So we can safely assume that the first Caliph was assassinated. And so were the second Caliph, Omar, and the third Caliph, Osman, and finally the last Caliph, Ali. All four were assassinated. All died violent deaths.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Anwar Ibrahim is a traitor to the Malay race and to Islam. This is what they teach you in the BTN School of Brainwashing. Anwar has split the Malays and Muslims into two. Only 51% of the Malays voted for Barisan Nasional while the balance 49% voted for the opposition. This means the Malays have been split into two. 

Okay, what if 80% or 90% of the Malays vote for the opposition and only a handful vote for Barisan Nasional, say in the next general election? Would Anwar now be credited with uniting the Malays since 80% or 90% of the Malays are now with the opposition?

No! Malay unity, according to the government, has to mean that 80% or 90% vote for Barisan Nasional. If they abandon Barisan Nasional, never mind that they are united under the opposition, this would mean the Malays and the Muslims are split. Unity means united under Umno and Barisan Nasional. United under the opposition is not unity. Only united under Umno and Barisan Nasional is unity.

When I was in Kamunting last year, I was asked to attend religious rehabilitation classes. My attendance and how I behave in these religious classes would determine whether I stay in Kamunting for just two years and get to go home after that or whether I would have to stay anything from up to six or eight years.

So, to ‘score points’ and to ensure my timely release, I attended the religious rehabilitation classes. And I promised myself I would behave. I would not say or do anything controversial. I would just sit quietly and listen to the lectures and then go back to my solitary confinement and count the days until my release.

But I found that very hard to do. The first lecture by that ustaz from JAKUN or JAKIM or whatever was about Muslim unity. Aiyah, I thought to myself, here we go again. Another BTN brainwashing lecture about splitting the Malays and Muslims and traitors to your race and religion and whatnot.

After the lecture ended there was a questions and answers session and Yazid Sufaat and I looked at each other. (You can read more about Yazid who spent eight years under ISA detention here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazid_Sufaat).

Actually, Yazid and I were already whispering to each other and exchanging signals even before the ustaz ended his lecture. It was agreed that we would both tear him to pieces and strip him naked in front of the ‘congregation’ of about 60 or so ISA detainees.

When the ustaz asked whether there are any questions, Yazid signalled to me to start whacking. But I signalled to him to go first and that I would follow later. After all Yazid was more ‘senior’. He had been in Kamunting almost eight years while I was just in my second week or so.

Yazid stood up to ask his question and sat down again. But before the ustaz could reply I stood up and told the ustaz he might as well take my question and reply to both in one go. 

My question was as follows:

Ustaz, you talk about the Muslim community. In Islam that is called ummah. You say that we Muslims should not be divided but must unite because a divided ummah would result in a weak Islam.

Since when, ustaz, were the Muslims ever united? The day the Prophet died was the day the Muslims became divided and they never united since then for about 1,500 years or so.

It took three days for them to bury the Prophet because they could not decide on who should be the successor (the Arabic word for successor is Caliph). Finally, it was agreed that Abu Bakar would be the Caliph but Ali would not accept him and refused to pledge loyalty to him.

Because of this Ali was bypassed the second time after Abu Bakar died although there are those amongst the Muslims who feel that Ali should have been that rightful successor.

It is said that Abu Bakar was assassinated by poisoning although that can’t be established since they did not do post-mortems in those days. But the fact that the person who was eating with Abu Bakar the day before also died the same day as Abu Bakar and he died of poisoning raises the suspicion that Abu Bakar too was poisoned.

So we can safely assume that the first Caliph was assassinated. And so were the second Caliph, Omar, and the third Caliph, Osman, and finally the last Caliph, Ali. All four were assassinated. All died violent deaths. 

In between that they had the war between the forces of Medina led by Ali and the forces of Baghdad led by Muawiyah, the first Caliph of the Ummayad Dynasty. Then we had the Battle of the Camel between the forces of Medina led by Ali and the forces of Mekah led by the Prophet’s widow, Aishah. It was in fact the Mekah forces that were invading Medina.

Finally, the worse war of all was the war between Hussein (Ali’s son) and Yazid, the second Caliph of the Ummayad Dynasty who was Muawiyah’s son. In fact, this war, the infamous Battle of Karbala, was the final nail in the coffin that resulted in a permanent split of the Muslims until today. And because of that millions have died at the hands of fellow Muslims.

So, ustaz, since when were the Muslims ever united? They have been split ever since the day the Prophet died. And they will never again be united until the end of time. That is the reality.

But Islam has spread and grown. From a small force of 10,000 in the early days and just a year before the Prophet died, Islam now has more than one billion followers. But Islam has been split all this time and the Muslims were never united.

So, ustaz, how do you reconcile your statement that the Muslims need to be united for Islam to remain strong? The Muslims were never united from the beginning and yet Islam continued to grow.

I conclude, ustaz, by asking you to please clarify this point.

The ustaz looked at his watch and commented that time does not permit him to answer our questions so maybe we can raise these same questions for the next ustaz to reply during the next religious rehabilitation lecture.

We never saw this ustaz again.