Tuesday, August 08, 2006
screening for MIFT seminar 2006.this year at kustem,mengabang telipot;) kt from 2 to 3 sept.selected to represent upm for oral presentation.alhamdulillah.happy.adjust schedule again.seem so packed.poster for rmc exhibition still in progress.evaluation day 22-24 ogos.im getting crazy maybe.i really wanna do it and at the same time i have to proof my marriage not affected my work.am i need to do so?
Monday, August 07, 2006
Are Science and Islam Compatible?
Interview with Bruno Guiderdoni
Interview conducted by Motaz Al-Khateeb
Dr. Bruno Guiderdoni is director of research at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics. His main research field is in galaxy formation and evolution. He has published more than 80 papers and has organized several international conferences on these issues. Guiderdoni is one of the referent experts on Islam in France and has published 30 papers on Islamic theology and mysticism. He was in charge of a French television program called Knowing Islam from 1993 to 1999 and is now the director of the Islamic Institute for Advanced Studies.
IslamOnline.net's Motaz Al-Khateeb interviewed Guiderdoni on his views regarding the interaction between science and Islam.
IOL: What is your opinion on the issue of scientific miracles in the Qur'an?
Guiderdoni: It's a difficult issue. It's very important in the context of the Islamic world now because if you look at web pages, for instance, on Islam, most of them start with a description of the scientific miracles of the Qur'an. So it's not an issue that can be neglected. It has to be addressed and considered something important because it helps us address the issue of the interface and interaction of science and Islam.
This is an issue which is not new in Islam. In the Middle Ages, or what was the Middle Ages for us, the classical period of Islam was a great period, a golden era of Islam. Islamic philosophers such as Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), had already addressed this story of articulation of the interface between science and religion. I'm using the word articulation because it's specifically the word that was used by Ibn Rushd. Al-Ghazali was addressing this story too, and both believed deeply in the unity of truth of the Islamic faith.
Truth is one. There cannot be a scientific truth that would be different than a religious truth. And they both agreed on the uniqueness of truth and if there are differences — apparent differences in the statements of scientific truth and the statements of religious truth — these differences are only apparent. They can be overcome. There is some disagreement between Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd because they disagreed on the borderline between science and religion.
Al-Ghazali claimed that it is usually the fault of a scientist who goes beyond the limits of science when they claim things about the nature of reality, the actions of God, and so on. Whereas for Ibn Rushd … if there is a contradiction between the statements of religion and the statements of science, you have to come back to the text and make a valid interpretation of the text. So you see the ideas are quite modern because we are not in the same situation. Of course science has changed a lot. Religion has somewhat changed, but science has changed a lot since that time.
So now I come back to your question about scientific miracles in the Qur'an. Of course, we as Muslims believe there cannot be any difference between scientific and religious truth in their essence. But, of course, the approach of science and the approach of religion are quite different. There is a scientific method and there is a religious way — a religious spiritual life, which is different to the scientific method.
The scientific method is a method. It is called in English trial and error because you try a theory, and if it doesn't work, you try another theory and so on and you improve your theory and you capitalize. You capitalize on your knowledge and you increase the level of knowledge. And as you may know, the notion of scientific truth is difficult to define because you never know whether a theory is absolutely true, or probably true, because theories prove to be true at some time and then new scientific facts come and then they are included in the theory. What we can decide with great certainty is the growth of knowledge. That is a fact that we know more than we used to know in the Middle Ages, or even in the 19th century. So this is the scientific approach.
As far as the religious approach is concerned, I would say that the purpose of revelation is salvation: the fact that God teaches a human things which cannot be reached by human intelligence alone.
This is very clear in the first verses that were revealed by God: [Read in the name of your Lord Who created. He created man from a clot. Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen. Taught man what he knew not] (Al-`Alaq 96:1-5).
He taught humans what a human being does not know. And of course we cannot know everything about the afterlife, about the metaphysical structure of reality, about the attributes and qualities if it is not the revelation that teaches us about these things. And this is the main purpose of revelation. And God has spoken the truth in His noble book which is the Qur'an, which is the miracle, the foundation of Islam. This is the first miracle which Muslims have to believe in.
So I feel very skeptical about this approach which consists of trying to prove the truth of the Qur'an from the truth of science; to confirm the duty of the Qur'an, the deepness of the verses of the Qur'an, from the scientific perspective.
It is possible that in the Qur'an, God alludes to facts. The facts He alludes to cannot be wrong. God has perfect knowledge of reality, so it's not surprising that he alludes to the moon, to the sun, to stars, the earth, the ocean, life, and all the mysteries. And as a scientist I find these allusions absolutely fascinating and very profound, and it feeds my own spiritual life.
But is it necessary to go to the point that we would like to consider these statements in the Qur'an? Do we need that to prove the truth of the Qur'an? For us the truth of the Qur'an is there in each verse. So I'm quite skeptical, not for those who admire the beauty of the description of the world in the Qur'an, I admire this beauty too. But toward those who try to make a new science from the Qur'an.
For instance, trying to measure the computed value of the velocity of light in the verses of the Qur'an is something which has been fashionable in the last year on web pages about this point. The people who are doing so are losing the spiritual perspective about the revelation.
The Qur'an prompts us to look at the world and to recognize God's hand in the marvels of the world, in the science of the world, and to recognize the intelligence in the science of the world, in the natural phenomena, because we have something of this intelligence in us. Because there is something about intelligence in our creation. So there is a kind of resonance between our intelligence, given by God, and the intelligence that God has put in the world by creating the harmony and the regularity of the cosmos. And this makes me understand why the world is understandable, which is one of the most mysterious things. Why is the world understandable?Einstein used to say that the mystery of the world is the fact that the world is understandable but that we can't describe it by mathematics. For a believer, this is something obvious; this is the intelligence that God has put in the world, the fact that we have to look at the world to recognize this intelligence, and we have to measure the velocity of life in the world. We have to be convinced of the cosmos, the galaxy, our planet, natural species, and so on, and if we restrict ourselves to this approach in the Qur'an, we are losing something of God's creation.
So I would say that we have to feed our spiritual life with the Qur'an. We have to listen to the Qur'an's advice and to look at the verses to recognize the signs of the world. So this is the marvel of the Qur'an and the marvel of the world, and these marvels come from God's speech. The interest that goes to the scientific miracles in the Qur'an should come through a study of science and to a study of the world. This was one of the duties of a Muslim of the golden age because they were very proud of their faith. So we should find again this spirit of exploration of the world.
IOL: When people discuss the scientific miracles in the Qur'an, they talk about religious truth or Qur'anic truth and scientific truth. What is the relationship between the two and what is scientific truth?
Guiderdoni: Truth is something which is difficult to define. As a believer, I would say that for me, truth is firstly one of God's most beautiful names, Al-Haqq. So for me it is a duty to serve God according to this specific name.I don't consider truth to be a concept or something complicated. I hope I will know truth by contemplating God. And so I like to define the truth of religion by the ability to bring the believers to this contemplation.
If you look at religions and truth, in Islam you will find that Muslims will claim things that are different than what Christians are saying or the Jews are saying or the Hindus are saying. Muslims say that Jesus Christ is the "wisdom of Allah"; they don't say that he is the son of God. Whereas Christians would say he is the son of God, and they are Christians because of that. So these are statements which are quite different. But something which fascinates me is the fact that, in spite of these differences, Christians and Muslims are waiting for Jesus Christ's return and hoping that we can recognize him, in spite of these differences.
So there are different statements. But I think that Christians have a quest for salvation and the Muslims have a quest for salvation and that it is purity of the heart that makes salvation. So in a sense, both religions are true because they endeavor to bring their believers to the level of the ultimate truth which is God. And so this is my definition of religious truth; that we should keep our religions, we should keep our teachings or what's true in our religions, because these are useful tools to go along the path and to work on the path towards the contemplation of the ultimate truth.
