The Mufti of Perak, Harussani Zakaria is a man notorious for stirring up trouble. In 2007, he helped cause a ruckus when he helped spread the rumour that Malay youth were being baptised at a church in Perak. He got off scot-free then and I wonder if the same will happen now. This time, our good mufti is embroiled in not one but two controversial issues.
The first of these issues involves the new fatwa that Muslims aren’t allowed to wear certain football jerseys. This time, to be fair, it wasn’t just Harussani but rather one Nooh Gadot, a Johor Religious Council adviser. Gadot said that Muslims were forbidden from wearing football jerseys with images of crosses, liquor brands and devils. Naturally, being a staunch ‘defender of faith’, Harussani had to have his say and claimed that ‘Islam did not forbid its followers from participating in sports or dressing up, it has to be done within the boundaries of Islamic law’.
Of course, let’s not forget here that the phrase ‘Islamic law’ most probably means ‘Harussani and Gadot’s version of Islamic law’. Interpretation in Islamic law is an often neglected aspect. Then you get people like Harussani who act as if diversity doesn’t exist and that they own Islamic law. When that happens, you will almost certainly get absolutely ridiculous understandings like this one and our notorious fatwa against Yoga.
Think about it for a minute. Manchester United is called the ‘Red Devils’. Do they worship the Devil? I have yet to see Man U fans congregate to the Church of Satan (with the upturned cross) after a match. It simply doesn’t happen. The ‘devil’ in the emblem is a metaphor, probably for how ‘bad’ (as in hated by their enemies sense of the word) Man U is. There is nothing more to it than that. Harussani should try to look beyond the literal wording or symbolism of the term and try to understand the metaphor. After all, much of the Quran uses metaphors. If Harussani read the Quran literally, he would be stuck with trying to explain how God has a throne, hands and a face. But no, the Quran is metaphorical so as a mufti, Harussani should understand other people have a right to use symbolic language too.
Symbols like the cross, the devil and various brands of alcohol are inconsequential for those who do not acknowledge the traditional meanings behind them. Wear a swiss flag, use a swiss army knife all you want but if your heart isn’t moved, you won’t suddenly want to embrace Christianity as Harussani surmises. Do we see people rush to embrace Islam after wearing the Bulan Sabit Merah uniform? And as Scott Thong points out, we expect all Malaysians regardless of faith to wear or display the Malaysian flag. Why can’t Malaysians of faiths other than Islam rebel against this and call it an affront to their faith? It is certainly a valid argument by Harussani and Gadot’s logic.
People like Harussani Zakaria and Nooh Gadot are superficial in their treatment of Islam. They have reduced Islam to a mere symbolic expression. I’m sure they won’t have any problem at all if those football jerseys had the crescent moon on them. Why? Because the cresent moon is ostensibly ‘Islam’s’ symbol. The thing is, neither the crescent moon nor any other symbol is proposed by the Quran to be ‘the symbol of Islam’. This is exactly the same with Christianity. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the cross is their symbol. It is simply tradition which dicates it so.
This long tirade of mine above isn’t in the end of the story. Harussani is not just a mufti but also a master of intrigue. He recently claimed that PAS and UMNO leaders have approached him for his views of unity. If Harussani didn’t dream this episode up, those PAS and UMNO leaders must have been knocking on the wrong door! Harussani on unity? This is the man who spread vicious rumours on the strength of an SMS message!
Harussani says we should not be concerned about the identity of these people whom he met but rather if they are Muslims or not or whether or not they champion the cause of Islam? What exactly does he mean by the ‘cause of Islam’ here? He continues to rhetorically ask ‘why collaborate with others?’ By others, clearly he means other Malays not of the Islamic persuasion. So from here we can see that Harussani has a very distorted understanding of ‘unity’. He wants Muslims to unite against other people! He will use any means necessary (including dreaming up unity talks) in order to reach that goal.
