Bukan Ulama Tetapi Lebih Penghafal Tanpa Berakal

 Bukan Ulama Tetapi Lebih Penghafal Tanpa BerAkal

M. Bakri Musa Petikan #31 dari buku saya: Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat: Exercises In Critical Thinking. 7 Disember 2025

Walaupun keIslamanan cara kuno a la kaum Arab Badawi bermaharajalela dan membelenggukan di Malaysia, masih terdapat segelintir jiwa dan perbadanan yang berani mencabar keadaan sosio-agama semasa.

Antaranya ialah badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Sisters In Islam (SIS) yang diterajui oleh Puan Zainah Anwar. Mereka lebih memberatkan masaalah yang di hadapi oleh kaum wanita kita dan berpegang teguh pada keyakinan bahawa Islam adalah daya pendorong untuk membebaskan wanita, bukan mengongkong mereka.

Dalam tafsiran kuno Islam di Malaysia (seperti juga di tempat lain), cabaran yang dihadapi oleh SIS sememangnya berat dan tenat. Mereka dalam SIS kurang mementingkan tafsiran kitab suci yang rumit dan usang, sebaliknya lebih menumpukan usaha untuk menyelamatkan wanita yang didera, isteri yang diceraikan dan diabaikan, serta menyelamatkan gadis muda yang dipaksa kahwin dengan lelaki tua. Semoga Allah memberi ganjaran kepada para wanita SIS atas kerja baik mereka, dan semoga mereka terus gigih melaksanakannya.

Satu lagi badan ialah Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF). Persatuan ini memainkan peranan penting membawa penceramah berkaliber seperti Tariq Ramadan (cendekiawan Islam di Universiti Oxford), Mu’nim Sirry (bukunya Scriptural Polemics: The Qur’an And Other Religions), dan wartawan Turki Mustafa Akyol (Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty) ke Malaysia. Akyol telah ditahan setelah menyampaikan ceramahnya di Malaysia. Hanya dengan campur tangan pada peringkat diplomatik tertinggi yang berjaya membebaskannya. Akyol kemudiannya terus menceritakan pengalamannya yang pahit di Malaysia kepada pendengar di seluruh dunia, termasuk di tempat seperti Harvard.

Forum awam IRF lebih cemerlang dan banyak memberi fikiran tetapi ceramahnya terpaksa diadakan di bilik persidangan hotel kerana tiada jawatankuasa masjid atau jabatan akademik universiti yang sudi menyambut di tempat mereka. Forum IRF menyegarkan dan jauh berbeza dari wacana agama biasa. Pertama penceramah mereka tampil dalam pakaian biasa dan bukan berjubah tebal dan panjang serta berhias dengan serban berjela. Lebih penting lagi, penganjur memperuntukkan masa yang mencukupi untuk sesi soal jawab dan perbincangan yang mantap. Itu adalah satu perbezaan ketara bila dibandingkan dengan "perbincangan" awam ala jalan sehala yang menjadi ciri utama di Malaysia.

Pada satu ketika IRF menampilkan Mun’im Sirry dan Mohammad Asri Zainal Abdin, seorang ulama selebriti Youtube dan juga Mufti Perlis. Beliau lebih dikenali dengan akronimnya Dr. Maza, meniru sarjana hebat Za’aba. Dalam sesi itu, Dr. Maza terus keluar semasa perbincangan kerana beliau tidak bisa di soal dengan tajam atau pandangan agungnya dicabar.

Kedua SIS dan IRF di label dengan gelaran “Islam liberal” yang bersifat untuk menghina. Beginilah caranya. Apabila anda tidak dapat mengalahkan mereka dengan hujah, anda melabel mereka dengan istilah yang hodoh.

Sebaliknya di Indonesia istilah Islam liberal juga disifat rendah atau mengejek (sekurang-kurangnya di kalangan golongan elit pemerintah), tetapi jenama Islam tersebut sedang berkembang pesat di sana. Mereka mempunyai saluran televisyen sendiri (LiberTV) dan kumpulan pemimpin dan pendakwah yang berkelayakan tinggi. Lebih mengkagumkan lagi, mereka berjaya menarik perhatian generasi muda dalam jumlah yang cepat semakin meningkat.

