Religious affairs

"I will move the motion at the state assembly that those who aspire to be leaders, penghulu, village heads and civil servants must pray five times a day and perform the Friday prayer.

"This will ensure that those selected are morally upright and will refrain from corrupt practices and immoral activities," said Kelantan Menter Besar, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

In case you don't know this already, I have a problem with people who force others to behave in what they perceive to be the right/correct/righteous way. And the situation starts to slide down a slippery slope when such 'learned' views are made by those in power.

In the situation above, a fair number of issues come to mind. How does it apply to non-Muslims? Does that mean that they will be discriminated against as there is no way to 'ensure that those elected are morally upright'? And if it only applies to Muslims, then once again is that not a form of discrimination?

This does not even begin to question the absurdity of equating praying 5 times a day with moral righteousness. Fair enough; all Muslims are meant to pray 5 times a day. But is that set to be a marker of one's faith in what is essentially a relationship with God? This is similar to the tudung-wearing scenario where those who wear a tudung are automatically perceived to be better Muslims.

When will these so-called religious leaders learn that morality is to do with the person inside and not what is exhibited in the open? I know of a man who has been to Mekah at least a dozen times to perform his umrah, and still managed to come home and cheat on his wife, screwing a girl who's young enough to be his daughter.

And what about the fair number of people who can quote the Quran, pray more than 5 times a day and even lead a congregation in prayer - people that I wouldn't trust with the life of my pet hamster (God rest his soul) as they are either individuals who only see their way as the right way, or are of the mentality that everything else is ok (e.g. calling others 'babi', skimming money off the people, talking ill of others behind their backs) as long as they face the Kaabah 5 times a day and mutter the obligatory prayers .

And I know of people who don't pray regularly or who are atheists or who are gay that I would trust with my life.

Which makes you wonder - are these individuals fighting against a perceived dictatorship in order to establish a dictatorship in the form of a theocracy? In that case, you can count me out of it. They say a leopard never changes its spots, and I have an uneasy feeling that for all the talk of moderation, PAS is just waiting for the opportune moment to spring a fundamentalist surprise on all of us.

Another funny thing that has been making its way in the press is the fact that the Perlis religious leader was quoted as asking Anwar Ibrahim to swear on the Quran with regards to his denials in participating in sodomy. I have never quite figured out the rationale behind such acts - what do they actually prove? If he actually did commit sodomy, he obviously doesn't have much of an opinion re the laws within the Quran and would happily lie whilst he swore by it. And if he is a good Muslim etc etc etc, then he would (once again) happily swear by it.

And if you want him to do it, then you really should start asking other accused individuals to perform similar acts. What about Najib swearing on the Quran that he never sodomised that poor Mongolian girl, as alleged by that private investigator dude (sodomy seems to be an alleged favourite of Deputy Prime Ministers, no? Wonder if it's part of the job description)? Or Mugabe swearing by the Bible that no, he really didn't rig any elections. Or Bush swearing by the Bible that he really doesn't think the acts within Guantanomo Bay are unChristian-like at all. Ad infinitum.

A friend recently questioned me again on my reluctance to fully accept the teachings of Islam, and chastised me for picking and choosing the bits that I want to follow. I would say that that's not entirely true - I follow the teachings to the best of my ability and pick and choose bits that I do not want to follow. Why? It is because it is very difficult for me to accept something without question when the 'leaders' appear to pick and choose whatever principles that happen to be of most benefit to them.

As far as I am concerned, morality and your relationship with God isn't judged by what you wear or the things you say or the rituals that you perform, but the deeds you do and the 'niat' you have when performing them. And if even God only judges a man by his deeds at the end of his days, why should human beings be any different?