The superficialisation of Islam as we can see from the two incidents above is the reason why Malay-Muslims are caught in a quagmire and unable to move on to important subjects such as the backwardness of the Muslims and the problems facing the global community of mankind. My suggestion to the Malay-Muslims, forget these twitterings and move on to bigger things.
Farouk's Being Malaysia 
July 21, 2010 at 11:32 am |
Interesting article but to be fair the Mufti has certain points correct.
And as a Muslim scholar he is entitled to his opinion. i.e. Fatwa. There is no requirement for any Muslim to follow a fatwa. But there is a requirement for Muslim scholars to actually inform the people on what he thinks is right or wrong. If he didn’t then there’d be no point of having scholars.
With regards to jerseys with alcoholic sponsors, i believe the ruling is correct when it comes to the Quran & Sunnah.
Hadith Al-Tirmidhi:
Allah’s messenger cursed ten people in connection with wine: the wine-presser, the one who has it pressed, the one who drinks it, the one who conveys it, the one to whom it is conveyed, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who benefits from the price paid for it, the one who buys it, and the one for whom it is bought.
I’m thinking that wearing a jersey promoting an alcoholic beverage would fall into one of the categories. It’s all very clear without metaphors. Promoting alcohol is a no-no. It doesn’t matter that you are wearing a jersey because you’re supporting the team. But the logo is there for a reason. Promotion. If not the beer companies wouldn’t need to put it there and pay the team millions for the privilege.
And we too must realise that not everyone is or wants to be a liberal and the Mufti has served his purpose for this group of people who happen to make up quite a large percentage of Malaysians.
Would like to hear your opinion on this.
July 21, 2010 at 12:06 pm |
Iskandar Azaman,
“Hadith Al-Tirmidhi:
Allah’s messenger cursed ten people in connection with wine: the wine-presser, the one who has it pressed, the one who drinks it, the one who conveys it, the one to whom it is conveyed, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who benefits from the price paid for it, the one who buys it, and the one for whom it is bought.”
ok, lets make this simple. anything that goes with the said process of making or drinking wine is wrong. Then people working at 7-Eleven, sundry shops cannot be muslims as well. Transport companies transporting or even repairing the trucks / lorrys and even ships cannot be owned, managed or even worked with muslims. Even the the football games cannot be watched as many teams are sponsored by bear / wine companies, by watching you are supporting their advert / sales!!!
Same priciple also applies to loans or borrowing money if i am not mistaken in Islam. If what I have heard is correct, according to Islam you are not supposed to take interest, so basically if you borrow money and you gain from your business you pay a small amount out of your profit, if you lose nothing [Does it mean I can have my house even if I dont pay my loan repayments due to job loss, as per islamic law you cannot take interest and i am losing money from my employment?]. In that sense you cant get a loan from a bank in malaysia, as almost all of them give you a loan on the basis that you pay interest. Even islamic banks / islamic accounts, call it a different name, the rate of interest, etc are same. Even lets assume Islamic banks dont do any of those stuff, how do they raise money? through bonds, etc where in those are rated based on the return those are capable of delivering……
awaiting your replies please
July 24, 2010 at 5:58 am |
And your point is???
So you’re saying, if you can’t beat ’em…join ’em?
That’s the main reason Islamic Banking has emerged in these times. Although it is difficult to get away from it (interest/riba), a person has only to try their best to do it.
July 21, 2010 at 12:08 pm |
fantastic article!
July 21, 2010 at 12:12 pm |
Jackass, you are very ‘UN’……….respect!!!
July 21, 2010 at 1:56 pm |
….and Tun’s son cannot be a Board Member of San Miguel, no?
July 21, 2010 at 1:56 pm |
Azaman, what kind of scholar is this fella? He is not Ibn Rushd or Al-Ghazali. He is just a paid religious functionary, an example of someone with severely limited knowledge who tries to show how little he knows.
July 24, 2010 at 6:00 am |
I have no idea what kind of scholar he is. But it’s highly likely he knows more about Islam than me. So why don’t you ask him.
It’s weird that nobody questions a car mechanic about how to repair their cars but when a scholar gives his view, suddenly everyone is an expert.