Apabila salah seorang pemimpin awalnya, Harun Nasution, kembali dari kajiannya di McGill Universiti, Montreal, Kanada, pada tahun 1969, beliau sedar pandangan neo-Mutazilite modennya tidak akan mendapat sambutan baik daripada golongan elit dan masyarakat umum. Beliau mengelakkan konfrontasi secara langsung dengan menubuhkan institusi beliau sendiri, yakni Institute Agama Islam Negri (IAIN) menjadikannya disangka sebagai satu perbadanan awam. Ramai sarjana terkemuka kemudian seperti Nurcholish Madjid adalah keluaran IAIN.

Walaupun terdapat usaha seperti yang dilakukan oleh IRF dan SIS serta IAIN di Indonesia, kepercayaan yang dominan di kalangan Muslim Nusantara ialah akal (rasional atau intelek) tiada tempatnya dalam agama kita, malah dianggap sebagai anti-Islam. Seperti minyak dan air, mereka percaya akal dan agama harus kekal terpisah, berbeza, dan tidak boleh dicampurkan sama sekali.

Tidak hairanlah bahawa Islam di kalangan orang Melayu hari ini kurang untuk memberi panduan menuju ke jalan yang lurus, tetapi lebih kepada satu alat untuk mengkorah masyarakat Melayu ke dalam kehidupan yang terkurung dan tertutup seperti kaum Badawi Arab semasa zaman Nabi.

Seterusnya: Pendidikan Agama Di Malaysia

 

Less Ulama, More Mindless Regurgitators

 Less Ulama, More Mindless Regurgitators

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt #31 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

Dec 7, 2025

 

Despite the overwhelming presence of regressive Islam in Malaysia, there are a few brave souls and entities ready to challenge the prevailing socio-religious order. One non-governmental organization is Sisters In Islam (SIS) led by Zainah Anwar. It is concerned with women’s issues and firm in their beliefs that the faith is a force for emancipating women. 

 

         In the current orthodox interpretation of Islam in Malaysia (as elsewhere), SIS has its work cut out. It is less concerned with arcane interpretations of the scripture, more with saving battered women, abandoned wives, and rescuing young girls forced into marriages with old men. May Allah reward those ladies in SIS for their good work, and may they continue doing it.

 

         The other is Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF). This organization is instrumental in bringing such speakers as Tariq Ramadan (Oxford Islamic scholar), Mu’nim Sirry (Scriptural Polemics: The Qur’an And Other Religions), and the Turkish journalist Mustafa Akyol (Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty) to Malaysia. Akyol was detained after giving a lecture. Only an intervention at the highest diplomatic level was his release secured. Akyol later related his adverse personal experiences in Malaysia to audiences worldwide, including at such places as Harvard. 

 

         IRF’s many excellent public forums are conducted in hotel conference rooms as no mosque committee or university academic department would welcome them on their premises. IRF’s forums are a refreshing departure from the usual religious discourses in that the speakers are in casual attires rather than embellished robes and thick turbans. Of even greater significance, the organizers devote enough time for robust question-and-discussion sessions, a marked contrast to the usual one-way street that is the hallmark of public “discussions” in Malaysia.

 

         One IRF forum featured Mun’im Sirry and Mohammad Asri Zainal Abdin, a Youtube celebrity ulama and Mufti of Perlis. He is more known by his acronym Dr. Maza, aping the great scholar Za’aba. At that session, Maza walked out of the discussions as he was not used to being asked penetrating questions, or his pontifications challenged.

 

         Both SIS and IRF are tarred with the derogative “Islam liberal” label. When you cannot beat them, you tag them with silly terms. In Indonesia, the term liberal Islam is also derogative (at least among the establishment) but that brand of Islam is flourishing there. It has its own television channel (LiberTV) and a stable of highly qualified leaders and preachers. Of even greater significance they are reaching the younger set in ever-increasing numbers.