So I am not saying we should abandon all religions. On the contrary, this is a precious gift which has been given by God through revelation. We should keep that because this is the map that is necessary for us to travel along the path and to contemplate ultimately God's faith and know the meanings of the things we are looking for answers to, which will come, in sha' Allah, in the afterlife.
This is my definition of religious truth. It means that we should be quite humble in this approach and to know that truth is too high to be encapsulated in a single formula, and that God wants us to worship Him and know Him for the various names and the various statements which are given in revelation. For me this is the meaning of takbir (saying "Allah is Greatest"). It means we have to go beyond the ideas that we make about God because God is higher. So this is religious truth.
As far as scientific truth is concerned, that's obvious too because scientific truth is always defined in the context of a theory. You define theories in contexts which are interrelated and scientific truth is equating the theory to fact. But the facts themselves have a meaning in a given theory; some facts are not scientific facts. Scientific facts are not the plain facts such as "This morning I woke up and had an omelet," for instance. This is not a scientific fact. Fact is something like "The moon turns around the earth in such and such duration and this has been measured very precisely" and so on. And so these theories are things which are human creation and it turns out that it's quite difficult to find out the truth of a scientific theory.
There is a significant contribution of a philosopher called Karl Popper in the last century and he reflected on what's called the logic of scientific discovery. He said that from a philosophical viewpoint, one can infer that some theories are wrong, some theories are true, and so on. And it turns out that in his books, which are quite thick and difficult, Popper argues that it is not possible to prove that a theory is right. It is almost possible to prove that a theory is wrong by contradicting it with facts. So a theory is a scientific theory when it is testable, he says.
[Also], theory is measured, and if it doesn't work, the theory is dead. And if a theory is scientific then it is possible to test it. If a theory is always right it is not a scientific theory.
Take the story of psychoanalysis, for instance. Karl Popper was very critical about psychoanalysis because it claims that if you don't love your mother, you have problems, but if you do love your mother you also have problems, so you have problems in either case. So it's a joke, but for Karl Popper, psychoanalysis was not scientific theory; whereas the Newtonian theory of gravitation is a scientific theory because it predicts very accurate values for the motion of a stone in the gravity field of the earth, or the motion of the moon in the gravity field of the earth.
It turns out that this theory has been falsified (proved wrong) by the works of Albert Einstein. He showed that this theory has to be encapsulated in a further theory which is the theory of relativity. And the predictions of the Newtonian theory proved to be wrong and the predictions of the Einsteinian theory are still unfalsified. All the tests have not proven the theory wrong. The theory may be wrong ultimately but it's a scientific theory because it predicts fact; it predicts specific behavior, and this is the notion that we have for scientific truth.
The fact that it's difficult to prove, difficult to define, and is something that can be tested. We are not claiming that religious facts are going to be tested. We are not testing religion. We don't want to compare religion. Each believer has to go with their own religion and go on the way towards God, and this is ultimately the contemplation of God. But here we find the uncertainty of these questions.
But for scientific truth, it is something that is more open to progress. We are improving our knowledge. So we cannot define scientific truth but we can define growth of scientific knowledge. Paradoxically, when we have more and more knowledge, the border lines between the known and unknown also grow.
So it is very interesting to see how science increases. And science is not closed because it's always open to other questions which are very difficult and very deep and very profound. And even if there is a lot of success in the scientific exploration of the cosmos by humankind, we don't know whether this exploration will go further and further. We don't know whether our mind is able to grasp the whole of physical reality because there is no promise about that. When I read the Qur'an, I don't see the promise in it about the ability of the human mind to understand everything in nature. But I read the promise about the possibility to know God.
This is somewhat paradoxical because God is infinite and we are finite. This is the promise and the promise of Allah is true.
IOL: There are certain approaches that are being taken to prove the religious scriptures, the Qur'an, the Bible, the Torah, etc., through scientific proof. What is your opinion on these approaches being taken?
Guiderdoni: I think that is blind submission to science.
God knows reality. In His revelations there are allusions to this reality, but it does not go beyond this point. It is a very dangerous plan that we would like to prove that one religion is better than the others. It may be an attractive agenda, but by doing so we are going to submit the winning religion to the judgment of science, which is not the correct order of things, because the physical is submitted to the metaphysical, not the opposite.
So I am quite skeptical and a bit concerned about this approach and I hope that the further study of science, of the philosophy of science, of the interaction of science, will help people to distinguish between the two approaches. [The word] distinguish [implies] that things are different. I am not claiming that things are completely separated because, of course, complete separation is not in the Islamic mind, which is looking for unity or tawheed.
Each practice has its own rules and its own laws, and I would like to protect religion from misunderstanding, especially the kind of misunderstanding where religion is submitted to the approval of science or the judgment of science. There is a whole dimension of spiritual life that is very profound and very elevated in religion that is completely destroyed by this scientific approach which is just looking for fact. We are not looking for fact in religion. We are looking for inner transformation and for the fruits which will come, in sha' Allah, in the hereafter.
IOL: You are French and you have converted, or reverted, to Islam. Is it possible for science to be a reason for entering into faith?
Guiderdoni: It may be like that. I would say that this is makr (the cunning) of Allah. Who knows what brings you to faith? Sometimes it just occurs. Sometimes it is just [through marriage] that people go into Islam and then they discover spiritual life. Interest for science can be a way for Islam. I think it is clear and it may be also a barrier if one limits the understanding of Islam to the scientific aspect. I think [for] some Western intellectuals, Islam goes beyond this form of scientific interaction. It is just the fact that we have exhausted, in some sense, materialism and the power of science to describe reality, [and have been given] the impression that there is something beyond the apparent. We are looking for spirituality. We are looking for metaphysics. We are looking for answers to very profound questions. Why am I here? What is my destiny? What can I do for the good [of humanity]?
And these questions are the triggers for the conversion — for the coming back to Islam — because it is the impression when you first come to Islam that you have come back home. That feeling is just astonishing. It may confirm the interests of science. I think that the deepest thing is the voice of the fitrah (state of natural innocence) which is in everybody and in spite of the materialistic education that people are getting in Europe or in the West in general. The fitrah is there and the spiritual need of people cannot be fulfilled except in a religion.
The religions which are present in the West have undergone the influence of the materialistic force for centuries and they have somewhat lost the usual transparency which is present in Islam. This is the reason why more and more Westerners are attracted to Islam. Many more would be attracted if it were not for such events as the violence that we are seeing now on our screens. On one side, the true Islam is very attractive, on the other side, some Muslims have done wrong things, even evil, and this is something which is very disturbing for me. When I embraced Islam 20 years ago, such problems were not present. But I feel that now we are attracted by Islam and don't understand why people can do something [evil] in the name of Islam. This is something which is mysterious as much as human freedom is mysterious because we are free to do good and to do evil.
I think that the Islamic faith has this capability to encapsulate all these aspects of life and to give unity to a world which is so fragmented now. But not only for the world but also for us, because we are also quite fragmented in our activities; life is like that. Islam is a powerful way of unification and we have to be unified if we want to understand and contemplate the world.
* Motaz Al-Khateeb is the Contemporary Issues editor of Islamonline.net’s Arabic website. He is also the producer of Al-Jazeera’s Shari'ah and Life program, which has as its most frequent guest speaker Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi. Your emails to Motaz will be forwarded to him by contacting sciencetech@iolteam.com.