I don’t care what scholar he is, i don’t follow him personally, but i understand his duties.
July 21, 2010 at 2:07 pm |
Dear Iskandar Azaman, you like our Mufti takes thing literally. In the example you have given, wine was used because that was the problem at that time. But it doesn’t literally means just wine.
Just because the Prophet doesn’t ride on a car, doesn’t mean Muslim can’t ride on a car.
Please open your eyes and look at the big picture and NOT read the Quran word for word. God have given us a brain so that we can think.
July 24, 2010 at 5:52 am |
I don’t think you understood the point of my comment. There are other people who want to follow the Quran strictly. Just because you don’t, it doesn’t make them stupid. If you say they are, then you are just like all those religiously intolerant people. I personally don’t care about the ruling. But since I am not a scholar I don’t have anything against people who want to follow their own beliefs.
God gave us a brain, but he also gave us the Quran and Sunnah to follow. For some circumstances, there is no bigger picture.
And your choice of an example isn’t even remotely similar to this particular situation. Please find another one. In the Hadith, it specifically mentions wine and anything to do with it is haram. Nothing at all about cars being haram. So what is your point really? If god says specifically in the Quran and Hadith that wine is haram, what does he really mean? If you don’t want to follow the Quran or Hadith, don’t hate on those who want to follow it.
For a lot of people … life adapts to religion, not the other way around. If you want to question a scholar, then back it up with facts from the Quran and Sunnah.
July 21, 2010 at 3:43 pm |
I am a Man Utd fan. The garbage for brain Gadot has insulted his own faith by issuing such stoooopid statement.
If you know Man Utd players, they have to do plenty of charity work while on tour as well as community work. They also have to observe a disciplined lifestyle to ensure they are in top physical condition – no chocolate, no chicken skins, no steak, no french fries etc. Sir Alex Ferguson has demonstrated remarkable work ethics and intelligence in picking up Man Utd from the dismal 1980’s to the current lofty position
Bryan Robson has overcome numeorus injuries to play as well as ever, Paul Scholas and Ryan Giggs typified the ultimate professionals by living carefully and able to play at the highest level.
Sure Man Utd is a plc and has its financial controversies etc hence it is normal for any commercial organisation
and the little insult of commonsense can only dwell on a devil insignia on a red jersey. How many muslims have turned into devils or quite islam because of following Man Utd? in fact following Man Utd & playing football s better than getting into illegal racing, raping your own daughters, watching porno etc. Ring a bell to you, kawan?
Man Utd should consider legal action for libel and slander from this disgrace
July 21, 2010 at 4:41 pm |
Hahahaha! I’d rather these ulama issue fatwa that all young pious muslims must go forth and gather knowledge, be it science, maths, geometry, art, craft or even languages.
Especially languages so that such black teeshirt with big bold text “Born to Rock, Drink and Fuck’ is not worn by young pious muslim in a mosque during friday prayer!
p/s i have 2 such pix to show but dont know how to upload. Sorry.
July 21, 2010 at 5:46 pm |
Everything in Harussani’s mouth spews of UMNO political tone.
Not surprising he manipulated religion with politics & came out with an idiotic fatwa which no other Islamic countries would even follow….except in Malaysia.
It looks like Malaysia really boleh
July 21, 2010 at 8:16 pm |
Many malays don’t like to admit it, but once upon a time, they were not Muslims like everyone else!
Malays were part of the migration of Polynesian peoples whose original home was Yunnan in China to South East Asia in what is known as Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia……….
At that time the Orang Asli were already well settled in the malay Peninsula, so that makes them the most legitimate of the bumis.
Malays were animists then for hundreds of years until Indians crossed Bay of Bengal to South East Asia and spread Indian and Hindu culture to the peoples there.
Hence we had the great Hindu kingdoms which later also became Buddhist kingdoms of Langkasuka, Srivijaya, Majapahit – but main thing to note is that racially the peoples were malays and speak old malay language.