 

         When one of its earlier leaders, Harun Nasution, returned from McGill in 1969, he knew that his modern neo-Mutazilite views would not get a favorable reception from the establishment and the masses. He sidestepped that and avoided direct confrontation by setting up his own institution, Institute Agama Islam Negri (IAIN). In English that would translate as State Institute of Islam, making it sound as if it was a public institution. Later eminent scholars like Nurcholish Madjid were products of IAIN. 

 

         These efforts by IRF and SIS in Malaysia as well as IAIN in Indonesia notwithstanding, the prevailing belief among Nusantara Muslims is that akal (reason or intellect) has no place in Islam if not outright anti-Islamic. Like oil and water, they should remain separate and distinct, never

to be mixed. 

 

         No surprise that Islam among Malays today is less a guide to and along the straight path, more an instrument to lead Malays into the cloistered life of an Arab Bedouin of the Prophet’s era. 

 

Next:  Religious Education In Malaysia

 

Defenders Of Reason In Islam

  

Defenders of Reason in Islam

M. Bakri Musa

Nov 23, 2025

 

Excerpt #31 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

 

If taqlid (blind, strict obedience) is not onerous enough of a burden upon the ummah, then there is another far bigger issue–the unfortunate assumption that reason, and with that critical thinking, has no place in Islam. Just follow the dictates of our ulama! God has given us all the answers in the Qur’an. No additional editorial commentaries needed. Suspend one’s critical faculties in matters of faith. This misguided notion is adhered to not just by simple villagers but also many exalted contemporary Malay Muslim scholars.

 

         We forget or refuse to acknowledge that the defenders of reason have a long and rich history in Islam. Those rationalists took to heart the Qur’anic command, as with the ending of Surah 2:44: “Will you not think?” Meaning, blind faith is no faith. It is unfortunate that the fate of those who dare question is a very different story.

 

         Among the earliest rationalists were the Mutazilites, a movement that began within a few decades of the prophet’s death. The story attributed to and used by those earlier rationalists to demonstrate their point was simple and clear.

 

         A young boy died. As he was free of sin, he was admitted directly to Heaven. Being the ever-innocent and inquisitive, he wondered about the alternative–Hell. So the angels took him there for a preview. He saw men and women being punished through blazing fires because of their earlier presumed earthly misdeeds. Seeing the young boy’s horrified reaction, the angel assured him that he was spared those gruesome punishments as he was taken by Allah early before he (the boy) had the chance to commit any sin. 

 

         On hearing that, one of the condemned below cried out, “Oh Allah! You knew I would commit those evil deeds. Why didn’t you take me in earlier and thus spare me this damnation, as you did with that boy?”

 

         Valid question! The brightest Muslim minds have yet to come to grips with that elemental query, predestination, or what has been presumably deeded to us in our Book of Life, versus free will, acts of our own volition.

 

         There are other significant doctrinal issues mainstream Muslims have with the Mutazilites, the original as well as the many neo varieties. Nonetheless their (Mutazilites) commitment to and abiding belief in the power and supremacy of reason over blind belief would remain a vibrant force in Islam to this day.

 

         The Malay world is today blessed with a few neo-Mutazilites, as they are called. Among them Harun Nasution (1919-98), Nurcholish Madjid (1939-2005), together with Ulil Abshar Abdulla, Mun’im Sirry, and Imam Shamsul Ali; all Indonesians. Beyond their respect for akal (rational thinking) is their shared belief in and commitment to interfaith harmony. While they all had their

early learning in the traditional way, through pondoks or pesantran (village schools) and then in traditional Muslim institutions in countries like Pakistan and Egypt, their defining graduate works were undertaken in the West at such stellar institutions as McGill (Nasution), Chicago (Madjid and

Mun’im Sirry), and Harvard (Abdalla). Malaysia is noted by the glaring absence of such scholars.

 

         Like Indonesia, Malaysia too has her share of scholars trained at elite Western universities. However, because of the nexus of government and Islam in the country, and with their being on the public payroll, those Western-educated Malaysian Muslim scholars, unlike their counterparts in Indonesia, have not led to their championing independent critical thinking among Malays. Instead, they have been seduced and reduced to be the handmaidens of the state.

