Clerical errors in the name of God

Published 24 April 2008

A death fatwa issued by an ageing cleric against Saudi intellectuals has caused outrage in the Arab world

News that an ageing cleric has issued a death fatwa against two Saudi intellectuals does not surprise me. The religious hierarchy in Saudi Arabia has no redeeming features. Its hallmarks are fanaticism, misogyny and xenophobia, with a strong accent on conformity and absolutism. Like the Inquisition, it moves rapidly to suppress any signs of dissent or independent thinking.

The cleric is the widely revered Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak. He does not represent the religious voice of the government but his aspirations are shared by many religious scholars in the kingdom. The sheikh was incensed by articles in al-Riyadh by Yousef Aba al-Khail and Abdullah bin Bejad al-Otaibi arguing for a more humane and balanced interpretation of the Quran.

Entitled "The other in the Islamic balance" and "The Islam of the sharia and the Islam of struggle", the articles pointed out that the Quran does not denounce non-Muslims as "infidels", but describes Jews and Christians as "people of the Book" and urges Muslims to show respect towards other faiths, their followers and places of worship. Far from hating the "Other", the Quran urges people of all creeds to live in peace.

These are the kinds of simple, sensible things that folk like me have been saying for decades. Indeed, I have been arguing for such a pluralistic interpretation in my Guardian Quran blog, which has been banned in Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh al-Barrak's reaction naturally conforms to Wahhabism, the hardline Saudi version of Islam. "Anyone who claims this," the sheikh thunders, "has rejected Islam and should be tried in order to take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam." It is, of course, beyond the learned sheikh's comprehension that the Quran contains no notion of apostasy. On the contrary, it declares that "there is no compulsion in religion". People are free to change their faith as many times as they like.

The fatwa has outraged the Arab world. A group of a hundred writers and human rights activists, including the Egyptian philosopher Hassan Hanafi and the Lebanese academic Radwan al-Sayyed, issued a statement describing the fatwa as "intellectual terrorism" and the work of "clerics of darkness". The Saudi clergy see "Islam as their monopoly" and followers of other faiths as people whose blood can be "shed freely", the statement says. It goes further to suggest that clerics are being "fooled through their arrogance and inflated by their status into thinking that they speak in the name of God".

But I fear it is worse than that. The Quran is open to a number of interpretations. If, however, you insist that your interpretation is the only correct one, the Truth, then you do much more than simply speak "in the name of God": you not only know the Truth but are the Truth. You assume the absolute power of God. By branding two Muslims "infidels", the sheikh shows his godlike powers. Indeed, he goes where the Quran insistently refuses to: into the realm of the personal relationship between individual and God. The fatwa suggests that the sheikh has godlike knowledge of this relationship, and by sentencing the two authors to death, it even exceeds the bounds of the Quran. The sheikh does not think he is speaking "in the name of God". He thinks he is God incarnate.

The Saudi clergy operate with godlike powers throughout the kingdom. Nothing moves unless they will it. King Abdullah may wish to engage in dialogue with other religions, but he remains motionless unless the clergy provide the necessary momentum. Only a few weeks ago, the Shura Council, the consultative body dominated by the clergy, rejected a proposal to adopt a law promoting respect for other faiths and religious symbols. Efforts to give human status to women have similarly run into a brick wall.

Saudi Arabia is the guardian of the holy cities Mecca and Medina. It is only natural that God's sacred land should be ruled by people who see themselves as personifications of God!

(Thanks to Brother SH of Australia)

Ringkasan artikel Ziauddin Sardar di atas:

Kesilapan ulama dengan nama Allah

Fatwa hukum bunuh oleh seorang ulama meningkat tua terhadap intelek Saudi menyebabkan kemarahan dunia Arab.

Berita seorang ulama yang meningkat tua keluarkan fatwa bunuh ke atas dua intelek Saudi tidak memeranjatkan. Hierarki keagamaan di Arab Saudi tidak mempunyai ciri-ciri baik. Cap kempanya ialah fanatisisme, benci perempuan dan gerun orang asing dengan tekanan kuat ke atas keakuran dan faham kuasa mutlak. Seperti Pasitan ia bergerak dengan pantas dalam membentras sebarang tanda pertentangan pendapat atau pemikiran bebas.