Interview with Bruno Guiderdoni
Interview conducted by Motaz Al-Khateeb
Dr. Bruno Guiderdoni is director of research at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics. His main research field is in galaxy formation and evolution. He has published more than 80 papers and has organized several international conferences on these issues. Guiderdoni is one of the referent experts on Islam in France and has published 30 papers on Islamic theology and mysticism. He was in charge of a French television program called Knowing Islam from 1993 to 1999 and is now the director of the Islamic Institute for Advanced Studies.
IslamOnline.net's Motaz Al-Khateeb interviewed Guiderdoni on his views regarding the interaction between science and Islam.
IOL: What is your opinion on the issue of scientific miracles in the Qur'an?
Guiderdoni: It's a difficult issue. It's very important in the context of the Islamic world now because if you look at web pages, for instance, on Islam, most of them start with a description of the scientific miracles of the Qur'an. So it's not an issue that can be neglected. It has to be addressed and considered something important because it helps us address the issue of the interface and interaction of science and Islam.
This is an issue which is not new in Islam. In the Middle Ages, or what was the Middle Ages for us, the classical period of Islam was a great period, a golden era of Islam. Islamic philosophers such as Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), had already addressed this story of articulation of the interface between science and religion. I'm using the word articulation because it's specifically the word that was used by Ibn Rushd. Al-Ghazali was addressing this story too, and both believed deeply in the unity of truth of the Islamic faith.
Truth is one. There cannot be a scientific truth that would be different than a religious truth. And they both agreed on the uniqueness of truth and if there are differences — apparent differences in the statements of scientific truth and the statements of religious truth — these differences are only apparent. They can be overcome. There is some disagreement between Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd because they disagreed on the borderline between science and religion.
Al-Ghazali claimed that it is usually the fault of a scientist who goes beyond the limits of science when they claim things about the nature of reality, the actions of God, and so on. Whereas for Ibn Rushd … if there is a contradiction between the statements of religion and the statements of science, you have to come back to the text and make a valid interpretation of the text. So you see the ideas are quite modern because we are not in the same situation. Of course science has changed a lot. Religion has somewhat changed, but science has changed a lot since that time.
So now I come back to your question about scientific miracles in the Qur'an. Of course, we as Muslims believe there cannot be any difference between scientific and religious truth in their essence. But, of course, the approach of science and the approach of religion are quite different. There is a scientific method and there is a religious way — a religious spiritual life, which is different to the scientific method.
The scientific method is a method. It is called in English trial and error because you try a theory, and if it doesn't work, you try another theory and so on and you improve your theory and you capitalize. You capitalize on your knowledge and you increase the level of knowledge. And as you may know, the notion of scientific truth is difficult to define because you never know whether a theory is absolutely true, or probably true, because theories prove to be true at some time and then new scientific facts come and then they are included in the theory. What we can decide with great certainty is the growth of knowledge. That is a fact that we know more than we used to know in the Middle Ages, or even in the 19th century. So this is the scientific approach.
As far as the religious approach is concerned, I would say that the purpose of revelation is salvation: the fact that God teaches a human things which cannot be reached by human intelligence alone.
This is very clear in the first verses that were revealed by God: [Read in the name of your Lord Who created. He created man from a clot. Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen. Taught man what he knew not] (Al-`Alaq 96:1-5).
He taught humans what a human being does not know. And of course we cannot know everything about the afterlife, about the metaphysical structure of reality, about the attributes and qualities if it is not the revelation that teaches us about these things. And this is the main purpose of revelation. And God has spoken the truth in His noble book which is the Qur'an, which is the miracle, the foundation of Islam. This is the first miracle which Muslims have to believe in.
So I feel very skeptical about this approach which consists of trying to prove the truth of the Qur'an from the truth of science; to confirm the duty of the Qur'an, the deepness of the verses of the Qur'an, from the scientific perspective.
It is possible that in the Qur'an, God alludes to facts. The facts He alludes to cannot be wrong. God has perfect knowledge of reality, so it's not surprising that he alludes to the moon, to the sun, to stars, the earth, the ocean, life, and all the mysteries. And as a scientist I find these allusions absolutely fascinating and very profound, and it feeds my own spiritual life.
But is it necessary to go to the point that we would like to consider these statements in the Qur'an? Do we need that to prove the truth of the Qur'an? For us the truth of the Qur'an is there in each verse. So I'm quite skeptical, not for those who admire the beauty of the description of the world in the Qur'an, I admire this beauty too. But toward those who try to make a new science from the Qur'an.
For instance, trying to measure the computed value of the velocity of light in the verses of the Qur'an is something which has been fashionable in the last year on web pages about this point. The people who are doing so are losing the spiritual perspective about the revelation.
The Qur'an prompts us to look at the world and to recognize God's hand in the marvels of the world, in the science of the world, and to recognize the intelligence in the science of the world, in the natural phenomena, because we have something of this intelligence in us. Because there is something about intelligence in our creation. So there is a kind of resonance between our intelligence, given by God, and the intelligence that God has put in the world by creating the harmony and the regularity of the cosmos. And this makes me understand why the world is understandable, which is one of the most mysterious things. Why is the world understandable?Einstein used to say that the mystery of the world is the fact that the world is understandable but that we can't describe it by mathematics. For a believer, this is something obvious; this is the intelligence that God has put in the world, the fact that we have to look at the world to recognize this intelligence, and we have to measure the velocity of life in the world. We have to be convinced of the cosmos, the galaxy, our planet, natural species, and so on, and if we restrict ourselves to this approach in the Qur'an, we are losing something of God's creation.
So I would say that we have to feed our spiritual life with the Qur'an. We have to listen to the Qur'an's advice and to look at the verses to recognize the signs of the world. So this is the marvel of the Qur'an and the marvel of the world, and these marvels come from God's speech. The interest that goes to the scientific miracles in the Qur'an should come through a study of science and to a study of the world. This was one of the duties of a Muslim of the golden age because they were very proud of their faith. So we should find again this spirit of exploration of the world.
IOL: When people discuss the scientific miracles in the Qur'an, they talk about religious truth or Qur'anic truth and scientific truth. What is the relationship between the two and what is scientific truth?
Guiderdoni: Truth is something which is difficult to define. As a believer, I would say that for me, truth is firstly one of God's most beautiful names, Al-Haqq. So for me it is a duty to serve God according to this specific name.I don't consider truth to be a concept or something complicated. I hope I will know truth by contemplating God. And so I like to define the truth of religion by the ability to bring the believers to this contemplation.
If you look at religions and truth, in Islam you will find that Muslims will claim things that are different than what Christians are saying or the Jews are saying or the Hindus are saying. Muslims say that Jesus Christ is the "wisdom of Allah"; they don't say that he is the son of God. Whereas Christians would say he is the son of God, and they are Christians because of that. So these are statements which are quite different. But something which fascinates me is the fact that, in spite of these differences, Christians and Muslims are waiting for Jesus Christ's return and hoping that we can recognize him, in spite of these differences.
So there are different statements. But I think that Christians have a quest for salvation and the Muslims have a quest for salvation and that it is purity of the heart that makes salvation. So in a sense, both religions are true because they endeavor to bring their believers to the level of the ultimate truth which is God. And so this is my definition of religious truth; that we should keep our religions, we should keep our teachings or what's true in our religions, because these are useful tools to go along the path and to work on the path towards the contemplation of the ultimate truth.
So I am not saying we should abandon all religions. On the contrary, this is a precious gift which has been given by God through revelation. We should keep that because this is the map that is necessary for us to travel along the path and to contemplate ultimately God's faith and know the meanings of the things we are looking for answers to, which will come, in sha' Allah, in the afterlife.
