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When I was a young kid, the religious lessons my parents taught me were very simple - “Do good and you go to heaven. Do bad and be prepared for punishment.”
Simple enough. Easy to understand. Easy to follow.
Then I turned seven and started primary school, and suddenly religion got a lot more graphic.
My ustazah taught us about hell. And not just “hell is a bad place, children.” No, we got the full horror movie version.
We were shown illustrations of what would happen to people who disobeyed Islam. If you stole, your hands would be chopped off. Then, apparently, they would grow back - only to be chopped off again. If you lied, your tongue would be pulled out and cut off. Then it would grow back, only to be cut off again. You get the idea.
Those images stayed with me for a very long time. So much so that I used to have nightmares.
I remember sneaking into my parents’ bed after the nightmares, and my dad would assure me that as long as he was around, I would be safe. It was very sweet, but it didn't exactly answer the questions troubling my seven-year-old mind.
Was Islam a kind religion that rewarded me with heaven if I was good, like my parents told me?
Or was it a strict religion that would punish me with hell if I disobeyed, like my ustazah seemed to suggest?
I couldn't quite reconcile the two.
In my childish mind, Islam couldn't possibly be both kind and strict. Loving and terrifying. A religion that teaches mercy while simultaneously showing children pictures of body parts being chopped off.
And then there was other questions bugging me too.
What if I was kind on Monday but told a lie on Tuesday? Would God have to keep moving me between heaven and hell?
“Okay, she was good today. Heaven.”
“Oh, she lied today. Hell.”
“Wait, she helped an old lady cross the road. Back to heaven.”
“Oops. She stole her brother's chocolate. Hell again.”
If that was the case, God would need a spreadsheet!
Funnily enough, I now realise I didn't have to worry about any of that. Apparently, there is a much simpler way to get to heaven - join PAS!
At least that's what PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan appears to be telling us.
According to reports, he was reported to have said that those who joined PAS, embraced Islam and fought along the party’s principles could enter heaven.
Well, thank God for the shortcut.
All those years of worrying about whether I was good enough, whether I had sinned, whether I had lied, whether I had done enough good deeds. Apparently I could have just joined a political party.
Who knew salvation came with a membership card?
And this is where I start to find the whole thing rather disturbing.
Religion is deeply personal. Faith is personal. The idea of heaven is personal. But turning heaven into a political reward is something else entirely - because what exactly are we being asked to believe here?
That supporting the right political party earns us divine favour?
That putting the right logo on our ballot paper somehow gets us priority access to heaven?
That God is sitting somewhere with the electoral roll going:
“PAS supporter? Heaven.”
“Non-PAS supporter? Hmm… let's see.”
Surely it cannot be that simple.
If it is, then we have to ask what happens to everything else Islam teaches about morality, intention, compassion, honesty, justice and individual accountability.
And what happens to the person who votes PAS but lies? Or cheats? Or steals? Or mistreats people? Or abuses power?
Does the PAS vote cancel everything else out?
Perhaps there’s a Heaven Points System.
Vote PAS and earn a merit: +100.
Tell a lie and earn a demerit: -10.
Commit corruption and earn a demerit: -50.
Attend a PAS ceramah and earn a merit: +20.
Share a PAS Facebook post and earn a merit: +5.
At this rate, maybe someone should print the full scoring system.
The irony becomes even more interesting when PAS presents itself as the country's party of Islamic principles - because then we have to ask what happens when political convenience clashes with those principles?
Take alcohol, betting and gambling. PAS has long opposed to alcohol sale, betting and gambling in states under its administration. But last year, PAS pledged no alcohol, no betting and no gambling ban if it wins Selangor.
How Islamic is that?
Maybe there is a special category of “haram unless politically necessary.”
And this is precisely why I get uncomfortable whenever politicians start selling politics through religion - because we know how easily this works.
It worked on us when we were children.
“Wash your feet before you sleep or you'll have nightmares.” We washed our feet.
“Come home before Maghrib or Satan will follow you.” We came home.
“Read Bismillah before eating or you will end up with a stomach ache.” We listened.
Children believe adults because children don't yet have the tools to question everything they're told.
Eventually, most of us grow up. We start asking questions. We discover that morality is complicated. That good people can make mistakes. That bad people can sometimes do good things.
That religion isn't a vending machine where you insert good behaviour and receive heaven.
And yet, somehow, we now have adults being told that joining or supporting a political party can certainly get them into heaven.
And some people apparently believe it.
Which makes me wonder, how intelligent does a person have to be before they start questioning this?
Surely being religious doesn't mean switching off your brain.
In fact, if your faith is strong, shouldn't you be able to question your politicians without feeling that you are questioning God?
Perhaps that is the real danger here.
When a political party manages to convince people that supporting the party is equivalent to supporting Islam, disagreement with the party can start feeling like disagreement with the religion itself.
And once politics gets that close to heaven, democracy becomes a very different game. Because now you're not simply asking people to vote for your policies. You're telling them that their eternal destiny depends on it.
That's a hell of a campaign strategy.
And, ironically, perhaps the first thing we should be asking is whether heaven really needs a political party to get us there.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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