Mufti: Religious leaders can be challenged
By Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Nov 27, 2006
It is the nature of the Quran to allow Muslims to question and challenge their religious leaders about the teachings and practices of Islam, said newly-minted Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.
The Penang-born Universiti Sains Malaysia lecturer was seconded to his new two-year post on Nov 1 to replace mufti Mat Jahya Hussin.
At 35, he is the youngest person in the country to hold the post. As mufti, Asri's role is to formulate and discuss fatwa and to advise the Perlis sultan and state government on all matters of Islamic law.
In an exclusive interview, the religious scholar said contrary to the tendency of many Muslims to react negatively to questions and criticism of their religion, Islam accords its detractors space to articulate their doubts and arguments.
He pointed out that the Quran not only engages by presenting arguments for its assertions and to support its veracity, but also accords the same space for its detractors.
"The Quran often says 'Bring forth your arguments if you are indeed truthful,' and 'summon your witnesses other than Allah if you are indeed truthful'," said Asri.
He contrasted this with the strong, often angry, responses of Muslims towards any questioning of their religion.
"They are always reacting and asking, 'What actions are we taking? This is deviant! This has gone astray!' and so on... Whatever view does not concur with theirs, they go amok instead of presenting arguments, reasons and evidence and answering intellectually, " said Asri.
The ability to respond appropriately and effectively to the challenges the ummah (Muslim community) is faced with, ideological or otherwise, is itself the biggest challenge, said Asri.
"The biggest problem is the state of the ummah's present sense of self," he said.
An idea, once introduced, may be only temporarily silenced by force, but it cannot be killed off except by an idea more powerful than the first, Asri said.
"That idea will live on in the minds and thoughts of people. If we want to do away with an idea or understanding, it is not by the use of force. It is by bringing in more powerful arguments," he added.
Reactionary conservatism
Asri illustrated this by reiterating his stance on apostasy, attributing current tensions to religious leaders who divert focus from the reasons that lead Muslims to apostasise.
Addressing such questions as the roots of apostasy, he explained, is the more relevant challenge Muslims and their religious leaders, rather than to issue calls for severe punishment for apostasy.
According to Asri, the younger generations are turning away from the reactionary conservatism of the religious establishment because the latter have ignored their intellectual needs.
"There are those in the Muslim community whose thoughts the conservative religious authorities have tried to freeze. (They may be) kept from thinking but are nevertheless thinking.
"(The conservatives) seek to stuff the mouths of the public and tell them, 'Don't speak of religion. Religion is our (exclusive) right', as what was done by the (Catholic) Church. 'Stop what you're doing and just listen', they would say.
"This cannot be accepted by the younger generations because they know they cannot be stopped from thinking."
While such conservative attitudes risk turning the young away from religion towards secularism as has happened in Europe, Malaysia has been witnessing the emergence of two movements that Asri believes will determine the direction of Islam.
"One is the Salafiyyah movement; the second, if things continue, is that of liberal Muslims," said Asri.
While the liberals criticise and go against even those things in religion that have been established by the Quran and Sunnah (recorded Prophetic traditions, or hadith), said Asri, the Salafi seek in their tajdid (revivalist movement) to make the Quran and Sunnah the terms of reference for Islamic discourse and to bring them up directly against the challenges of modern times.
"This tajdid movement that we are trying to bring about is an Islam that is genuine but that can, at the same time, confront the challenges that face us today, not the conservative form that confuses the modern generations, " he said.
"To me, being a Salafi is about going back to the fundamentals of Islam, going back to the foundations - the Quran and the Sunnah. That is what separates the Salafi from other reformists," he added.
"This Salafiyyah movement says we have the right to think, as the intellect has a function in religion, though the exercise of our thoughts should not go against the Quran and Sunnah."
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