 

         Consider one Afifi Al Akiti (b.1976), the current darling of Malays being that he was the first Malay to be made a Fellow at one of Oxford’s colleges. He too attended pondok school in his early years but later switched to the secular stream. He pursued his undergraduate degree at Queen’s University Belfast and doctoral at Oxford. Adulated by Malays, he is highly decorated with various state honors. 

 

         Being at Oxford and thus protected from the Malaysian ulama-ruler-state complex, he should

be free and fearless in expressing his views.  Alas he is a major disappointment. At a 2012 public forum entitled “Future Global Challenges Facing Islam” organized by the Kelantan Islamic Council, he was asked whether the level of corruption and mismanagement seen among Malay leaders was “Islamic.” He deftly deflected the question, using the excuse that he had been away from the country for the past twenty years. A “cop out,” plain and simple.

 

         The man is capable of expressing his views–strong and eloquent. His earlier condemnation of Islamist terrorists responsible for 9-11, and the later London bombings received widespread praise (Defending the Transgressed By Censuring the Reckless Against The Killing of Civilians). Alas, back in his native Malaysia, he is but a mouse. Akiti is no Tariq Ramadan, his colleague at Oxford. In a visit to Malaysia, Ramadan was unequivocal in his condemnation of rampant corruption in Muslim countries, Malaysia included.

 

Next:  Less Ulama, More Blind Imitators 

 

MengIslamkan Ilmu: Hanya Fesyen Jika Tidak Satu Penipuan Besar

 MengIslamkan Ilmu: Hanya Fesyen Jika Tidak Satu Penipuan Besar

Petikan #30 daripada buku saya: Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat: Exercises In Critical Thinking 16 November 2025

Fesyen semasa ialah “MengIslamankan Ilmu.” Yang lebih merosakkan adalah anggapan angkuh bahawa ilmu agama itu kononnya lebih unggul berbanding rakan sejawatnya yang dipanggil secular. Itu adalah satu bida’ah dan pencemaran iman yang baharu muncul dikalangan terpelajar umat Islam semasa. Keangkuhan tunggal ini membawa kemudaratan besar kepada ummah serta membatutkan perkembangan intelektual Islam.

Seperti yang ditulis oleh Reza Nasr, “Projek PengIslaman ini... telah dibentuk lebih dalam semangat wacana politik dan bukan usaha akademik yang waras serta tulen. Ia lebih kerap dibarisi oleh ‘pemikir’ yang diangkat sendiri dan yang bukannya pakar tulen dalam bidang yang mereka ingin mencuba revolusikan.” 

Saya setuju dengan keraguan Reza Nasr tentang konsep Pengislaman Ilmu serta penyokong utamanya, tokoh terkemuka seperti Syed Naquib Al-Attas. Saya amat menghormati beliau sebagai seorang intelektual dan sosiolojis, tetapi apabila beliau tersasar jauh seperti dalam kajian sains tulen, itu satu perbuatan yang kurang bijak dan sukar untuk saya memahaminya. Si Syed ini memperolehi PhDnya dalam sosiologi dari Britain. Sebelum itu beliau bersekolah di Malaysia. Maknanya, pemahaman beliau tentang sains tulen dan asas adalah di peringkat rendah sahaja (yakni Tingkatan V atau Tahun Persekolahn 11) tidak seperti calon kedoktoran di Amerika yang mana mereka perlu mengambil kursus peringkat kolej dalam sains dan matematik.

Kembali kepada pengislamkan ilmu, para sarjana terdahulu sezaman dengan Nabi, mereka tidak sekali segan mengritik antara mereka dan satu sama lain bahkan terhadap Baginda sendiri. Sumbangan para sarjana purba ini begitu tebal dan menakjubkan sehinggakan umat Islam terkemudian memutuskan bahawa mustahil ada apa yang baru boleh ditambah. Apa yang perlu dilakukan oleh setiap insan selapas itu hanyalah mematuhi diktat dan kebijaksanaan para cendekiawan kuno itu.

