Apostasy of Malaysia’s Muslims ~ Real or imagined?

Lately, we have been inundated with news and views that there is a growing number of Malaysia’s Muslims who are said to have apostatized from their born faith of Islam.

The apex of such claims has been the advent of a group of Islamic NGOs under the banner of HIMPUN ~ GATHERING that has been holding a series of public rallies under its battle cry or slogan of a gathering of a million Muslims in various stadiums every now and then in designated cities.

The number of concerned Muslims attending the HIMPUNAN SEJUTA UMAT ~ GATHERING OF A MILLION UMMAH is usually only in the thousands and seldom reaches the proclaimed number of the masses it claims to date.

Now, although the subject of apostasy or murtad is very sensitive and concerning the state of faith amongst Malaysia’s Muslims in general, we do however have to take into account as to whether it is true that such a large number of apostasies as claimed by people such as Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria ~ the Perak State Mufti (260,000 cases) or as little as 135 wayward souls according to Associate Professor Dr. Ridhuan Tee are facts or mere fiction?

Please refer to this yet to be verified report here.

Azalina Jailani @ Lina Joy and her lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar

We were all alarmed back then when the case of Azalina Jailani @ Lina Joy became the headline news and triggered off a national concern over such a apostasy of a Malay woman who attempted to change her official status as a Muslim to be that as a Christian in her MyKad, the Malaysian national registration card.

She is still missing and said to have been smuggled overseas to live as a Christian by those who have been instrumental in her leaving Islam. Where she is now remains an open mystery?

One thing is clear ~ one of those who sent in comments to one of my article here claims to be a personal friend of Lina Joy and that she visited the latter after the birth of her baby, which means that she is now married to that Malaysian Indian Roman Catholic chap who befriended her and they are now overseas?

Read:

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Carina said…
Lina Joy happen to be a personal friend and yet I never heard of all this havoc happening to her. We were not in frequent contact as probably due to her problems. She never even mention to me of her problem.

All these years she was facing these problems not once did she mention to me. I am a muslim convert, and yet Alhamdulillah, my faith is still with me. When I heard she had a baby and I visited her, I didn’t even ask her religious status.

I just kept wondering. It was personal and sensitive issue to talk abt.

Now I wonder, what’s happening to the case. Has the issue just simmered down? I felt sorry for her, as her life has been turned a wreck, she has to live out of the country just to have a peaceful life. Everyone has a right to live a peaceful live.

Monday, 04 December, 2006
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I myself wrote numerous articles about her case:

Having written so many articles on her still doesn’t do an iota of justice to the reality that we need more decisive efforts on explaining the fundamentals of our Islamic faith to our fellow Muslims to avoid any other ‘Lina Joy’s’ from turning up!

It makes no damn difference as to whether you get to rally up a million or two of ‘Muslims’ to denounce the Christians or any other groups of Disbelievers ~ Kaffirs when the onus is actually upon us to ‘Invite to the Way of our Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and to argue or reason with them ~ the Disbelievers or the Hypocrites in ways that are best and most gracious’ as commanded by Allah, Lord Almighty in Surah An Nahl, Chapter 16 Verse 125:

Transliteration

OdAAu ila sabeeli rabbika bilhikmatiwalmawAAithati alhasanati wajadilhumbillatee hiya ahsanu inna rabbaka huwa aAAlamubiman dalla AAan sabeelihi wahuwa aAAlamu bilmuhtadeen

Sahih International

Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided.

Nowadays, where do you really get to see such usage of wisdom and beautiful preaching by our so-called Muslim scholars? Especially those who are said to be famous and have large followings?

More often, one is forced to behold these egoistic peacock-like figures go about their ways with faces as if they haven’t passed motion for a couple of days?

Stern, unfriendly faces who do not really endear themselves to the masses. How can they draw people to Islam by looking so mean and stuck up?

They seriously lack love and compassion of the kind that our Blessed Prophet of Islam so enjoined!

So, it is a shame for us to boast of having so many scholars in our midst but who sadly lack the qualities that will help them guide the teeming masses of Muslims who desperately seek guidance from them with regard to matters concerning Islam!

The hunger for true Islamic knowledge and understanding of the faith of Islam nowadays is manifested by the evidence of so many who are flocking to the religious lectures of current Callers to Islam such as the very popular Ustaz Azhar Idrus of Terengganu who uses his wit and wisdom in drawing hundreds of thousands of interested Muslims to gain knowledge about anything it is that they want to know about in his often rib cracking Q&A sessions:

We are not talking about masses of rock concert goers here. We are witnessing tens of thousands of Muslims flocking to listen to a preacher who shares his knowledge regarding Islamic matters with those who are keen to learn?

We know that his answers at times, reek with political insinuations but that is part and parcel of each and every religious personality who commands such a huge following!

Not even the Grand Imam of Masjid Negara can draw such a gigantic crowd of people who want to learn about Islam!

Instead of wasting precious resources and valuable time in holding mammoth gatherings of people such as what HIMPUN is currently doing, I wish that they will channel such energies towards more sessions on teaching about the bedrock of Islamic teachings and principles to those who have yet to master the basics of our Islamic faith!

We will also in turn witness a few of the ‘killjoy’ scholars who denounce such methods used by the popular religious callers to Islam saying that these methods of conveying the message of Islam goes contrary to what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wassallam practiced!

There may be some valid points as to their arguments but then again, we must understand that in these times where sin permeates almost each and every aspect of our lives as a result of the lethargic manner by which the ones in authority over us especially in Islamic affairs fail to nip the social problems in the bud causing so many to grow up devoid of true knowledge and practices of Al Islam, we have to look for new ways to grab and hold the attention of the ignorant masses.

I believe that efforts of religious personalities such as Ustaz Azhar Idrus can be channeled to enlightening those who have yet to learn about what Islam enjoins and what it forbids?

We need to rationalize such laws and prohibitions regarding our life as Muslims so that those who are ignorant can come to learn more as to why such enjoinment’s and why it forbids certain acts and practices?

Insya Allah, the more that the Muslim ummah learns about its faith, the more we can avoid anymore apostasy amongst the Muslim masses.

Let’s learn to share the truth of Islam than just to hold the ummah to ransom!

Wabillahi taufik wal hidayah.

Wassalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.