This is my definition of religious truth. It means that we should be quite humble in this approach and to know that truth is too high to be encapsulated in a single formula, and that God wants us to worship Him and know Him for the various names and the various statements which are given in revelation. For me this is the meaning of takbir (saying "Allah is Greatest"). It means we have to go beyond the ideas that we make about God because God is higher. So this is religious truth.
As far as scientific truth is concerned, that's obvious too because scientific truth is always defined in the context of a theory. You define theories in contexts which are interrelated and scientific truth is equating the theory to fact. But the facts themselves have a meaning in a given theory; some facts are not scientific facts. Scientific facts are not the plain facts such as "This morning I woke up and had an omelet," for instance. This is not a scientific fact. Fact is something like "The moon turns around the earth in such and such duration and this has been measured very precisely" and so on. And so these theories are things which are human creation and it turns out that it's quite difficult to find out the truth of a scientific theory.
There is a significant contribution of a philosopher called Karl Popper in the last century and he reflected on what's called the logic of scientific discovery. He said that from a philosophical viewpoint, one can infer that some theories are wrong, some theories are true, and so on. And it turns out that in his books, which are quite thick and difficult, Popper argues that it is not possible to prove that a theory is right. It is almost possible to prove that a theory is wrong by contradicting it with facts. So a theory is a scientific theory when it is testable, he says.
[Also], theory is measured, and if it doesn't work, the theory is dead. And if a theory is scientific then it is possible to test it. If a theory is always right it is not a scientific theory.
Take the story of psychoanalysis, for instance. Karl Popper was very critical about psychoanalysis because it claims that if you don't love your mother, you have problems, but if you do love your mother you also have problems, so you have problems in either case. So it's a joke, but for Karl Popper, psychoanalysis was not scientific theory; whereas the Newtonian theory of gravitation is a scientific theory because it predicts very accurate values for the motion of a stone in the gravity field of the earth, or the motion of the moon in the gravity field of the earth.
It turns out that this theory has been falsified (proved wrong) by the works of Albert Einstein. He showed that this theory has to be encapsulated in a further theory which is the theory of relativity. And the predictions of the Newtonian theory proved to be wrong and the predictions of the Einsteinian theory are still unfalsified. All the tests have not proven the theory wrong. The theory may be wrong ultimately but it's a scientific theory because it predicts fact; it predicts specific behavior, and this is the notion that we have for scientific truth.
The fact that it's difficult to prove, difficult to define, and is something that can be tested. We are not claiming that religious facts are going to be tested. We are not testing religion. We don't want to compare religion. Each believer has to go with their own religion and go on the way towards God, and this is ultimately the contemplation of God. But here we find the uncertainty of these questions.
But for scientific truth, it is something that is more open to progress. We are improving our knowledge. So we cannot define scientific truth but we can define growth of scientific knowledge. Paradoxically, when we have more and more knowledge, the border lines between the known and unknown also grow.
So it is very interesting to see how science increases. And science is not closed because it's always open to other questions which are very difficult and very deep and very profound. And even if there is a lot of success in the scientific exploration of the cosmos by humankind, we don't know whether this exploration will go further and further. We don't know whether our mind is able to grasp the whole of physical reality because there is no promise about that. When I read the Qur'an, I don't see the promise in it about the ability of the human mind to understand everything in nature. But I read the promise about the possibility to know God.
This is somewhat paradoxical because God is infinite and we are finite. This is the promise and the promise of Allah is true.
IOL: There are certain approaches that are being taken to prove the religious scriptures, the Qur'an, the Bible, the Torah, etc., through scientific proof. What is your opinion on these approaches being taken?
Guiderdoni: I think that is blind submission to science.
God knows reality. In His revelations there are allusions to this reality, but it does not go beyond this point. It is a very dangerous plan that we would like to prove that one religion is better than the others. It may be an attractive agenda, but by doing so we are going to submit the winning religion to the judgment of science, which is not the correct order of things, because the physical is submitted to the metaphysical, not the opposite.
So I am quite skeptical and a bit concerned about this approach and I hope that the further study of science, of the philosophy of science, of the interaction of science, will help people to distinguish between the two approaches. [The word] distinguish [implies] that things are different. I am not claiming that things are completely separated because, of course, complete separation is not in the Islamic mind, which is looking for unity or tawheed.
Each practice has its own rules and its own laws, and I would like to protect religion from misunderstanding, especially the kind of misunderstanding where religion is submitted to the approval of science or the judgment of science. There is a whole dimension of spiritual life that is very profound and very elevated in religion that is completely destroyed by this scientific approach which is just looking for fact. We are not looking for fact in religion. We are looking for inner transformation and for the fruits which will come, in sha' Allah, in the hereafter.
IOL: You are French and you have converted, or reverted, to Islam. Is it possible for science to be a reason for entering into faith?
Guiderdoni: It may be like that. I would say that this is makr (the cunning) of Allah. Who knows what brings you to faith? Sometimes it just occurs. Sometimes it is just [through marriage] that people go into Islam and then they discover spiritual life. Interest for science can be a way for Islam. I think it is clear and it may be also a barrier if one limits the understanding of Islam to the scientific aspect. I think [for] some Western intellectuals, Islam goes beyond this form of scientific interaction. It is just the fact that we have exhausted, in some sense, materialism and the power of science to describe reality, [and have been given] the impression that there is something beyond the apparent. We are looking for spirituality. We are looking for metaphysics. We are looking for answers to very profound questions. Why am I here? What is my destiny? What can I do for the good [of humanity]?
And these questions are the triggers for the conversion — for the coming back to Islam — because it is the impression when you first come to Islam that you have come back home. That feeling is just astonishing. It may confirm the interests of science. I think that the deepest thing is the voice of the fitrah (state of natural innocence) which is in everybody and in spite of the materialistic education that people are getting in Europe or in the West in general. The fitrah is there and the spiritual need of people cannot be fulfilled except in a religion.
The religions which are present in the West have undergone the influence of the materialistic force for centuries and they have somewhat lost the usual transparency which is present in Islam. This is the reason why more and more Westerners are attracted to Islam. Many more would be attracted if it were not for such events as the violence that we are seeing now on our screens. On one side, the true Islam is very attractive, on the other side, some Muslims have done wrong things, even evil, and this is something which is very disturbing for me. When I embraced Islam 20 years ago, such problems were not present. But I feel that now we are attracted by Islam and don't understand why people can do something [evil] in the name of Islam. This is something which is mysterious as much as human freedom is mysterious because we are free to do good and to do evil.
I think that the Islamic faith has this capability to encapsulate all these aspects of life and to give unity to a world which is so fragmented now. But not only for the world but also for us, because we are also quite fragmented in our activities; life is like that. Islam is a powerful way of unification and we have to be unified if we want to understand and contemplate the world.
* Motaz Al-Khateeb is the Contemporary Issues editor of Islamonline.net’s Arabic website. He is also the producer of Al-Jazeera’s Shari'ah and Life program, which has as its most frequent guest speaker Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi. Your emails to Motaz will be forwarded to him by contacting sciencetech@iolteam.com.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
KERJA, KERJA JUGA, TAPI AGAMA KITA KENE JAGA JUGAK... NANTI APA KITA NAK JAWAB MASA MENGADAP ALLAH NANTI.... DIFORWARDKAN OLEH KAWAN PADA SAYA... SO JALANKAN TANGGUNGJAWAB ANDA UNTUK SEBARKAN PADA UMAT2 ISLAM YG LAIN DI MALAYSIA NI.. JGN KITA INGAT EMAIL2 NI SEKADAR UNTUK MENGGANGGU GUGAT KETENTERAMAN BUMI MALAYSIA INI SEBAB TANPA KITA SEDAR SERANGAN CARA HALUS TERHADAP ISLAM SEMAKIN MENJADI-JADI DI BUMI KITA INI.....