Ulama berkenaan Syeikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak adalah seorang dihormati ramai. Dia tidak mewakili suara agama kerajaan tetapi aspirasinya dikongsi ramai sarjana negara. Syeikh tersebut meradang atas artikel-artikel di al-Riyadh oleh Yousef Aba al-Khail dan Abdullah bin Bejad al-Otaibi yang kemukakan alasan bagi tafsir Quran yang lebih berperikemanusiaan dan seimbang.

Artikel-artikel menegaskan bahawa Quran tidak mengecam orang-orang bukan Islam bagai "kafir", tetapi terangkan orang-orang Yahudi dan Kristian sebagai "ahli Kitab" dan menggesa orang-orang Islam supaya menghormati agama lain, pengikut-pengikut mereka dan tempat-tempat ibadat. Jauh daripada benci "Orang Lain", malah Quran menggesa manusia daripada semua anutan biar hidup dengan aman.

Reaksi Syeikh al-Barrak tepat pada fahaman Wahhabi iaitu versi Islam Saudi yang tidak mahu bertolak ansur. "Sesiapa dakwa ini," gemuruh syeikh, "telah menolak Islam dan patut dibicara untuk ditarik balik. Jika tidak, dia akan dibunuh sebagai seorang murtad daripada agama Islam." Ia, tentu sekali, telah melewati pemahaman syeikh yang arif itu bahawa Quran tidak mengandungi sebarang tanggapan ke atas murtad. Sebaliknya pula, ia mengisytiharkan berbunyi "tidak ada paksaan dalam agama". Manusia bebas menukar agama sebanyak kali mereka suka.

Fatwa tersebut menerbitkan kemarahan dunia Arab. Sekumpulan seratus orang penulis dan aktivis hak asasi manusia, termasuk filasafah Mesir Hassan Hanafi dan ahli akademik Lebanon Radwan al-Sayyed, keluarkan penyataan menggambarkan fatwa demikian laksana "terorisme intelektual" dan karya "ulama dari kegelapan". Ulama Saudi melihat "Islam adalah monopoli mereka" the pengikut-pengikut kepercayaan lain sebagai orang-orang yang darah mereka "ditumpahkan sesuka hati", kata penyataan. Ia selanjutnya membayangkan bahawa para ulama sedang "diperbodohkan melalui keangkuhan mereka dan berasa sangat bangga atas kedudukan dalam memikirkan mereka bercakap dengan nama Allah".

Namun, ia dikhuatiri lebih buruk lagi. Quran terdedah kepada beberapa tafsiran. Jika, sekalipun, anda bertegas bahawa tafsiran anda adalah satu-satunya yang betul, Yang Benar, maka anda buat lebih daripada hanya berkata "dengan nama Allah": anda bukan sahaja tahu Yang Benar tetapi Yang Benar itu sendiri. Anda memegang kuasa mutlak Allah. Dengan melabelkan dua orang Islam "kafir", syeikh tersebut mempamerkan kuasa seperti Tuhan. Sesungguhnya dia pergi di mana Quran enggan mendesak; ke dalam alam pertalian peribadi di antara individu dengan Tuhan. Fatwa itu menandakan syeikh mempunyai pengetahuan seperti Tuhan dalam pertalian ini, dan dengan menghukum mati kedua-dua pengarang ia selanjutnya melewati batas-batas Quran. Syeikh tidak fikirkan dia bercakap "dengan nama Allah". Dia sangka dia jelmaan-Nya.

Ulama Saudi beroperasi dengan kuasa-kuasa seperti Tuhan di seluruh negara. Tiada akan bergerak kecuali mereka hendakinya. Raja Abdullah ingin melibatkan diri dalam dialog dengan agama-agama lain tetapi dia berkeadaan kaku selagi ulama tidak beri momentum yang diperlukan. Hanya beberapa minggu lalu, Majlis Syura, badan perunding yang dikuasai ulama, menolak cadangan minta mengamal satu undang-undang menggalakkan hormat kepada fahaman lain dan lambang-lambang agama. Sementara usaha untuk beri status kemanusiaan ke atas perempuan turut menemui kebuntuan.

Arab Saudi adalah pelindung kota-kota suci Mekah dan Medinah. Ia hanya lazim bahawa tanah suci Allah harus diperintah oleh orang-orang yang menganggap diri-diri mereka personifikasi Allah!

14 Ogos 2008

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