When we read the al-Quran and al-Sunnah, we will discover how just Allah is
and none is comparable to His Justness. On the other hand, this world seems to
be full with injustice because of the handwork of humankind that has destroyed
the beautiful and wonderful system Allah put in place for all living things in
this world.

Similar to the way human beings have been destroying
the earth’s ecosystem, human beings have also been, in many cases, destroying
the system of justice in their life. Just as the environment, rivers, ozone
layer, seas, mountains and many more in this world have been ruined to the
extent that all those are now becoming harmful to humans’ life, so have justice,
peaceful life, compassionateness and graciousness been ruined that in the end
leads to the destruction of life’s serenity. People then ask, “Where is Allah’s
justness?” They forget to say, “This is the outcome of our own evilness.”

Allah is Most Just and All-Wise. Although He is All-Knowing of all the sins
committed by human beings, they will still be given a trial in His grand court
in the Day of Judgment. All of their sins and rewards will be weighed before
they are given their sentences.

Allah says (translated as): “Then shall we question those to whom Our Message
was sent and those by whom we sent it. And Verily, We shall recount their whole
story with knowledge, for We were never absent (at any time or place). The
balance that Day will be true (to nicety): those whose scale (of good) will be
heavy, will prosper. Those whose scale will be light, will be their souls in
perdition, for that they wrongfully treated Our Signs.” (Surah al-‘Araf:
6-9)

It is clear that Allah is All-Knowing of all humans’ deeds. Despite of that,
He still provides a system that illustrates His Justice by weighing the deeds of
humankind, good and bad, before sentencing them to either Heaven or Hell. Even
if Allah does not perform any weighing procedure, Allah’s verdict will not be
faulty since He is the All-Knowing Lord.

His Knowledge encompasses all things. However, for the sake of illustrating
His Justice so that His servants will not have any reasons for discontentment
when they are given their sentences, He provides a system of justice by means of
hearing and their sins weighed. Allah says (translated as): “On the Day when
their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them As to
their actions. On that Day Allah will pay them back (all) their just dues, and
they will realize that Allah is the (very) truth, that makes all things
manifest.” (Surah al-Nur: 24-25)

If Allah does not provide the court of justice in the Day of Judgment, will
anybody be able to protest Allah’s verdict? Will anybody be able to say that
Allah makes mistakes in making judgment? Will anybody be able to jeopardize
Allah’s reign just as human beings jeopardize the ruler’s dominion in this world
through insurrection or election? Absolutely not! Glory be to Allah. No one can
challenge the greatness of His Kingdom but still He provides a system of hearing
that is most just in His Court. Is it then acceptable if human beings are
punished without being trialed fairly and benevolently whereas even Allah the
Most Just provides a system of hearing to judge His servants?

Is it appropriate to have a legislative act that allows someone to be
prosecuted without given a chance to defend him self? Probably someone can be
remanded temporarily for the duration of the investigation period but the
principle of justice requires that he must be given a trial before he is given
his sentence so that he understands the nature of the offence he has
committed.

If people are sentenced without given a chance to defend themselves then
something similar to the fatal incident occurred in Kuala Perlis recently will
take place. The victim was accused of peeping at a girl. He was then dragged
outside of his house, beaten up by the mob until he died. His wife who was still
recovering from giving birth was also beaten up. In the end, they realized that
they had caught the wrong person. The victim was already dead, punished without
knowing what his sin was. Even if that was indeed his wrongdoing, was it his
rights to be killed? For that reason, this religion opposes the act of punishing
people without valid reasons and a proper trial. This kind of act is truly
condemned.

If there is a legislative act that allows people to be sentenced without
given a trial then that is a loathsome statute. The Prophet s.a.w said,
“Evidence is incumbent on the prosecutor (to present) and taking an oath is for
the defendant.” (Reported by al-Tirmizi, authenticated by al-Albani)

Therefore, if this kind of statute and law exists then the Fatwa Council has
to convene and deliberate the Islamic view on it in a just manner without being
influenced by any group. That is the role of a fatwa. Its issuance should be
aligned with the need of the nation. If not, we will only distance ourselves
from the flow of life of the community that requires honesty and transparency in
religious views.

Whereas in this unconfined world, people are being punished due to
unjustified accusations. One will be vilified or plastered with a bad label only
because of accusations without any valid reasons or given any trials. He may not
be put in jail or killed but will be punished in an open society only because of
the accusations made by others against him.

Some may give him cynical look, or reject him or question him. Sometimes, the
effect of public prosecution is more painful than strokes or imprisonment. In
the world of internet, many have become the victims of unjustified accusations
without having the room to defend themselves. It is similar in the world of
politics. Various labels will be plastered to others haphazardly. In the
religious field, almost the same circumstance exists and in some cases, the
devil plays an even bigger role to instigate them.

Since a long time ago, if there were any individual or group trying to bring
on revivification to improve the thinking of the youth and the Muslim society,
various kind of vilification would be thrown at them. They were accused of being
kaum muda (literally means the young group). Thus, among the victims at
those times includes Syed Syeikh al-Hadi, Syeikh Muhammad Tahir Jalaludin,
Burhanudin al-Helmi, Za‘ba, Mustafa ‘Abdul Rahman and many others. It was to the
extent that a prominent figure such as Buya Hamka from Indonesia was prohibited
from entering Johor for similar reason. It was all caused by the envious lot
whose only desire was to guard their self-interest.

