We can understand why the Perlis Mufti Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin has a problem with Jelutong MP RSN Rayer.
Recently, the Perlis Mufti invited the controversial preacher Zakir Naik to give a speech at a function that he organised, and in this function, Zakir in his characteristic manner, had called on all Muslims to do more to convert non-Muslims to Islam, by warning them that if they don’t, they will have to answer for their negligence in the afterlife.
Now hearing this, understandably, the non-Muslims became anxious and offended. To say that non-Muslims and Zakir Naik have an unhealthy relationship is an understatement. If we had our way, we will make Zakir forget that we exist so that we can forget that he exists, but unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to forget him or make him forget us, somehow or other he still manages to find a way to slip into our attention.
As for the Perlis Mufti, the non-Muslims also cannot be said to have a warm relationship with him. Such incidents as the Perlis religious authorities being actively involved in an attempt to separate a non-Muslim mother Loh Siew Hong and her children, are not exactly the grounds that enables a healthy relationship to form between us.
In the non-Muslim point of view, the best person to take care of a child is their mother.
To the perlis Mufti however, it is the father who is more suited to take care of the children, although the the father is someone who forcibly separated his children from their mother for 3 years while she was receiving treatment after being abused and injured by him, and despite the fact that the father had also landed land in jail for drug related offenses in the period that he separated his wife from his children, simply because he had converted to Islam while he was in jail and had also unilaterally converted their three underaged children to Islam without the mother’s permission.
That the Perlis Mufti can think in this way, has made the non-Muslims generally quite wary of his intentions, ways and line of reasoning.
Now you would think that considering that the Perlis Mufti keeps saying that non-Muslims should not interfere in the affairs of Muslims, and non-Muslims themselves would actually pay a lot of money to never have to think about people like the Perlis Mufti or Zakir Naik, it should actually be quite easy for all of us to never see or hear of each other again, but think again.
For some reason or other, our paths keep crossing, and every time it crosses, all of us seem to leave with a bitter taste in our mouth.
In the latest kerfuffle, after Zakir Naik had given his “convert the non-Muslim” call to Muslims in a speech organised by the Perlis Mufti, RSN Rayer had spoken for the non-Muslims, by asking why is Naik allowed to give speeches, when there is a gag order given to him by the police to prevent him from giving speeches in Malaysia.
To this, understandably, the Perlis Mufti has taken offense to RSN Rayer urging the authorities to act against Naik for transgressing the gag order.
You see, Zakir Naik is not a Malaysian. He is actually an Indian citizen. He fled to Malaysia because the authorities in India are looking for him. After coming to Malaysia, Zakir has been involved in multiple fracas with multiple non-Muslim personalities in Malaysia, to the point that non-Muslims in Malaysia have gotten so tired of him, that we have long contended that Zakir has overstayed his welcome. However, because Zakir is wanted by the authorities in his home country, and presumably because no other country wants him, our authorities are simply reluctant to deport him.
To settle the problem between the non-Muslim not wanting Zakir to be in the country and the reluctance of our authorities to deport him back to India where he will probably be arrested and charged, our Prime Minister, just in August last year, had cobbled up a compromise, whereby according to our Prime Minister, Zakir will not cause any more trouble in Malaysia, but if he did, he might be deported back to his country.
Now after Zakir has broken a gag order given to him by the police by giving a speech and calling on the “conversion of all non-Muslims to Islam”, the non-Muslims obviously feel that the fact that Zakir has broken the gag order and that too in a way that causes anxiety and offense to us, should result in the the authorities enforcing the agreement we had with Zakir, and deport him out of Malaysia as agreed.
Now for context, Hannah Yeoh, a Malaysian citizen and cabinet minister to boot, had 182 police reports lodged against her all over the country, simply because somebody thought that she wanted to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation, based on a few excerpts from her autobiography. Despite Hannah herself vehemently denying the allegation, she is now being investigated by the police and even had a rally to denounce her in KL recently.
Zakir on the other hand, who is not even a Malaysian and whose status in Malaysia is probably best described as a “difficult guest” or an “unwelcome refugee”, has openly said what Hannah is alleged to have said about the Muslims about the non-Muslims, but he has not even endured one-sixteenth of what Hannah Yeoh had endured.
Instead, people like the Perlis Mufti are coming out to defend him, by asking non-Muslims to stay out of Muslim affairs, as if it was us that said that we, the non-Muslims in the country, should do more to convert all the Muslims into becoming non-Muslims.
The wrath that the Perlis Mufti was displaying against RSN Rayer for merely asking Zakir Naik to be held accountable for breaking the gag order that was given to him in 2019 was so palpable, the Mufti could even be accused of launching an ad hominem attack or Rayer’s look.
“Just like I don’t ask him to explain to me what substance he spreads on his forehead and why he spreads it on his forehead, he doesn’t need to ask me who I want to invite to give religious speeches in Perlis,” the Perlis Mufti would remark in his salvo against Rayer.
More astonishingly, the Perlis Mufti also referred to Ex Penang Deputy Chief Minister Ramasamy in his diatribe against Rayer, although Ramasamy hinself had nothing to do with the entire affair.
“Ramasamy has attempted [to interfere in the affairs of the Muslims], and that has not been good for him. Because of that he has become “politically deceased”. Once we have decided to fight against someone, we will fight them until the end,” the Perlis Mufti would sound off against Ramasamy, as if Ramasamy and Rayer are somewhat connected and that it is because Ramasamy had crossed his path that Ramasamy was expelled from DAP in 2023.
Ramasamy, by the way, was actively involved in the Loh Siew Hong custody case against the Perlis religious department, which eventually led to Loh Siew Fong succeeding to gain custody of her children.
I suppose the Perlis Mufti still has not gotten over the fact that Ramasamy had managed to get between him and what he wants on that occasion, because he seems to be seeing Ramasamy everywhere he turns, even in unrelated places.
Anyway, looking at the antics of the these scribes and intellectuals, made me think about why it might not be good for us to have a overly academic life, to the point that everything that we are – be it terms of our self-esteem, status in society and job prospects – come merely from reading, remembering and regurgitating just the things we read.
There is a reason why Malaysians have a tendency refer to people who are overly academic to have a PhD syndrome, or a “Permanent head damage” syndrome.
While it is of course good to read and learn from the wisdom of others, I think we must also make it a point to put what we read to test in reality.
Rather than just understanding what a kilometre or a kilogram means through a book, we should try to carry one kilogram of weight for a kilometre. Instead of just depending on what a psychology book has to say about the human condition, we should try a stint in the service related industry, to see how it actually us dealing with people. Instead of trying to understand what it means to be good just by reading a bunch of religious books, maybe we should adopt a few stray animals and try to feed it with the money we earned through our own time, energy and effort, instead of using on ourselves.
If we don’t test what we read in reality, I think we might end up becoming like the proverbial a donkey loaded with books – our knowledge becomes burdensome to us, because rather than allow us to make peace with ourselves and our world, it will cause us to develop strange ideas about ourselves and our world, which in turn will cause us to be in forever in conflict with ourselves and unnecessarily hostile to the world around us.
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