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 3:43 PM
Subject: FW: Ceramah Lawyer Zulkifli Noordin
Bismilah hirrahmannirrahim, Sekarang ni orang kita dok kecoh sangat pasai cerita siti nor haliza nak kawin dengan dato k. cerita berapa hantaran, cerita sapa nak reka kasut kawin ct, cerita naik kereta kuda pusing klcc la, dsb. Dalam pada tu terselit juga cerita ex-wife dato' k saman harta sepencarian rm7 juta. Internet pun heboh dok tunjuk gambar-gambar lama dato' k, dan yang best sekali gambar2 anak2 dato' k yang berhingus tu dok peluk awek. Orang kata - bukan aku kata - 'like father like son'. Aku no komen, sebab aku don't give a damn. Mungkin kita boleh tunggu komen ct nanti. tapi bab ni, 180 darjah punya turning dari cerita dato k vs ct ni, kita semua patut 'give a damn', patut ambik tau, patut pikiaq masak2, dan patut buat apa yang patut. Ni kisah melayu jawa, yang menggadaikan agama Islam demi cintanya kepada seorang lelaki India kristian. Kesian sungguh tuan haji jelani dan puan hajjah kalsom yang terpaksa bersengkang mata menjaga kerenah anak mereka ketika baru lahir 42 tahun dulu. La ni, anak yang dibesarkan dengan penuh suasana keislaman itu sudah terang2 menolak agama yang diajar kepadanya dan terus mengenepikan ibubapa yang membesarkannya hanya kerana cintanya pada seorang lelaki dan mahu pula menukar nama dalam i/c dari azlina binti jelani kepada 'lina joy' sahaja. Agama islam ynag tercatat pada i/c nya pula mahu diganti dengan perkataan 'kristian'. Astaghfirullahul azim. Lepas solat maghrib tadi, aku dan orang rumah cepat ke surau al-islah di taman kajang mewah, kajang, sebab nak dengar ceramah lawyer terkenal sdr zulkifli nordin (dulu lawyer kepada kes fitnah liwat anwar ibrahim). Bila kami sampai, ceramah baru start dalam lima minit ada la kot. Jadi apa yang aku nak tulih ni cerita yang sikit sebanyak dapat aku catatkan dari cermamah beliau, sebaik yang boleh. Kalau ada fakta yang tak betul tu, harap dapat betulkan dan aku terlebih dahulu minta maaf. Ceramah malam tadi berkisar kepada kes lina joy ni lah. Bila aku sampai, penceramah dok tengah buka cerita lama (sebab orang melayu mudah lupa kot) iaitu cerita pasal kes natrah yang berlaku tahun 1950. masa tu malaya masih lagi bawah orang putih dan hakim semua dok pakai wig lagi. Kes natrah ni aku mis hujung pangkal dia tapi kalau tak silap kes penjagaan natrah ni la, antara islam dan kristian. Masa kes ni berjalan orang melayu zaman tu di singapura - melayu umno - punya la sensitif dengan masa depan natrah, takut dia dimurtadkan berkumpul dan berdemontrasi la kot, tapi khabarnya dalam mempertahankan akidah natrah, "mahkamah di singapura dibanjiri darah". Melayu sekarang ada berani ka? Kalau nak tau baca lagi.... panjang lagi ceramah zulkifli nordin ni (2 jam) dan aku pun aku tulis panjang macam novel jugak la kot. Lepas natrah, zulkifli nordin bangkitkan pula cerita kes suzy teoh yang peluk islam semasa 16 tahun. Ni dia tak sebut pulak tahu bila, tapi aku rasa 80an kot, sebab aku rasa tun salleh abbas pernah handle kes ni. Walaupun mufti kelantan masa tu mengatakan islam suzy adalah sah sebab beliau sudah akil baligh, tapi undang2 sivil tetap refer pada kes natrah dan menyatakan suzy teoh tak boleh tukar agama sebab kurang dari 18 tahun, dan tak ada agreement dari parents dia. Kata zulkifli nordin, itu adalah undang penjajah yang kita warisi, tetapi kalau undang2 islam, ianya dibuat berdasarkan ijtihad hakim. Lepas tu masuk kes halimatun saadiah pulak, kes ni tahun 1983. dalam kes ni hakim kata tak boleh pakai purdah. Haramkan pakai purdah. Pun tak detail sangat, tapi aku rasa ni kes student u yang kena buang sebab pakai purdah kot. Manalah aku tau kes ni kes apa sebab aku kecik lagi masa tu dan tak baca paper tiap2 hari macam la ni. Lepas tu dia sambung pulak dengan kes serban baru2 ni... hampa semua mesti tau kalau baca surathabaq. Kes ni kata zulkifli nordin akan terus menetapkan bahawa haram orang islam pakai serban di sekolah dan tempat2 tertentu, yang boleh mungkin pakai pi surau atau pi melawat orang mati jer kot. Hah, macam tu punya teruk ka? Pas tu dia masuk kes jamaluddin osman pulak (1986) yang mana beliau masuk kristian dan jadi paderi di PJ dengan nama joshua. Beliau ditangkap bawah ISA dan kumpulan pendesak kristian cabar kes ni di mahkamah dan guna artikel 11 (dalam perlembagaan persekutuan) mengenai kebebasan beragama. Keputusannya mahkamah menangkan puak kristian dan kata akta keselamatan tak boleh halang hak jamaludin untuk beragama. Akibatnya, kata zulkifli nordin, lepas kes ni polis dah tak buat apa-apa lagi kalau ada kes macam ni. Polis kena ikut undang2. Dia tambah lagi, yang terkini pagi tadi (22 july 2006) katanya lebih 100 kafirun berkumpul di JB bincang pasal agama islam. Lawyer ni kata polis tak boleh buat apa sebab 1986 punya kes dah kata tak boleh kacau. Kalau kacau, nanti kata polis nak guna akta keselamatan nak sekat kebebasan beragama pulak. 1997, mesti ramai ingat, kes aisyah bukhari. Sedap namanya, aisyah. Dalam kes aisyah ni puak kristian minta pertolongan mahkamah lagi, sebab depa tau depa boleh guna undang2. zainur zakaria kata, masa kes aisyah tu kalau islam kalah, puak2 kafirun mesti naik kepala punya, tapi menteri agama masa tu hamid othman kata "biaq pi lah, sorang saja melayu". Tu dia, 1997, "sorang saja melayu" cuba hampa pikiaq, kalau mufti perak ni cakap la ni ada 100,000 orang melayu murtad dan tunggu nak declare depa murtad macam mana? Apa, tak pecaya kata2 mufti perak? Dia tak tau hukum haram halal ka kalau dia cakap bohong. Kata ustaz zulkifli nordin lagi ni semua berlaku sebab kita sendiri yang biarkan berlaku. Biaq pi lah.... Tahun 1988, siapa tak ingat kes hartina kamarudin? La ni dia dah pakai nama hindu dah, Devashini. Astaghfirullahul azim! Ni pun pasai kawin dengan lelaki hindu. Dalam kes ni, yang tragisnya ayah hartina yang ditangkap kerana mencederakan lelaki hindu yang memurtadkan anak kesayangan yang ditatang dari kecil itu. Bayangkanlah! Baru2 ni pulak kata penceramah ni, ada lagi satu kes di flet pekeliling di mana pemuda2 hindu memecahkan rumah dan melarikan anak gadis yang disembunyi oleh ibunya demi menyelamatkan akidah anaknya. "orang melayu tak buat apa2 pun, dan orang bukan islam bermaharajalela," kata zulkifli lagi. "melayu tak kisah, asalkan tak kena kepala dia". Katanya