These days, if you talk about open-minded thinking, flexibility in accepting
the opinions of others, reverting to the authentic texts of Islam, you will be
accused of being kaum muda or Wahabi or liberal. That is
regardless of whether you know what Wahabi or liberal or kaum muda
is. That accusation does not require any proof or reasoning since it is
‘justified’ by the different opinion that you have. Making accusation without
giving any evidence or without giving the chance to defend oneself is a tyranny.
It is always committed by those holding certain self-interest.

Thus, this religion is against making empty accusations without having valid
reasons that are based on intellectual evidence and proof. Allah says
(translated as): “O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others:
it may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): nor let some women
laugh at others: it may be that the (latter are better than the (former): nor
defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive)
nicknames. Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after
he has believed: and those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.” (Surah
al-Hujurat: 11)

The tendency to accuse somebody haphazardly is the symbol of humans running
out of reasoning. I feel sad when some people accuse the decision made by the
High Syariah Court of Pulau Pinang and advocator Ustaz Ahmad Jailani Abdul Ghani
as encouraging people to become apostates. Even more, some are plastering a more
serious accusation saying that he is defending apostates.

Some of you may still remember that last year, at the early stage of my
regular writing in this column, I wrote an article titled “Apostasy: Between
Emotions and Reality”. Among the points that I mentioned was, “At the same time,
we need to have a full knowledge of the fact that a person is proclaimed as an
apostate when he traverses the Islamic faith boundary in a conscious state,
knowingly and without any force exerted on him. It is regardless whether the
violation is in a form of words, or actions or belief. When the violation is
clearly committed by a person such as by insulting Allah and His Messenger, or
pronouncing himself to have or intend to renounce Islam, then he is considered
as an apostate.

Apostasy, once it is committed, is considered as valid regardless whether it
is endorsed or not by any particular authority. A statement of religion on
someone’s identification card is not a true certification of his faith. It is
simply for communal business or administration. This means that if we are able
to inhibit one thousand people that renounced Islam from changing the religion
stated on their identification cards, in actual we are merely keeping one
thousand people that are masquerading as Muslims in a Muslim society. What will
happen if the identification cards are being used as references for determining
religious stand by certain authority and subsequently a marriage occurs between
the apostates and the true Muslims?

It is also possible that they get to control the religious institutions by
virtue of their knowledge on certain areas even as apostates. In the end, we are
actually keeping a very dangerous cancer in the body of our Ummah. Therefore, to
be able to maintain the status of one’s religion on his identification card only
is not qualified to be considered as a success. Instead, it has the potential to
turn into a misfortune in the days to come. A true success is when we are able
to return them to the true path of Islam voluntarily and to eradicate all of
their doubts concerning this religion.”

Therefore, the resolution made by the court and the action taken by that
lawyer was actually a commendable effort of removing cancer from the body of the
Ummah. Just ask a mature mind, do people become apostates because there is a
room to do that in court or is it because they have lost their faith in Islam?
Surely, the answer is because they have lost their faith in Islam.

If that is the answer, the remedy for that sickness is to prevent him from
changing the religious status on his identification card, whereas he has lost
faith in Islam, or by improving da’wah and give mature elucidation to
him? Surely, it is with da’wah and mature elucidation. Therefore,
people commit apostasy not because it is decided by the court but because of
inefficient da’wah despite the overflowing monetary fund.

We can also soften the heart of the mualaf who have embraced Islam
and their family who have not embraced Islam through the contribution of
zakat money. Where have the hundred millions of zakat money
collected every year gone? Let us not constrict the concept of mualaf
only to those who have newly embraced Islam. Expand our narrowness and move
towards using the broader texts of Islam.

The term mualaf is not just for those who newly embrace Islam as
carelessly translated by some people. It encompasses those who have not embraced
Islam and it is hoped that the gift of zakat is able to soften their
heart to accept Islam. Let us not just abandon the mualaf while they
are living in a difficult condition with their family but after they die, we
scuffle over their dead bodies. While they are alive, we let them be but after
they die, we demand to have their bodies. Does this represent the beauty of
Islam?

Once I advocated Chinese mosques. Some made wild accusations by saying that
it would lead to the al-Quran being recited in Chinese at that mosque. They
said, even the prayer would be performed in Chinese. This is the custom of our
people, dynamic in making accusations and not in thinking. Even those claiming
themselves as religious advisors were also acting the same way. Is the al-Quran
being recited in Tamil and Malay at the Indian and Malay mosques?

I proposed the Chinese mosques so that the Chinese Muslim community can
interact easily with each other. They know each other better and thus, many
problems that they are facing can be solved among themselves. That is because
they have different background of problems from the Malay community in which
almost all are Muslims.

Therefore, in Chinese mosques, the Chinese people will understand the
religious lesson better and it will be easier for them to communicate with the
imam and committee members of the mosque. Thus, if any of them wishes to
renounce Islam or embrace Islam, they can apply the best approach for each case
since they understand their people better. However, some opposed this idea and
some made wild accusations. Today, we can see how much we need to have it but
its existence is being impeded.

It is better if we stop being hostile to others without any valid evidence
and a good understanding of the real situation but try to use the scale of
justice and a mature mind.