Islam only came to South East Asia from 1400 after foundation of Malacca by Parameswara. Again from India crossed Bay of Bengal and spread Islam to South East Asia. Malacca sultans were among the first converts and the rest is history.
Please note that the malays have been Muslims for only 600 years and have been Hindus/Buddhists very much longer – at least 2000 years. Malay culture is very much influenced by Hindu culture including Sanskrit words like the wayang kulit, raja, maharaja, etc.
Unlike Javanese, who are proud of their Hindu/Buddhist past reflected in great empires like Srivijaya and Majapahit, malays are generally ashamed to dwell on their pre Islamic Hindu/Buddhist past.
On the contrary some malays try to be like the Arab wannabes, trying to cleanse the malays of their Hindu/Buddhist past – in this even the songs and films of P Ramlee become victimized!
If Islam had not come to South East Asia, malays would still be Hindus/Buddhists like the Balinese which is not a bad idea, as Balinese are considered very peaceful people.
July 21, 2010 at 8:28 pm |
If only the malays are a bit smarter, then BN won’t win. The problem is malays are too damn stupid that they keep voting for BN. I don’t know what poison BN gave to make them in this state.
July 22, 2010 at 1:00 am |
To coolooc:
Nope. Facts and stats show that it’s the non-malays who are keeping BN in power. See RPK recent article on this. And also the 1999 GE results. So its the chinese, indians and other non-malays who are too damn stupid that they keep on voting BN. At least Malays are supposedly ‘bumiputras’ but the non-malays keep voting for umno/bn even when being treated as 2nd class citizens. Talk about stupid!
July 21, 2010 at 8:35 pm |
The name Melayu is an Indian word to denote hills or mountain range. There is a place in south India called Melayur.
Indigenous people who marry Muslim Indians from Melayur identified themselves as Melayur.
Over time, as the malay kingdom spead through insular SEA, the word Melayur became simply as Melayu.
If one were to do genetic test on the modern malay in Peninsula Malaysia, they would invariably carry genetics from Indian to explain the darker complexion and kinky hair of most malays as opposed to the Mongolid look of some malays of original Malayo Polynesian, Dusun or Dayak stocks.
The real natives or indigenous people of the Peninsula Malaysia can be found in the northern parts of Peninusla Malaysia apart from the aborigines.
July 21, 2010 at 8:47 pm |
Dr Mahathir is the worst thing that has happened to this country. He continues to spew venom. Why? All he cares about is himself, his family, his relatives, his friends and his cronies.
It doesn’t require a PhD to analyze the reasons why many malays are still poor for the new economy in spite of the NEP and all we hear – the true reason for the failure of the malays are MAHATHIR MAHATHIR MAHATHIR……….and nothing else.
Mahathir biggest achievements are not the white elephant KLIA, the robber highways, the meaningless Twin Towers, ghost town Putrajaya, failed MSC, sweat shop factories run with foreign labour, etc.
His true achievements are the destruction of good governance, law and order, quality education, religious brotherhood, peace and harmony.
July 22, 2010 at 6:31 am |
It’s called the Mahatir Dilemma bro. 20+ years of he worst PM ever is the reason why we find our dear country in this predicament. His soiled corrupting hand has contaminated every strata of our society. Every governmental institution. Even the Malay’s religion. Malaysia cannot recover until this evil has been brought to justice and made to pay dearly for his monumental crimes.
July 22, 2010 at 6:33 am |
It’s called the Mahatir Dilemma bro. 20+ years of the worst PM ever is the reason why we find our dear country in this predicament. His soiled corrupting hand has contaminated every strata of our society. Every governmental institution. Even the Malay’s religion. Malaysia cannot morally recover until this despicable individual has been brought to justice and made to pay dearly for his monumental crimes.
July 21, 2010 at 8:55 pm |
It is no secret that Parameswara was an Indian and a Hindu prince until he married a Pasai princess and converted to Islam and adopted the Persian name Iskandar Shah.
There seemed to be no problem telling the truth as I just expressed it during my school days. The school textbooks were quite clear on this – but not today, I am told.