lagi, orang melayu pada tahap yang paling kritikal sekarang sampai orang bukan islam boleh pecah rumah rampas anak pun orang melayu masih seronok dengan kemewahan dunia. Berbalik kepada kes azlina joy, memanglah katanya ni hanya sekadar kes kad pengenalan. Azlina ni minta 3 perkara: tukar nama buang tulisan islam dan ganti dengan kristian benarkan perkahwinan dia dan daftarkan di jabatan pendaftaran tapi alhmadulillah, pegawai islam jabatan pendaftaran reject permohonan dia. Bila reject dan dia bawa mahkamah, tup2 13 NGOs sokong dia.NGO-NGO ni bising sungguh sebab depa ni la yang kuasai media.NGO tu yang aku ingat ialah aliran, suaram, hakam, NWCO, WAO, WO, bar council, majlis perundingan agama, majlis hindu sanggam, majlis catholic, dan yang sama kuat bising ialah melayu2 SISTERS IN ISLAM (anak murid amina wadud ni). Katanya pagi tadi puak2 NGO ni berkumpul di johor dok hentam islam lah agenda depa. NGO ni walaupun sikit, tapi 'kabel besar'. Depa ni yang NGO kafirun ni dok sibuk memperkudakan SIS. Sisters in Islam ni katanya walaupun dikenali sebagai NGO tetapi mereka sebenarnya adalah syarikat dengan 18 ahli lembaga pengarah. Boss SIS ni zainah anwar siapa yang tak kenal, dan kakak dia pulak zarinah anwar pun orang besar securities commission ka apa. Antara orang kuat SIS ni tak lain tak bukan anak2 perdana menteri hadhari kita. Marina anak mahathir, nori anak pak lah, dan anak tun Hussein onn. Anak siapa? Ha, tu dia punya nala punya cable kalau TNB tengok pun menangis. So, balik pada meeting puak2 ni di johor pagi tadi, tengku mahkota johor kata 'JANGAN BAGI'. Polis cakap kat putera sultan ni, "Tuanku, Dato' Nazri bagi tuanku..." Tengku mahkota tanya kenapa? Polis jawab sebab anak PM duduk dalam tu. Malahan nazri orang kuat ameno ni mintak pulak polis jaga keselamatan kalau ada orang demonstrasi nak halang mesyuarat tu macam kat penang bulan lepas. Alhamdulillah, walaupun ada orang mai protest meeting tu, ketua polis johor dato' hussin ismail kata kalau boleh jangan tangkap geng penentang kumpulan article 11 ni. Mai tang bab ni zulkifli nordin main hentam terus ameno. Ni la terus terang aku dengaq orang maki ameno dalam surau secara terang-terangan. Baguih la, zulkifli nordin kata satu hari nanti dia akan mati juga dan dia kena jawab dengan allah, buat apa dia nak takut. Dia kata: "Barua-barua Umno macam nazri biadap. Ramai orang umno tak tau. Kesian orang umno (yang lurus bendul) sebab depa tak tau menteri depa macam tu". Dia kata, semalam nazri ada kata dalam bar council meeting: "saya menteri, saya jaga awak". 'Awak' ni puak2 bar council yang pro article 11 yang diperjuangkan kafirun ni la. Nazri dengan angkuhnya tambah lagi: "awak jangan bimbang, pak lah dalam poket saya". Marah sungguh saudara zulkifli nordin kita. "Tuan2 mesti ingat, ini menteri umno pengkhianat bangsa, termasuklah zaid (ibrahim). Kalau tuan2 dalam umno, buang orang2 ni, ataupun esok (bila mati la) jawab dengan Allah" "jangan kerana tembolok dan kain batik takut kepada pemimpin. Dulu umno 1950 berani lawan kes natrah, tapi la ni tunggu kontrek. Jangan biar anak2 cucu kita ludah kita (suatu hari nanti). "DULU DEPA PERTAHANKAN NATRAH, BERAPA RAMAI YANG DADA BERSARANG DENGAN PELURU, 13 ORANG DIGANTUNG SAMPAI MATI.." "DARAH MENGALIR DI MAHKAMAH SINGAPURA SEBAB PERTAHANKAN KES NATRAH. BUKAN PERTAHANKAN KONTREK, TAPI PERTAHANKAN AKIDAH." Bila dia cerita tang bab ni, aku rasa nak menitis ayaq mata. Memang jauh sungguh iman kita dengan orang melayu dulu, depa sanggup mati mempertahankan agama. Kita, pengecut semuanya. Pikiaq anak, pikiaq bini, pikiaq instalment rumah, duit kereta, duit tu, duit ni.... Duit, duit, duit.... Cinta dunia dan takutkan mati. Tu la kita hari ni. Dia sambung lagi... tangan aku pun lenguh menulis dah, tapi aku belum nak surrender. Kalau pen habis ink baru ler aku surrender. ni baru angkat pen, bukan angkat pedang brader... Katanya bila mufti perak cuba pertahankan islam, dia dimaki oleh rais yatim, nazri dan Abdullah mat zin (menteri umno ler tu, kalau korang tak kenal). "kenapa orang umno duduk diam dan kata padan muka (pada ustaz harussani). Malahan ada pulak mufti (negeri lain) yang marah kat dia, sound dia kenapa jolok sarang tebuan". DATO' SERI HARUSSANI MENANGIS tuan2 dan puan2... menangis sebab dia dedahkan 100,000 orang melayu murtad, dia kena tempelak dengan menteri dan mufti2 lain. Kata zulkifli nordin kata mufti marah2 kat harussani sebab takut periuk nasi depa masuk pasir la kot. Ustaz harussani ni sepatutnya dipertahankan oleh menteri dan mufti2 lain, bukannya ditempelak sebegitu rupa. Berbalik kepada isu azlina joy, walaupun ni kes IC kat mahkamah persekutuan nampak macam kes kecik, tapi impaknya amat besar. Dulu mahkamah tinggi dah tolak permintaan azlina joy ni atas alasan kes ni mesti dibicarakan di mahkamah syariah. Kata zulkifli, NGO kafir boleh berhujah. Depa guna Artikel 11 perlembagaan persekutuan. Artikel tu kata "every person has the right to profess & practice the religion". Semua orang ada hak untuk memilih dan mengamalkan agama. Tapi hujah defend kata kalau agama hampa kata boleh murtad, murtadlah. Tapi bagi yang beragama islam, mana boleh murtad sebab undang2 agama islam kata tak boleh murtad. Orang islam tertakluk kepada undang2 islam. Tang ni, cyrus das, lawyer kapiaq yang mewakili lina joy dengan bangganya menghina islam. Katanya "sudah sampai masanya orang islam di Malaysia disedarkan bahawa Malaysia bukanlah negara islam tetapi adalah negara secular. Dan undang2 islam adalah berada dibawah tapak kaki undang2 negara (perlembagaan persekutuan)". Puak kafirun dok pertahankan yang hak beragama adalah hak individu, so terpulanglah agama apa pun nak dianuti. Zulkifli nordin kata mahkamah boleh menangkan lina joy atas beberapa sebab: merujuk kes dulu2 cara hakim tanya soalan pun dah tau jangan percaya hakim melayu kata zulkifli nordin, dalam kes meor habiburrahman, hakimnya adalah hakim melayu. Dalam kes serban, hakim melayu. Dalam kes purdah, hakim melayu. Kes islam (agama rasmi) sekadar sebagai agama istiadat, pun hakim melayu. Kes jamaludin paderi besar pun hakim melayu. Tambah lawyer bekas exco umno ni, kalau agama dianggap hak individu dan lina joy menang, lepas ni setiap invidu boleh buat apa saja. "sesiapa saja boleh tentukan dia nak anut agama apa, dan dia boleh tentukan bila dia