choice. She is fighting for her right to practice a faith of her choice. Just like you have practiced your right to be a muslim. He has renounced her faith, she hasn’t insulted Islam, she hasn’t mocked it. She has just wished to no longer practice Islam, but christianty instead. The prophet himself has said that muslim should protect Christians for they too are people of the book, they do believe in the same God of Abraham… the very same God you believe in. She would never dream of insulting that God. Let her have her Justice and her basic right to do so.