Mahathir and Islam are not compatible

2015 and 2016 were disaster years for Mahathir. Mahathir wanted us to hate Najib by hating 1MDB. Now Mahathir has brought in a new dimension, which is 1MDB is abusing taxpayers’ money by helping Muslims to perform their pilgrimage, and hence Allah will not accept their Haj. This is Mahathir’s new fatwah, just like his earlier fatwah that Muslims should not ape the Prophet by sporting beards.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is worried. It has just been revealed that 1MDB has embarked upon many worthy causes, one of which is to help those who do not have enough money to perform their Haj. What other worthy causes has 1MDB performed?

Actually, if you had been paying attention, you would know some of the good that 1MDB has been doing. But then you just want to hear negative stories — about how 1MDB’s money was stolen and about RM42 billion disappearing into thin air — that the story of 1MDB helping people to perform their Haj is news to you when, in fact, this had been revealed long ago.

Allah will not accept your Haj if 1MDB helped you perform your pilgrimage, says Mahathir

Anyway, Mahathir appears to have just found out about 1MDB helping Muslims to preform their Haj even if this had been revealed a couple of years ago. And Mahathir has just come out with his fatwah (religious edict) that Allah will not accept the Haj of those who perform the pilgrimage with 1MDB’s help (READ HERE: Haji tak mabrur guna duit 1MDB, kata Dr Mahathir).

The Pahang Mufti, someone authorised to issue a fatwah, has contradicted Mahathir (READ HERE: Tiada kaitan wang 1MDB dengan haji mabrur, kata mufti).

Going by Mahathir’s track record, I feel that what the Pahang Mufti decreed has more credibility than what Mahathir decreed. After all it was Mahathir who ridiculed those who keep beards by saying that the only reason Prophet Muhammad sported a beard is because there were no Gillette shaving blades during the time of the Prophet.

Now, since long before the time of Prophet Muhammad the people of Arabia had been performing their Haj where they shave their heads at the end of the Haj. How, then, did they shave their heads if there was no way to shave back in those days? Gillette was founded on 28th September 1901 so for sure they did not have Gillette shaving blades back in the year 600. But they did have ways of shaving their heads so that means they could have shaved off their beards as well if they wanted to.

Hence the reason Muslims kept beards is not because they did not have Gillette shaving blades (which did not exist until 1901) but for another reason. And if you believe in Hadith (or do not reject Hadith) then go and read them and find out why Muslims kept beards…until today. And it is not because Gillette shaving blades did not exist yet until 1901.

Gillette shaving blades did not exist until 1901, which is why Prophet Muhammad kept a beard, says Mahathir

So Mahathir has a very poor track record in religious edicts or fatwah. Mahathir’s fatwah are based on sindir (sarcasm) and not based on proper research. In 2002, Mahathir issued a fatwah that Malaysia is already a Muslim country so there is no longer any need for PAS — and then he elevated the status of the Sharia court to the same level as the common law court.

That has since created a lot of problems, especially in cases involving child custody and unilateral conversions. Then non-Muslims blame Islam and oppose Abdul Hadi Awang’s RUU355 because, according to them, they have so much problems with Islam. The non-Muslims say they do not accept Sharia laws whereas Sharia laws have been around long before the Chinese and Indians migrated to Malaya in large numbers from 1850 to 1920.

No doubt Chinese and Indians had been coming to Malaya since before 1511 but mass migration under British times was between 1850 and 1920 (which means the Chinese and Indians did not come on their own but the British and their agents ‘imported’ them). And when they came to Malaya there were already Sharia laws in existence. For example, Kelantan had Sharia laws while the state was still under Thai rule and before Siam transferred Kelantan to British rule in 1909.

The non-Malays are opposed to RUU355 out of fear that the Sharia laws would be applicable to them as well. I can understand that and I do not blame them. The issue is how do we assure the non-Muslims that Sharia laws apply only to Muslims and that non-Muslims would not be affected?

