Would you convert to Islam?

Thursday, 11 February 2010 - Super Admin

Islam suffers from a serious image problem. And the problem is the Muslims themselves. But this can never be resolved because the Muslims are suffering from a denial syndrome. And until they break out of this denial syndrome then expect Islam to forever be regarded as a pariah religion by those from the civilised societies.

NO HOLDS BARRED, Raja Petra Kamarudin

Tun Dr Mahathir: People still critical of Malay Muslims

The Muslim community should be more active in projecting the true Islamic teachings to the non-Muslims in the country by practising the true teachings of the religion.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Muslims should review deeply the Islamic teachings as stated in the Al-Quran, the true traditions of Prophet Muhammad (hadis) and must practise the true Islamic teachings so that the religion would be perceived to be dynamic and holy.

"In order to give such a picture, it is most important that the Muslims themselves demonstrate the culture propagated by Islam. At times, we find that the Muslims themselves behave in a manner that tarnishes the Islamic religion," he said in his speech at the 50th anniversary of Perkim 2010/1431 at the Federal territory Mosque, here last night.

In fact, he said there were still much criticisms and slanders against the Muslims especially the Malay Muslims.

"We are frequently branded as a religion of terrorism. In fact, there are people who accuse that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a terrorist leader. Our image is very bad currently," he said. – Malaysian Digest

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I have constantly said the same thing as what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said. I have even quoted famous scholars from the West, such as those in the US and the UK.

“Islam is a beautiful religion,” said one. “It is Muslims who are ugly”.

“I love Islam,” said another. “But I hate Muslims.”

“If you want to find good Muslims,” said yet another. “You have to go to the Christian countries.” For those who do not quite get this one, it means the Christians do what Islam says we must do (except for accepting Prophet Muhammad as the last Prophet, of course) while Muslims do not.

And the list of quotes go on and on.

I have my own quote, which would never be entered into the book of famous quotes. And that is if I were NOT born a Muslim and I study the conduct of Muslims to ponder on whether I should become a Muslim, the conduct of Muslims would never attract me to Islam.

That is the most unfortunate truth. Logic would tell me that the fruit of a poisonous tree would be poison. How, therefore, could a good religion breed bad people? Surely a good religion would breed good people. If the followers of a certain religion are bad then surely there must be something wrong with that religion.

Anyone who has never studied Islam in depth or is a practitioner of Islam would be forgiven for thinking that way. If you know very little about Islam then you would certainly come to that conclusion. If Muslims are bad then surely this must reflect on Islam. How can a good religion turn out bad people?

Only when you know Islam would you be aware that most Muslims do the opposite of what Islam says. They are bad not because Islam is bad. They are bad because they are bad Muslims. They violate everything that Islam stands for.

No, I am not trying to be a Muslim apologist. I am not trying to apologise for the conduct of Muslims or trying to propagate Islam. I am not trying to convince you that Islam is good or begging you to not judge Islam by the conduct of the Muslims. I am beyond that already.

For decades I have been preaching that Muslims are Islam’s worst enemies. I have repeated that statement over and over again. I no longer want to argue this point.

Muslims, in particular Malay Muslims, are going to take this article with antagonism. Muslims, Malays included, have a very low tolerance level for criticism. To criticise Muslims tantamount to criticising Islam, argue these people. And criticising Islam means you are insulting the religion. And the punishment for this ‘crime’ is violence.

That is how Muslims rationalise things.

I have lost many friends these last few years since I have been writing about Islam. Of course, my credentials have been put to question. Who am I to write about Islam? Which Islamic university did I go to? What are my qualifications? Do I have a certificate to preach Islam?

People who were once very close to me now consider me the enemy. Those who I once spent endless hours with to discuss Islam now no longer want to have anything to do with me. They even celebrated my ISA detention in September 2008 for what the government alleged was my crime for ‘insulting Islam’.

Anyway, now Dr Mahathir has echoed what I have been saying for so long. Okay, maybe Dr Mahathir is not so abrasive in his language and does not use the ‘colourful’ words that I use. But the message is the same. The Muslims, in particular the Malays, are giving Islam a bad name. The conduct of the Muslims, Malays included, violates Islam teachings and does not reflect true Islam.

Do I really need to offer examples to support this view? Do I need to remind you that corruption is most rampant amongst the Malays? Do I need to remind you that half the Malays support Malay supremacy or Ketuanan Melayu, which is haram in Islam? Do I need to remind you that most police officers are Malays and that the ex-IGP himself personally told me that if they wanted to clean out the police force then 99% of the police would have to be sacked? And I am not yet even touching on extrajudicial killings, deaths under detention, police brutality, and whatnot, which involve Malays with some Indian ‘contribution’.

No, let’s not go into the endless list of examples to highlight the misconduct of Muslims to prove that they violate Islam teachings every step of the way. Those few examples I mentioned are enough to demonstrate what I am talking about.

Muslims are the worst example of what Islam is all about. They actually put shame to the religion. If you were to judge the religion by the conduct of its followers and if you hardly had any knowledge of what the religion teaches then you would form the opinion that Islam is a religion of Satan.

This is the sad fact and a fact that cannot be denied. And the faster Muslims accept this instead of whacking those who criticise Muslims and label them as enemies of Islam the faster will Islam’s image problem be solved.

I have always said this and I shall say it again. Islam suffers from a serious image problem. And the problem is the Muslims themselves. But this can never be resolved because the Muslims are suffering from a denial syndrome. And until they break out of this denial syndrome then expect Islam to forever be regarded as a pariah religion by those from the civilised societies.

I personally believe that substance is more important over form.

Humans are vulnerable to committing mistakes/sins etc.

It's pity if we ignore good values/directions/calls just because of the so called 'majority' who claimed themselves as followers are astray.