Dengan itu bermulalah apa yang disifatkan sebagai “Penutupan Pintu Ijtihad” (atau wacana rasional). Dengan itu tumpuan beralih kepada kepatuhan buta atau sejauh mana kita dapat mencontohi pendahulu kita yang ulung dengan taat. Era taqlid atau kepatuhan ketat ini mengekalkan cengkaman eratnya ke atas ummah sehinggalah ke hari ini.

Faktor lain yang menyumbang kepada taqlid yang tidak terkawal ini berbeza serta bertentangan dengan tajdid atau pembaharuan yang lebih rancak sejak pada awal zaman Nabi s.a.w. Maknanya, setiap sarjana atau ulamak dengan tafsiran baru mereka akan memulakan pergerakan baharu mereka sendiri yang mengakibatkan perpecahbelah ummah dengan lebih lanjut lagi. Jika keadaan ini berterusan, umat Islam mungkin dibebani dengan perpisahan yang tidak berkesudahan. Itu akan melemahkan akidah.

Sebelum itu terdapat ramalan Nabi s.a.w. yang suram. Yakni bahawa pengikutnya akan berpecah kepada 73 mazhab, dan di antaranya hanya satu sahaja yang benar dan tulen, yang lain semuanya sesat dan menuju ke Neraka. Oleh itu, mereka sibuk membunuh sesama sendiri dan mencipta neraka untuk diri mereka dan orang lain di dunia fana ini supaya mereka dapat memasuki Syurga mengikut pandangan mereka.

Taqlid atau kepatuhan buta tidak memberi ruang untuk perbezaan, dan perbezaan adalah sifat semula jadi manusia. Apabila perbezaan itu berkembang, seperti yang tidak dapat dielakkan, ia membawa kepada perpisahan yang tidak dapat dipulihkan. Ibarat asas bangunan, jika terlalu tegar ia tidak akan menahan tekanan dan akan runtuh dengan gempa bumi kecil.

Perpecahan pertama dan tidak dapat dipulihkan di kalangan umat Islam berlaku sejurus selepas kewafatan Nabi. Yakni berhubung dengan siapa yang berhak mengganti Baginda. Ada antara mereka yang percaya pada kebijaksanaan kenabian bahawa “yang terbaik di antara kamu yang patut memimpin” berbanding mereka yang mahukan ahli keluarga Nabi mempunyai ilahi yang istimewa. Beliau (sekali lagi sentiasa waris yang lelaki sahaja) dipercayai menikmati atau berada di bawah lindungan keberkatan istimewa Nabi daripada Allah. Perbezaan ketara itu menimbulkan kaum Sunni yang percaya pada “yang terbaik di antara kamu” berbanding kaum syiah yang mengakui bahawa pengganti Nabi mestilah keturunan lelakinya.

Satu mazhab kecil kaum syiah, kaum Ismaili, mendakwa bahawa pemimpin mereka, Aga Khan, adalah seorang keturunan Nabi, s.a.w. Kaum Ismaili juga merupakan kumpulan Muslim yang paling ulung. Mereka mencerminkan teras dalaman akidah kita dengan terbaik dengan menekankan pendidikan, membebaskan wanita mereka, dan membina sekolah serta hospital. Mereka menekankan pemberian zakat, bukan berapa kali anda menunaikan solat Tahajjud atau mengerjakan Haji dan Umrah.

Kaum Ismaili tidak berminat untuk “mengIslamkan” apa-apa. Sebaliknya mereka sibuk menterjemahkan ajaran Rasulallah dan al-Qur’an ke dalam kehidupan mereka seharian. Pengajaran unggal itu terlepas pandang oleh kebanyakan umat Islam.

Seterusnya: Pembela Akal Dalam Islam

The Fad And Fraud of Islamization of Knowledge

 The Fad and Fraud of Islamization of Knowledge

 

Excerpt #30 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

Nov 16, 2025

 

The current fad of the “Islamization of Knowledge” is just that. More pernicious is the arrogant assumption that religious knowledge is superior to its so-called secular counterpart, a recent bida’ah (adulteration) of the faith. That singular conceit wreaks great harm on Muslims and Islamic intellectual development.