Was Henry VIII, the founder of the Church of England, a Muslim?

If Mahathir is a responsible person then he should focus on this instead. A lot of the problems that we face today is Mahathir’s legacy. He created all these problems. So Mahathir should do something like sort out how Islam can co-exist with non-Muslims and Sharia laws would apply only to Muslims and not to non-Muslims.

Let us take the child custody and unilateral conversion problem as one example. Why is Mahathir not talking about this? Why is he keeping quiet? This problem cropped up during Mahathir’s time and is still a problem until today. Mahathir left Malaysia this problem. Does Mahathir want Muslims and non-Muslims to continue to fight over this? Does Mahathir not want Muslims and non-Muslims to live in peace?

Instead, Mahathir talks about Allah not accepting the Haj of those who go to perform their pilgrimage with 1MDB’s help. What nonsense is this? Why does he say that? Is it because 1MDB’s money is taxpayers’ money so any taxpayers’ money used for religious purposes is not accepted by Allah?

Mosques are built by the government, meaning using taxpayers’ money. Will Allah accept the prayers of those who pray in mosques built with taxpayer’s money? Should good Muslims boycott mosques and pray at home instead? Does Mahathir himself not pray in mosques built by the government using taxpayer’s money? Should the government stop building mosques?

Tabung Haji spent RM160 million in 2016 to subsidise those performing their Haji and this year it is going to increase to RM200 million because the cost of the Haj has gone up and the Saudi government is also increasing the tax. So Tabung Haji is also using taxpayers’ money to subside the cost of the Haj.

So does this mean all those who have been performing their Haj through Tabung Haji’s help have wasted their money because Allah will not accept their Haj as well?

Will Allah accept the prayers of those who pray in mosques built by the government?

Don’t forget, it was Mahathir who announced that 90% of the personal income tax is paid by the Chinese. That means taxpayers’ money is almost all Chinese money. Then Mahathir said 1MDB is taxpayers’ money. So that means 1MDB is Chinese money. Then Mahathir says Allah will not accept the Haj of those who perform their pilgrimage with 1MDB’s help. So this means those who do their pilgrimage with 1MDB’s help are performing their Haj using Chinese money.

Mahathir is just triggering friction between Muslims and Muslims and Muslims and non-Muslims. This is called divide-and-rule, the strategy which the British used during their imperial days and which Sun Tzu also propagated. And that was how 10,000 British ruled over 300 million Indians in British India and just three people and 20 policemen could rule 300,000 Kelantanese in 1909.

Mahathir wants the people to hate Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. So he starts by making people hate 1MDB by saying that Allah will not accept the Haj of those who perform their pilgrimage with 1MDB’s help. In short, 1MDB is abusing taxpayers’ money, meaning Chinese money, by sending people to Mekah. Then the non-Malays and non-Muslims will get very angry and will not only hate Najib and 1MDB but will hate the Malays and Muslims as well.

Pribumi and Pakatan Harapan’s future depends on how successful this hate campaign is. You need to hate Najib, Umno, PAS, the Malays, Muslims, and so on, for the opposition to get 100% support from the non-Muslims. Mahathir knows that the support of the Malays-Muslims will go to Umno and PAS. So the opposition needs the support of the Chinese, Indians and natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

PAN is struggling to get 20,000 members while Pribumi cannot even get 10,000. So DAP and PKR need to bring in the votes. And that means it has to be non-Malay and non-Muslim votes, those from East Malaysia included.

Hate campaigns have proven successful. Hitler used this method to get into power. The mullahs in Iran also held onto power through a hate campaign. If the people can be united by hate then they will rally behind you. And Mahathir’s only hope would be to unite the people through hate for Najib, Umno, PAS, etc., and that means you also need to hate the Malays and Islam to hate Umno and PAS.

Pakatan Harapan’s only harapan to win is through a hate campaign