nak murtad". Lagi kesan kepada kemenangan lina joy ialah: Artikel 160 perlembagaan persekutuan yang mengatakan melayu itu islam dah tak relevan. So melayu dah tak wujud semua hak istimewa melayu (AP, permit, biasiswa) terhapus dengan sendirinya sebab melayu dah tak wujud yang no 3 tak sempat pulak aku nak catit (lenguh tangan wei...), ooo begini, kalau boleh senang2 murtad, orang melayu yang didakwa kes fardu ain (tak posa ke) atau kes melacur ke, boleh kata dia murtad dan bila lepas keluar mahkamah mengaku le islam balik. Tambah zulkifli nordin lagi, kalau ada masa pergi la mahkamah syariah KL pagi isnin dan tengok la ramainya anak gadis melayu berbaris kat mahkamah. Katanya depa ni nampak elok jer pi mahkamah syariah pakai tudung, tapi sebenarnya PELACUR @ PROSTITUTE @ HOOKER @ SLUT (hat @ ni aku tambah). Dia kata dengan undang2 sekarang pun apa susah, bila hakim baca pertuduhan, tanya salah ke tak, depa dengan senang hati jawab salah la yang arif. Hakim kata betul ke kamu faham ni sebab mengaku salah melacur boleh kena penjara 6 bulan atau denda rm3,000, depa jawab faham tapi minta ringankan hukuman. Bila hakim kata ok lah, aku denda hang rm1,500 saja, depa sorak yeeee (aku tambah le ni)... depa keluar pi jumpa bapak ayam tokey cina kat luar mahkamah ambik duit bayaq. Sedih sungguh sebab maruah anak2 melayu islam kita boleh diperdagangkan sebegitu mudah. Umno buat apa? Zulkifli nordin kata diam saja, sesekali boleh gak 'pakai'. Tapi itu cerita di mahkamah syariah. Dosa memang dosa, tapi akidah tak terjejas lagi. Tapi kalau kes yang sama di mahkamah persekutuan, minah yang sama bila dituduh dengan senang boleh elak hukuman kalu dia cakap, "saya dah murtad" atau "saya bukannya lagi Islam". Ha, ni la kesan dari kes lina joy kalau kita tak perhati dari la ni. Orang boleh keluar masuk islam sesuka hati depa saja. Tambahnya dalam kes kamariah ali pengikut ayah pin, sebab dia dah mengaku murtad di mahkamah syariah, tak boleh nak buat apa apa la. Sekarang status tak clear, so kena tengok apa kata keputusan kes lina joy. Kalau lina joy menang, lepas le kamariah ali sebab dia dah murtad, mahkamah tak boleh hukum dia. Kamariah ali ni bukan calang orang. Mengaji kat nilam puri, sambung kat universiti al azhar (ada siapa yang tak pernah dengar nama universiti ni???) tahun 60an dulu dan pernah jadi ketua biro dakwah. Dia kawin dengan ustaz mohamad ya, azhar jugak kot (tak sure). Bila balik Malaysia pi kerja di Sarawak (untuk berdakwah la tu) tapi balik semenanjung, dua2 jadi pengikut ayah pin. KALAU USTAZ / USTAZAH AL AZHAR BOLEH MURTAD, MACAM MANA KITA??? Berbalik kepada isu Lina Joy, lawyer zulkifli nordin ini mengingatkan beberapa bala yang bakal menimpa umat islam malaysia sekirannya mahkamah memihak kepada si murtad ni. Pertamanya, melayu akan pupus. Sebabnya, bila melayu dah declare bukan islam, dan islam tak ada kena mengena dengan melayu, lama2 pupus lah melayu. Keduanya, orang islam senang2 boleh mengaku murtad bila kena dakwa di mahkamah, dan bila dilepaskan (camana nak bicara, dah kapiaq dah) boleh masuk islam balik. Janji tak kena denda atau penjara. Maknanya, senang sungguh depa nak mempermainkan islam. Seterusnya, yang lebih bahaya kata ustaz zulkifli nordin, bila keputusan kes ini akan membenarkan orang2 kafir membuat tafsiran terhadap undang2 islam. Since perbicaraan bukan dalam mahkamah syariah, dalam kes lina joy, orang kafir senang2 kata undang2 murtad tu salah, yang betul ialah perlembagaan persekutuan dan hak asasi manusia. Tambahnya, bukan kerjaorang kafir nak kata orang islam tak boleh pakai serban, tak boleh pakai purdah atau apa, sebab bicara kes ni bukan dalam mahkamah syariah. Tapi, lebih menyedihkan, katanya keputusan pengharaman serban dan purdah keluar dari mulut hakim melayu. Katanya, dalam kes meor habiburrahman, si bapak hakim buat tafsiran "ikut kepala bapaknya". Ada ka hakim kata dia buat keputusan merujuk kepada "pemerhatian" dia, dan bukannya merujuk kepada quran atau hadis. Ada ka logik dalam membuat keputusan mengenai serban, dia kata, "saya rasa, saya pi mekah tengok budak2 arab tak pakai serban pun." "saya perhati mufti tak pakai serban pun..." kata hakim kes serban ni. Tak logik dia tak tau yang tak bagi mufti pakai serban ialah kerajaan sendiri. Peguam ni tambah lagi, la ni ramai ustaz2 sanggup pakai songkok saja atau pakai kot saja untuk syarat layak keluar tv. Sebab depa ni sekadar pakai songkok atau ada yang tak pakai lansung, malah pakai kot, maka si hakim yang handle kes serban baru2 ni kata: "tengok... so and so mana ada pakai serban pun". Katanya, inilah yang berlaku kalau ustaz2 pun terlalu cintakan dunia (duit ler brader, RM) sehingga sanggup menjadikan diri mereka sasaran fitnah. "hakim tu hina rasulallah, sampai dia kata tak semua yang nabi buat tu kita kena ikut. Contohnya kalau rasulallah duduk dalam rumah tanah liat, naik unta, gosok gigi guna kayu, tak kan kita nak ikut..." Tak cukup penghinaan tu, hakim tu terang2 tambah, "adakah mulia mereka yang ikut muhammad duduk dalam rumah tanah liat berbanding dengan rumah batu? Adakah mulia mereka yang naik unta," cerita bekas lawyer pak sheikh ni, marah sungguh dia dengan mulut celupar hakim ntah apa ke nama yang handle kes serban baru-baru ni. Tambah zulkifli nordin, kalau ikut kitab mustika hadis, orang yang hina rasulallah macam tu dah kira murtad. Pasal cerita serban ni, ustaz zulkifli bagitau dia ada dalam satu majlis yang turut dihadiri oleh dr mashitah ibrahim (ustazah glamer rumput carpet) kata kes serban ni "tak ada apa2". tapi dia tak tau saya pun ada dalam majlis tu dan akan bagi ceramah seterusnya, jadi bila dia (ustazah mashitah) tau saya ada di situ, cepat2 dia nak cabut balik. Saya kata jangan balik dulu. "saya marah sungguh sebab mashitah ibrahim ni nak tipu bangsa sendiri," kata zulkifli nordin. Katanya dia pun heran kenapa orang2 bijak pandai agama boleh bersekongkol dengan hakim yang buat keputusan yang menghina islam dan rasulallah macam tu. Kalau islam dah senang2 boleh ditafsir sendiri, hilanglah hak penjagaan anak kita, katanya dalam ceramah yang dihadiri oleh kira2 300 orang tu. Contohnya, kalau kita suruh anak kita sembahyang dan anak kita tak mau sembahyang dgn alasan tertentu, kalau kita paksa jugak dia boleh pi bagitau NGO dan mahkamah ada kuasa bagitau tuan/puan yang tuan/puan tak boleh paksa