 

         As Reza Nasr writes, “The Islamization project has ... been shaped more in the spirit of a political discourse than a level-headed academic undertaking, and more often than not, has been championed by self-styled thinkers who are not specialists in the fields they seek to

revolutionize.”

 

         I share Reza Nasr’s reservation on the concept of Islamization as well as its main advocates, the likes of such luminaries as Syed Naquib Al-Attas. I have tremendous regards for him as an intellectual and sociologist, but when he strayed far away as with his ill-advised Islamization of the natural sciences, I find that hard to fathom. The Syed obtained his PhD in sociology from Britain and his school years were in Malaysia. As such his understanding of the natural sciences is elementary (Form V or Year 11), unlike doctoral candidates in America where they would have to take college-level courses in the sciences and mathematics.

 

         Revisiting open discourse, ancient scholars like the Prophet’s contemporaries were not at all constrained in their criticisms of each other or the man himself. So encyclopedic and breathtaking were the contributions of those ancient scholars that later Muslims decided that there could not possibly be anything new to add. All pious Muslims had to do was to obey the dictates and wisdom of those ancient luminaries.

 

         Thus began the so-called “Closure of the Gate of Ijtihad” (rational discourse), with the focus now shifting to blind obedience or how faithfully we could emulate our illustrious predecessors.

This era of taqlid or strict obedience maintains its tight grip on the ummah right up to this day.

 

         Other factors contributed to this extreme taqlid in contrast to the earlier vigorous tajdid. Every scholar would, with his novel interpretations, start his (always male) own new movement, further

splintering the ummah. If this were to continue, then the ummah would be burdened with endless schisms, weakening the faith. 

 

         Earlier there was the dire prediction of the Prophet that his followers would be split into

73 sects, and that only one would be on the true path, the others misguided and headed for Hellfire. Thus they were busy killing each other and creating hell for themselves and others right here on temporal earth so they could enter Heaven, as they saw it. 

         

         Taqlid (blind obedience) leaves little room for differences, and differences are inherent with human nature. When those develop, as inevitably they would, they lead to an irreversible split. Like a building foundation, make it too rigid and it would not withstand stresses and collapse with the first minor earthquake.

 

         The first and irreversible split of the faithful occurred soon after the Prophet’s death over his successor between those who believed in the prophetic wisdom that “the best among you shall lead” versus those who would have a member of the Prophet’s family having a special divine dispensation. He (again always a male heir) was believed to enjoy or be in the penumbra of the Prophet’s special

blessings from Allah. That signal difference gave rise to the Sunnis who believed in “the best among you” versus the Shiites who believe that the successor should be the Prophet’s male descendent. 

 

         The minority subsect of Shiism, the Ismailis, claim their leader, the Aga Khan, is a direct descendant of the Prophet, s.a.w. The Ismailis are also the most illustrious group of Muslims. They best reflect the inner core of our faith by emphasizing and thus excelling in education, emancipating their women, and building schools as well as hospitals. They stress the giving of zakat, not how many times you perform Tahajjud prayers or undertake the Hajj and Umrah. 

 

         The Ismailis are not interested in “Islamizing” anything. Instead they are busy translating the message of the Prophet and the Qur’an into their daily lives. That singular lesson is missed by most Muslims.

 

Next:  Defenders Of Reason In Islam

Hari Kiamat Sebagai Knospe

 Hari Kiamat Sebagai Konsep

Petikan #30 daripada buku saya: Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat: Exercises In Critical Thinking. 9 Nov 2025

Umat Islam hari ini mendambakan reformis kita sendiri dan mengidami seorang seperti John Calvin dan Martin Luther kepada kaum Kristian kuno. Itu tidak akan berlaku sehingga kita mula berfikir secara kritikal. Permulaan yang utama ialah menghapuskan berbedzaan yang tidak perlu di antara duniawi dan Akhirat. Lebih bermafaat jika kita fahami Akhirat dan Hari Kiamat sebagai konsep atau metafora. Yakni, jika kita hidup secara ‘berdosa,’ yakinlah bahawa Hari Kiamat serta neraka kita akan tiba dengan cepat masa, seperti dipenjarakan. 

