By Prof Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi
MANY Malaysians of different races and faiths have graced my house in Kajang to ask me about the fate of the country, and the rising threat of Islamic extremism and conservatism. Most are elderly gentlemen who were from various careers in business and education, and lawyers.
They would throng my house and say the same thing: “Prof, how come long time ago, we mix and socialise with Muslims friends freely and without fear, but now, the same friends won’t come to my house anymore, and we see Islam getting more and more difficult for us to live with.” I always feel a twinge of sadness that these 60-, 70- or 80-year-olds have trouble sleeping in their old age after a lifetime of contribution to their beloved country, Malaysia.
As always, I would spend two hours or so explaining the different narratives of Islam that occurred in front of my eyes in the last five decades. I would then conclude that there is a narrative that has the spirit of Prophet Muhammad’s teachings, and there are others clearly not from him.
Take the recent examples of two Malay-Muslim leaders in Malaysia. The first is the Petaling Jaya district police chief, Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal, who went out of his way to help a poor housewife who was caught shoplifting food and medication for her children.
Whenever I read news of this kind, I would always feel like rushing to the courthouse and paying whatever fine to help the needy person, as the “rich” Government of the day would not. The PJ police chief had the compassion of Islam to read the report and reinterpret the “crime” in a spiritual manner, rather than in the literal, legal way.
He visited the poor family of five, and even brought groceries and medicine for the children. His words rang as a Muslim of the highest moral values when he said that though shoplifting is a crime, there is the even bigger crime of ignoring the plight of sick and hungry children in need.
Now, contrast this to the notorious Kedah Menteri Besar, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, who became infamous when he ordered the destruction of a Hindu shrine because it violated planning regulations.
When uproar over his actions came from two Indian leaders, in DAP and MIC, the same MB accused Indians of being prone to “mabuk todi”, or drunkards of cheap alcohol.
Not to be outdone, the Menteri Besar later threatened Penang with cutting off supply to the state from Kedah’s rivers. In his latest blunder, Sanusi declared Thaipusam as no longer a public holiday. Why? Because all rituals, like “kavadi” carrying, are not allowed.
This Menteri Besar is not only a Muslim, but comes from an “Islamic” party called PAS. The leaders of his party never found anything wrong with his “biadab” behaviour in these cases.
Unlike the PJ police chief, who took time and effort to understand the underlying issues in the shoplifting case, and went out of his way to render help, the Kedah Menteri Besar could not care less about Hindus worshipping at the shrine, or innocent women and children being out of water.
How Caliph Umar led by compassion
Now, let us contrast and compare the two Muslim leaders with an example of compassion and true leadership in Islam as shown by the character and values of Amir-al-Mukminun (Commander of the Faithful), the Third Caliph of Islam, Umar-al-Khattab.
In one story I read, a Bedouin arrived in Medina in the dead of night, accompanied by his wife, who was suffering labour pains. As he did not know anybody who could help him find a midwife, he was desperate for help. Suddenly, he saw two men, and went immediately to ask for help. The taller man listened to his request, and acted quickly by asking him to follow him to his house.
When he reached his house, the man asked his wife to follow the Bedouin to his tent to help deliver the baby. After waiting outside the tent for several hours, the midwife came out smiling to her husband, and said: “Ya Amir-al-Mukminun, congratulate your friend, for he has a son!”
The Bedouin was shocked to hear that the man was none other than Caliph Umar-al-Khattab, leader of the vast and powerful Islamic empire. The caliph just smiled at him and told him to meet tomorrow at his workplace so that he could arrange help for his stay in Medina.
I would also like to narrate another story about Umar. As a leader, he was never one to sit in his office, but preferred to walk incognito at night to gauge the needs of the people, because he took his responsibility as a leader very seriously.
When he and his assistant came upon a house with children crying loudly, he inquired, and found a woman stirring a pot containing nothing but stone and water. When he asked why she was cooking stones, the woman answered that there was nothing to eat, and it was a ruse to lull the hungry children to sleep.
The caliph was so ashamed that he rushed back to the Treasury, or Bait-al-Mal, and took several sacks of wheat and flour, placing them all on his back to carry to the hungry family. When the caliph’s assistant begged to let him carry the sacks, Umar looked at him and said quietly: “O Brother, will you carry my sins in the hereafter?”
For Umar, as a leader, he feared punishment on the Day of Judgement for failing the hungry family. In the end, the caliph carried the sacks of wheat and flour to the woman, and he played with the children until they slept with food in their stomachs. Only then did he return home.
Thus, the message here is that there are two kinds of Muslim leadership in this country. One is a leadership of compassion, diplomacy and kindness, while the other is a leadership of arrogance, bigotry and pure stupidity.
It is important for Malaysians to recognise the difference, for the fate of this country lies in one that would bring harmony, prosperity and enlightenment. The other would bring the total destruction of the concept of a rich and peaceful multicultural and multifaith nation. – Jan 24, 2021
Prof Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is a professor at a local university. This article first appeared at Sin Chew news portal.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
