Speak up against intolerance and bigotry

We are where we are today because the silent majority are allowing the noisy few to hijack the Muslim agenda.

SADLY, most Muslim preachers on the ceramah circuit today are concentrating on the after-life, the question of halal/haram and loads of petty and trivial things concerning the ummah.

You hear those things almost everywhere these days – from the pulpit, at religious gatherings and on the airwaves. Many of them are celebrities in their own right, with a massive following on social media.

The truth is, Islam is more than that. It is not just about the after-life or halal/haram matters. It is also about progress, success and other earthly achievements.

It is a religion that balances the demands of both worlds. Preparing to live is equally important as facing the after-life.

But the former is almost totally ignored. I have heard very little said about preparing Muslims to face the challenges of today in these talks. Or to make them successful and able to compete with others.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad once wrote that when the world celebrated its first millennium, the Muslims were at the pinnacle of achievement. But a thousand years later, the Muslims were backward, weak and marginalised.

Back then were the glory days of Muslim civilisation. Muslim empires stretched far and wide.

Muslim scholars had a profound effect on the world of knowledge and scholarship. The Europeans were still in the Dark Ages when Islamic knowledge and inventions were at their peak.

There are many lessons to be learned from those years of greatness. But very few among these preachers are paying attention to the glory that was. Perhaps most Muslims are not even aware of the grandeur of the years of the Abbasids and Ummayads. They are not being informed that Muslims were creators and innovators and were leading in almost all disciplines of knowledge.

Let us not forget that Muslims have contributed immensely in the world of mathematics, astronomy, medicine and other sciences. Discourses were flourishing when knowledge and differences of opinion were accepted with open minds.

What is happening now? Muslims constitute almost 80% of the 60 mil- lion displaced humans in the world today. More than 60% of lands at war now are those of Muslims.

Of the poorest 20% of humans, almost 80% are Muslims. Millions of Muslim girls are not going to school. Poverty is rampant in more Muslim nations than the rest of the world.

We hear stories of massive migration from Syria and of late, the atrocities inflicted upon the Rohingya in Myanmar. The Palestinians have been interned since 1948. The Afghans, fiercely independent people, have been fighting foreign troops and each other since time immemorial. Life has been tough for Muslims in most parts of the world.

Yet, in a supposedly more progressive Muslim country like ours, so much energy is spent on arguing about the need for a Muslims-only laundrette, whether greeting “Merry Christmas” or “Gong Xi Fa Cai” or “Happy Deepavali” is acceptable, or if the hugely popular song Despacito will rattle the faith of Muslims.

We are banning books for outrageous reasons and questioning the presence of even progressive Muslim scholars coming from abroad. It simply shows we have little confidence in our own strength.

Muslims have to face the challenges of today with tenacity, grit and determination, not hiding behind religious institutions or depending on pseudo-intellectuals masquerading as preachers to save them.

As I have argued in this column earlier, we ought to be concerned about the growing conservatism even here. I am beginning to think tolerance is a virtue that is fast dis- appearing among Muslims today.

Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population, is also changing, perhaps for the worse. It used to be the poster boy for diversity.

Not unlike us, the noisy few are setting a new standard for intolerance and bigotry. That’s the tyranny of the majority, some would argue.

They would rather be cowed into silence than make a stand. The silence can be deafening, but the repercussions will be forever. We are in this state of affairs because we are allowing the noisy few to hijack the Muslim agenda.

Thank God, when politicians are shying away, the voice of reason resonates from the palaces. The Kings are, after all, the guardians of Islam in this country.

The Malay Rulers’ media statement on the matter is a big relief to all. It says, among other things, that the Rulers “demonstrate their commitment to ensuring that Muslims behave with respect, moderation and inclusiveness, in a country which is home to people of many different ethnic groups and religions”.

We thank them for that! Daulat Tuanku! Johan Jaaffar was a journalist, editor and for some years chairman of a media company, and is passionate about all things literature and the arts. The views expressed here are entirely his own.