Lihatlah nasib si Najib Razak sekarang. Dia bukan sahaja mengalami nerakanya sendiri bahkan beban itu juga ditanggung oleh keluarganya. Sebaliknya jika kita rajin dan belajar bersungguhan, Syurga kita mungkin datang lebih awal lagi, seperti pada hujong tahun apabila dengan keputusan peperiksaan anda yang cemerlang anda dihadiahkan dengan biasiswa ke luar negeri. 

Jika perniagaan anda memberi perkhidmatan yang cemerlang kepada pelanggan, Hari Kiamat anda akan tiba dalam tempuh yang tidak lama, seperti keuntungan yang lumayan dan perusahan anda berkembang maju. Jika anda tidak rajin dan suka menipu pelanggan, Hari Kiamat dan Neraka anda juga akan tiba lebih cepat lagi, seperti disaman kerana kecuaian dan kerugian dalam perusahan anda.

Sama ada tafsiran saya tentang Islam a la John Calvin benar atau tidak, Allah hu Allam. Walau bagaimanapun tidak dapat dinafikan manfaat yang diperolehi oleh orang Kristian zaman pertengahan dengan mereka menerima ajaran Calvin. Mengikut Max Weber, Calvin melahirkan etika kerja Protestan yang terkenal itu, dan dengannya kebangkitan sistem kapitalisme. Dengan itu majulah masyarakat Kristian.

Dunia Islam juga tidak ketandusan para reformisnya a la John Calvin, malah mereka timbul jauh lebih awal lagi. Ibn ‘Ata Allah Al-Iskandari dalam Kitab al-Hikam Ibnu Athaillah menulis: “Jika anda ingin mengetahui kedudukan anda di sisi-Nya, lihatlah keadaan yang Dia letakkan anda sekarang.” (Hikam No: 73.) Itulah hikmah yang Calvin fahami dengan mendalam. Hikmah Ibn ‘Ata Allah satu lagi, “Harapan seiring dengan amalan; jika tidak, ia hanyalah angan-angan.” (No: 78). Maksudnya, du’a (doa) sahaja hanyalah angan-angan.

Ibn ‘Ata Allah Al-Iskandari dilahirkan lebih 250 tahun sebelum Calvin. Namun apabila kita mengkaji kitab Islam purba, kita berpuas hati dengan hanya mengulang perkataan hikmah mereka tetapi kurang merenung dan jauh lebih penerapannya kepada cabaran semasa. Itu memerlukan otak yang boleh dan ingin berfikir dengan mendalam. Pengulangan merepat tanpa berhabisan atau pun menghafizkan sahaja tidak akan mencukupi.

Renungkan tiada satu pun universiti tempatan mempunyai Jabatan Falsafah. Kita sendiri pun tidak mengenali tokoh yang lampau. Ahmad Tajuddin Rasdi, seorang Profesor Senibina di sebuah universiti swasta negara, terkilan atas keadaan yang menyedihkan ini. Graduan Malaysia semuanya menuju ke arah apa yang beliau sifatkan sebagai “kejahilan terdidik.”

Kita patut berasa malu dengan keadaan itu. Khazanah karya intelektual Islam kaya dan boleh menyemarakkan api rasa ingin tahu dan pemikiran kritikal dalam kalangan orang yang beriman, dan mengekalkannya menyala untuk masa yang lama. Kajian ringkas sejarah Islam mendedahkan bahawa pada beberapa abad pertamanya, tempoh yang dirujuk sebagai Zaman Keemasan Islam, agama kita dicirikan oleh satu tema yang berulang, yakni menyoal dan menyopal semula mereka yang berkuasa dan berilmu.