Once again the insecure Umno-led government had to wipe out any references to this famous Melaka prince as being Hindu and belonging to the powerful Hindu empire Srivijaya.
So all of a sudden our museums, school textbooks etc, all refer to Parameswara as a malay prince. Umno lying, mind you, is not confined to the mainstream newspapers.
July 21, 2010 at 9:06 pm |
Well, UMNO managed to achieve one thing. The BTN-type morons, have been overwhelmingly successful in brainwashing todays 27 million citizens.
Who says that the peninsular was always called Tanah Melayu? This is a recent British term!
Tanah Melayu was never the name until the British came and colonized the peninsular.
Malai means hill in Tamil; as to describe the Titiwangsa range on the said peninsular since the 2nd century by the Gujerati traders who set up their formidable Hindu empire at Lembah Bujang.
July 21, 2010 at 10:44 pm |
So free , haaaa ?
Tanjung Rambutan still got rooms available …
July 21, 2010 at 11:44 pm |
superficiality can be overcomed….there is no remedy for stupidity!
July 22, 2010 at 12:22 am |
By the same twisted logic by this moron, lets us ban all books that contain the alphabet “t” and “x” coz it looks like a cross. Muslims must give up mathematics, business, accounting, engineering and all education because the plus and multiply symbols are also crosses. When driving they must not use and T or X junctions. Dont “cross” the street. In fact dont even wear anything with a malaysian flag as it has the crescent moon. Surely it is against Islam to worship the moon! By wearing an image of the moon means worshiping the moon. What about kids wearing t-shirts (another cross) with “mickey mouse”? Surely these kids are worshiping a mouse!
July 22, 2010 at 1:09 am |
Last i checked, our PM, Najib is a big fan of MU.
I’m sure he would have a jersey or two.
July 22, 2010 at 2:06 am |
Insecure people try to hide behind a crowd. In Malaysia there are more Malays than others so these people feel safe to hide in the Malay crowd. The Indonesians were looking for “Malays” in the streets of Jakarta and suddenly there were no “malays” there. Who is more Malay?
July 22, 2010 at 3:06 am |
u think these people r holy meh,God only knows what they surf in the internet at night.
July 22, 2010 at 4:00 am |
Harussani is trying to unite the Malays, so that he could have another double track @ tunnel to build. Does that ring a bell.?
July 25, 2010 at 3:58 am |
quote Iskandar Azaman Says: “In the Hadith, it specifically mentions wine and anything to do with it is haram. Nothing at all about cars being haram. So what is your point really?”
Since Hadith (can I type out this “Islamic” word?) specifically mention “wine” and not “car” (because they have none then!) may I know is “car” haram atau tak haram? (I know that you need to consult the “scholar”). Let’s assume “car” is tak haram or else it will be disaster to all Msian muslim here, can I also assume Internet will be categorize as Tak Haram as well because it did not mention in H…..! Then I am sure you are intelligent enought to know that “Internet” has been used for many many “sin” activities, e.g. it “enable” muslim to gamble without being detected like sitting on Genting table! Over to you, my wise Msian or Bangsa Msia or Bangsa 1Msia or whatever….
July 26, 2010 at 7:34 am |
Form over substance is as old as time itself.
Education is the only way forward, to keep this bunch of despicable holier-than-thou people from clouding the Rakyak minds. Do not be surprised that these ‘shallow-scums’ are also perfecting cunning to turn things into ‘race & religion’ at a drop of their kopiah or shawl.
BTW, rtm at 1time rejected an Oz TV commercial on the account that the tag-line was “Australia – The feeling is magic” ~ idiots in rtm linked the word magic to jinn/hantutoyol/voodoo/evil…and sought to save us from Satan downunder! …Anyway, the Oz tvc was approved when the Oz D.Commissioner had a ‘political meeting’ with direct threats to pull out MAS tvc in Oz. Tit4tat! Haahahahah!
August 16, 2010 at 6:09 pm |
What a stupid lot of people here.