News:

The past weeks have been trying times for Malaysia. As a petroleum producing nation, the huge drop in oil price has affected the country tremendously. Coupled with a weak ringgit, waning investor confidence and the prospect of experiencing one of the lowest economic growth amongst ASEAN countries, Malaysia is indeed facing much trial. Adding insult to injury, recent events related to Islam have made things worse. There is a sudden wave of attacks on anything Islamic post Charlie Hebdo killings.

Recently a lawyer, Eric Paulsen, in a number of tweets, made inflammatory claims that JAKIM, a governmental authority on Islamic matters in Malaysia have been promoting extremism through Friday sermons. Then, an ex-minister, Zaid Ibrahim, blasted the Islamic authorities and apparently, Islam, where among other things, he said that Islamic ‘extremism' kills but liberalism does not, referring to the Charlie Hebdo incident. He also insinuated that Muslims should follow the footsteps of the Jews in dealing with insults to Islam! Regretfully, the responses of the various governmental religious authorities in Malaysia does not in any way help in clearing the haze of confusion. And for the past week, discussion on Islam continues with an air of blame and defilement.

Comment:

While attacks on Islam occur at various fronts in Europe, culminating in the Charlie Hebdo killings, back home in Malaysia, the event seems to act as a catalyst when suddenly there is a barrage of propagandistic onslaught on Islam perpetrated by the Kuffar and ‘liberal' Muslims. Suddenly, labels such as extremism and fundamentalism are being flung at anything that seems Islamic. True, it is expected that the Kuffar will never stop their offensive on Islam until the day of judgement, however it is the duty of Muslims to act accordingly in facing these charges. Looking at the recent attacks on Islam, it can clearly be observed that many Muslims in Malaysia, specifically the religious authorities, looked upon the onslaught on Islam as attacks that require a defensive action. JAKIM, for example, in response to the tweets by Eric Paulsen published the list of Friday sermon titles, defensively informing the public that based on the titles, these khutbas are in no way related to extremism, as if there are parts of Islam that amounts to ‘extremism'. By following these onslaughts, a thinking Muslim will come to the rational conclusion that these attacks are not attacks on certain practices of Islam or actions of certain Muslims but an attack on the ideology of Islam itself. How then, should one respond knowing that the attack is on Islam itself?

During the Makkah period of da'wah, Rasululllah (saw) made intellectual struggle the dominant methodology in proclaiming Islam. He (saw) exposed and destroyed Jahiliyyah ideas and offered Islam as the alternative. Today, we need to follow these exact footsteps. The Kuffar West and their zealots in the Muslim world base their attacks on Islam on secularism and ideas of freedom. They pick on specific aspects of Islam, or actions of Muslims, demonize these aspects and/or actions and assert that the west is ‘far from them'. For example, Islam is regularly portrayed as anti-freedom and the ideas of freedom are frequently depicted as honourable ideas. Following his (saw) footsteps, these Jahiliyyah ideas of freedom must be exposed and destroyed. The Charlie Hebdo attack, for example, served as a platform for the West to demonize Islam. Wrongly assuming that Islam is being placed in the docks of the guilty, many Muslims blame the attackers for vilifying Islam and some even went so far as to say that Muslims should take the satires with a pinch of salt!

While it is understood that the attack does not solve any problems, we need to point out that the attack did not occur in vacuum. The claims that Charlie Hebdo was just exercising its ‘freedom of speech' in publishing the cartoons depicting the Prophet must be destroyed totally before the ideological Islam, and on this occasion, the importance of protecting the honour of our Prophet, be asserted. This could be done by firstly exposing the false justification of exercising freedom of speech by uncovering the double standard practices of the Kuffar West and secondly, destroying the very idea of freedom which is nothing but a utopian idea which only serves as the front end of deception for the Kuffar. It is amongst these dusts of destruction that Islam must then be trumpeted as an ideology from the Creator of man and universe, whose basis is rational and whose solutions encompass all aspects of life. Empirical evidences from its rich history could also be demonstrated as evidences of its success. Then, the Kuffar and their zealots will have no choice but to accept that the French newspaper is to be blamed fully for what had happened. This is how all onslaughts on Islam should be dealt with. Muslims should never ever be weary of assaults on Islam by the Kuffar. Islam is high and nothing can be higher than Islam.

((وَلََ تَهِنُوا وَلََ تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنتُمُ الَْْعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِين))

"And be not infirm and be not grieving and you shall have the upper hand if you are Believers." [TMQ Al-i-Imran: 139]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Dr. Mohammad - Malaysia