Sunday, 23-Nov-2003 11:41 PM

Blasphemy is not funny

There is a joke I used to tell, I think it was 20 years ago or so: When Saudi Arabia first entered the World Cup, they would win all the matches. This was because they would wear these long robes and, once they got the ball, they would hide it between their legs. Then we would see all these players running towards the goal but no one knew which player had the ball. Invariably, they would shoot the goal unchallenged and win. Then they changed the rules and made it compulsory for all players to wear football shorts and the Saudi team no longer won the matches.

Munir Majid, in his column in the Sunday Times today -- The Big Picture: Will Pas want to ban football next? -- has his own version of the football joke. In the column he asks whether the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) will ban football “like the Taliban did in Afghanistan?”

“Those shorts, showing hairy legs they're too much of a turn-on,” said Munir.

A joke is one thing, but making fun of the Koran is something else. Making fun of the Koran, Bible, Torah, or any Holy Book for that matter borders on blasphemy. Even the Ten Commandments of the Christians and Jews say that we must not take the name of the Lord in vain.

Islam clearly stipulates that the male aurat is from between the bellybutton to the knees. Therefore, this part of the body must not be exposed, which means the thighs and the family jewels. Munir is not mocking PAS in his opinion piece. He is mocking the Koran. And this is blasphemy.

I had a Christian friend who once joked about the Virgin Mary. She is not actually a virgin, he said, it is just that Joseph did not know Mary had slept with other men. I cautioned my Christian friend that this is blasphemy. The Bible that declares Mary a virgin is his Bible, not mine. But Islam does not allow Muslims to insult or mock other religions or Prophets. We are in fact told to respect the other religions so that non-Muslims too, in turn, respect Islam. How can we demand that Islam be accorded respect when we do not know how to respect the religion of others?

The Koran speaks about all the Prophets of the Christians and Jews with respect. Muslims are told to believe in ALL the Prophets, be in Adam, Jacob, David, Solomon, Aaron, Zakariya, John, Elias, Jonas, Lot, Elisha, Moses, Abraham, Ishmael, Noah, or Joseph; never mind they were all Jews. In fact, any Muslim who does not believe in any of the other Prophets before Muhammad ceases to be a Muslim. The Koran mentions in many of its verses that Jesus is the son of the Virgin Mary. If the Prophets of the Christians and Jews are to be respected and are not to be mocked, what more Prophet Muhammad? And to dispute what Prophet Muhammad has decreed is a mark of disrespect.

The Koran tells us that Allah sent a Prophet to every community, sometimes more than one at each time. According to the Koran, the first Prophet sent to earth was Adam while the last one was Muhammad. All told, there were 124,000 Prophets throughout the ages. Out of these 124,000, only 25 are mentioned in the Koran by name. If there were 124,000 Prophets, could Buddha therefore have been a Prophet the Muslims should respect? Only God knows, so Muslims must refrain from mocking those other religions and their Prophets. This is the Islamic way.

Some may argue that Malaysia is a democracy, a code of conduct created by man. Therefore Malaysians are free to exercise their right of freedom of expression, including the right to mock the divine. How can the divine be placed below a code of conduct that is man-made when man himself was created by God?

There are many mazhats (sects) in Islam -- Shafiee, Maliki, Hambali, and so on, plus the Shias. While the different mazhat may differ in its interpretation of some of the rules, they are unanimous on what represents the male aurat; and that is from the bellybutton to the knees. If you read Iman Ghazali’s book (kitab), Haram (forbidden) and Halal (permitted) in Islam, it is clear that there is no dispute on what represents the male aurat.

Is Munir trying to say that PAS is being unreasonable in not allowing males to show of their thighs, or more? This is not PAS’ rule. This is what Prophet Muhammad says. I used to jog in shorts on the streets of Kota Bharu and I had no problems from the Kelantanese authorities. Anyway, PAS did not ban football so the whole debate is purely academic.

Then Munir mocks PAS by saying, “Or of the scorer running to the corner flag immediately upon scoring, like Manchester United's Diego Forlan usually does (when he scores, that is), and then yanking his jersey off, thereby exposing his (dear me!) bare torso, or even just exposing his sleeveless singlet, in the manner Arsenal's more protected Thierry Henry has been seen to do after scoring (which he usually does).”

“Ugh! How disgusting and intolerable. Therefore, ban. It is all no good.”

Now Munir is trying to reinterpret what the Koran says and this is certainly very mischievous of him. Since when is exposing your torso prohibited in Islam? If you were to notice those dressed in their ihram during the Haj (pilgrimage), you will see that the piece of white cloth worn covers that part of the body between the bellybutton to below the knees. In fact, the legs below the knees can be seen as can the stomach, chest, shoulders and so on. And this is while performing the Haj mind you. Where, therefore, does Islam forbid exposing the torso as Munir claims?

This is the trouble with Anglophiles who are more English than the Englishmen. Munir achieved fame as a loose cannon back in his New Straits Times (NST) days and is one of three Chief Editors who were removed for their unorthodox ways. The third was of course the recently removed Abdullah Ahmad, a.k.a Dolah Kok Lanas, and the other was Kadir Jassin who had to take the fall for NST’s declining circulation.

Munir may delight in acting the Englishmen, and act to the fullest he does. But there should be a line drawn and he should stay on the side of decency and not cross that line. Does he not realise the damage he is doing to Islam? Instead of helping the non-Muslims better understand Islam, he is making them more confused as to what Islam allows and forbids. Anyone reading his piece would imagine that Islam is against sports and games, which is a terrible disservice he has done to Islam.

Munir may disagree with Islam. That is his right. But it must be done tastefully and with sound arguments, not by mocking Islam. The Democratic Action Party (DAP) too disagrees with the concept of an Islamic state. But they do it with dignity and maturity by quoting the first Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who had promised that Malaysia would remain a secular state and never be turned into an Islamic state. DAP does not make fun of Islam.

Munir closes by saying, “We cannot have PAS undermining the future of Malaysia. Countries that have gone down that path have destroyed their societies and are struggling to find their way back.” Munir is saying that Islam is counterproductive and will reduce a country to rubble. A statement like this coming from what the non-Muslims perceive as a Muslim will just make the non-Muslims believe that Islam is evil. Munir has dealt Islam a terrible blow and he should be ashamed of himself. Taubat (repent) my dear Munir.

My first encounter with Munir was during the Third Bumiputera Economic Convention at the Putra World Trade Centre some years back. He stood up on stage to declare that the Chinese will always own the economy of this country and there is nothing we can do about it. There were also Chinese businessmen in the convention and all were there to sincerely brainstorm as to how a more equitable share of the country’s wealth could be achieved. His statement turned off the Chinese as it did the Malays. And that is Munir Majid.

Munir Majid can be contacted via e-mail at: dmmmunir@hotmail.com