anak tuan bersembahyang sebab undang2 kata macam tu. "sebab itulah orang kafir tunggu sangat kes lina joy ni," katanya. Tambah penceramah ni, sampai 13 peguam wakil kes ni, yang terdiri dari 11 NGOs semuanya datang dengan lawyer. Tak cukup dengan NGO-NGO tu, ada lagi wakil dari kedutaan Perancis , Australia , Kanada. Wakil hak asasi manusia Amnesty International pun ada. Katanya kalau nak tau who's who yang defend / sekongkol dengan lina joy laknatullah ni, rujuklah laman web www.bracketfund. com. "KITA MESTI MENANG KES INI UNTUK CENGKAM BANGSA MELAYU. KALAU MENANG KES NI, ANAK-ANAK MELAYU TERBUKA UNTUK DIKRISTIANKAN," cerita zulkifli nordin, orang yang lama dan masak dengan selok-belok undang ni. Katanya, buat masa ni, masih susah lagi orang nak murtadkan anak2 melayu sebab mereka masih lagi dalam jagaan mak bapak.Beliau turut mempersoalkan berapa banyak RM orang melayu islam sumbangkan untuk lawan kes azlina jelani ni sebab orang bukan islam dah berjaya dapatkan lebih USD 4 million untuk kes ni. Nak bayar lawyer dll. Katanya lagi, pada peringkat antarabangsa orang2 kafir sangat ambil berat kes ni . kalau tak percaya jugak, katanya tengok website www.sydneyamerican. net, ada dalam tu kata "kita tunggu peluang nak serang melayu" (nak murtadkan melayu yang islam lah). Katanya, nama azhar mansur pun ada dalam website tu. Alhamdulillah, sekarang ni peguam2 melayu dah tampil kehadapan, tubuhkan Badan Peguam Pembela Islam (PPI). "lawyer kita cuba nak lawan". Beliau turut menasihatkan orang2 melayu hari ini yang berada diperingkat akar umbi - kita ni lah - supaya bangkit sebab mahkamah akan buat keputusan tak sampai 6 minggu saja lagi. Pejam celik, keputusan dah keluar, dan kalau kita tak berbuat sesuatu, tandatangani petisyen ka, solat hajat ka, pas tu kalah tok sah dok salahkan orang lain lah. "kita dah tak ada masa nak minta tolong umno ka, siapa ka, sebab tu lah lawyer-lawyer melayu mula bersatu." Zulkifli nordin kata setakat ni ada 68 NGO melayu dah menyatakan sokongan kepada perjuangan PPI, termasuklah abim, JIM, perkim, persatuan ulama. Pekida pun join sama, alhamdulillah. Katanya, lawyer2 islam malaysia ni mahukan Artikel 3 iaitu islam sebagai agama persekutuan dijadikan sebagai islam syariat. Bukan takat baca doa masa opening ceremony atau tahlil orang mati saja. Artikel 11 pulak, kata lawyer ni, mesti ditambah 11(a) ka apa, supaya kebebasan beragama itu (keluar masuk agama) tidak terpakai kepada orang Melayu / Islam. Artikel 4 pulak, katanya, lawyer2 ni dah kaji dan mahukan ia ditambah. Kalau sekarang kata orang bukan islam tak boleh dakwah dengan orang islam, in future nak tambah sikit lagi, kalau dakwah jugak, ada hukumannya. Beliau juga memetik kata2 imam besar imam ghazali: "kalau kita nak tengok nasib bangsa akan dating, tengoklah diri kita hari ini." Katanya 50 tahun dulu orang islam masih ada sensitivity dalam kes natrah pun, la ni dah jadi lagu ni. Lagi 40 tahun tak tau la macam mana. Beliau turut berpesan, tolonglah masuk myislamnetwork website dan print maklumat dalam tu, kemudian sebarkan di kawasan2 kejiranan, bagi kat kawan2 ke. Lagi satu, dia minta kita pakat2 turun tandatangan, sebab dulu geng2 kafir pendokong lina joy ni berjaya mendapat 50,000 tandatangan meminta supaya Artikel 11 perlembagaan persekutuan tidak lagi memihak kepada orang melayu islam. Katanya, bila sign petition tu, jangan takat bubuh nama 'Hamba Allah' tapi tulih nama sendiri dan bagi henfon sekali. Nak takut apa, kalau yang ni pun tak boleh, macam mana nak berjihad? So, kalau orang cek nama ali bin abu, dia memang betul2 wujud, baru ada credibility."biar Allah tengok nama kita ada dalam ni," katanya sambil mengedar borang petition kat surau al islah malam tu. Katanya jangan la dok takut SB baca ka, pasai masa depan islam kat malaysia dah kritikal sangat dah, dan kita kenalah berbuat sesuatu. Kemudian, zulkifli nordin bagitau yang beberapa orang sultan - johor, selangor, terengganu, perak - dah mula memberi reaksi positif kepada perjuangan lawyer2 islam hari ni. Katanya, sultan selangor cakap secara terbuka mengenai isu ni dalam majlis penutup tilawah al quran baru baru ni. Alhamdulillah, sultan selangor ambil berat. So, sembahyang jumaat nanti, kalau tok khatib doakan sultan selangor ni, aku cadangkan korang amin la kuat2 sikit. Mudah2an allah memberi hidayah kepada sultan2 melayu ni. Kalau depa sokong, insya'allah, mereka pasti tetap relevant pada mata rakyat. Beliau turut mengingatkan orang melayu supaya bangkit dari zon selesa. "saya minta orang2 umno bangkit, sebab dah lama dah mereka (orang bawahan) ditipu. Sekarang bangkitlah pertahankan melayu." Zulkifli nordin minta la siapa2 yang ada masa boleh tolong jadi sukarelawan dalam tempoh singkat ni. Lawyer2 dan NGO2 melayu islam dok sibuk dok bagi ceramah sana sini, bantu lah jadi drebar ka, tukang taip ka, jaga ofis ka. Keselamatan penceramah pun nak kena jaga. La ni katanya, budak UPM yang dok ramai jadi sukarelawan ni, walaupun depa sibuk dengan kelas, tapi depa sanggup. Alhamdullilah. Katanya bukalah website sebab dalam website PPI tu ada minta macam2 pekerja sukarela, so bagitaulah macam mana boleh tolong. Habis ceramah, masa sessi soal jawab, ada sorang tanya: "apa pendirian pak lah?" aku tak berapa ingat jawapan dia sebab pen aku dah berjalan bersama kertas petisyen, tapi jawapan zulkifli nordin lebih kurang kata pak lah tak ambik berat sangat dan anak dia nori pun dalam sisters in islam (badan yang kuat menyokong geng artikel 11). So macam, mana? Itulah saja yang aku dapat, lenguh tangan aku tulih nota ceramah tu, taip balik 4 jam baru siap. Korang baca dan edarkanlah supaya orang kita mendapat kesedaran dari ceramah saudara zulkifli nordin ni. Dia dah banyak berkorban, tuan2 pun mesti boleh kalau percaya usaha kita ini akan dapat membantu menyelamatkan akidah anak2 kita, anak2 jiran kita, anak2 kawan kita, dan semua anak orang islam di negara ini. Amin.
p/s:dalam kesibukan saya menguruskan pelbagai urusan, saya tak sempat mengikuti kes ini secara detail. tapi selepas membaca email ini, saya rasa malu sebagai org yang mengaku islam tetapi tidak berbuat apa. yang terdekat, saya sudah tandatangani borang petisyen PEMBELA. (100% copy paste dari email saya, terima kasih pada yang menulis dan yang mem'forword')
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