Malah Nabi Muhammad, s.a.w., sendiri juga tidak dikecualikan. Beliau ditanya sering kali untuk membuktikan kenabiannya dan menegaskan bahawa wahyu yang diterimanya bukanlah sekadar puisi atau cakap endah. Baginda tidak mencuba melebehi Nabi Musa, s.a.w., dengan menyertai peraduan “tongkat menjadi ular,” atau Nabi Isa, s.a.w., dalam keupayaan berjalan di atas air.

Banyak kesan yang kurang baik akibat perdebatan hebat yang berlaku pada awal kurun Islam. Ramai yang membawa maut. Satu lagi kejadian yang mencerminkan kejadian yang amat disedehi. Yakni hanya seorang sahaja Rashiddun, Abu Bakar, yang meninggal dunia dalam secara aman. Yang ketiga lain semuanya dalam keadaan yang mencurigakan jika tidak dibunuh dengan secara terang.

Para penganut Islam awal berusaha untuk menjadikan ajaran Nabi bimbingan untuk cara hidup mereka seharian. Apabila Islam berkembang merentasi benua, bahasa, dan budaya serta sistem politik, orang yang beriman terpaksa bergelut bukan sahaja dengan apa yang telah dikhutbahkan oleh Nabi tetapi juga memisahkan keuniversalan iman yang agung ini daripada kekhususan budaya Badawi padang pasirnya.

Oleh itu penekanan patut beralih kepada tajdid–usaha yang berterusan untuk pembaharuan iman, atau lebih tepat lagi, untuk mencari pemahaman segar untuk membimbing umat Islam dengan lebih baik dan sempurna dalam kehidupan seharian mereka, sama ada si pengembara di padang pasir Arab yang gersang atau penduduk tetap di pulau tropika yang bercuaca lembap di Asia Tenggara. 

Hadis mengatakan bahawa pada setiap abad Allah akan menghantar pemimpin baru untuk membersihkan dan menyucikan iman kita daripada semua penambahan yang telah terkumpul.

Umat Islam awal amat segar dan subur dalam ulasan mereka dan perkembangan fikiran intelektual mereka. Al Kindi dari Abad ke-9, dianggap sebagai ahli falsafah Muslim yang pertama dan ulong, banyak menulis risalah. Beliau dan yang lain bermula dengan menterjemahkan karya ahli falsafah Yunani dan kemudian membuat sumbangan ulong mereka sendiri.

Cerdik pandai kemudian seperti Ibn Rashid dan Ibn Sini membuat sumbangan penting mereka bukan sahaja dalam pengetahuan teologi Islam tetapi lebih lagi dalam bidang sains, sama ada fizikal mahupun biologi. Ulama purba tidak membezakan antara pengetahuan agama dan secular, atau akhirat dan duniawan. Bagi mereka, semua pengetahuan akhirnya datang daripada Allah melalui usaha manusia. Samada Dia memilih untuk menyampaikan konsep sifar kepada seorang Hindu, fahaman tentang graviti kepada seorang Kristian, atau rahsia virus polio kepada seorang Yahudi bukanlah untuk kita mempersoalkan tetapi untuk menerima dan mendapat manfaat daripada penemuan tersebut. 

Renungkan bahawa umat Islam kuno tidak teragak untuk belajar daripada orang Yunani, yakni mereka yang ateis (yakni tidak percaya langsung kepada Tuhan) dan mereka yang mempercayai berbagai tuhan (politeistik). Sebaliknya kita umat Islam hari ini menolak pencapaian dari Barat mensifatkan itu sebagai bayangan sehaja yang berhasil daripada minda yang tidak mengakui ketuhanan.

Seterusnya: Pembaziran Usaha Mengislamkan Ilmu

The Day of Judgement As A Concept

 The Day of Judgment As A Concept

 

Excerpt #30 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

Nov 9, 2025

 

Muslims today yearn for our own reformers, our John Calvins and Martin Luthers. It will not happen until we begin to think critically. A good start would be to eliminate this uncalled for dichotomy between the temporal and Hereafter. It would be more helpful to accept the Hereafter and The Day of Judgement as concepts or metaphorically. Thus, if we were to lead a “bad” (sinful) life, our Day of Judgement would come soon enough; likewise, our Hell, as being jailed. Study hard and be diligent and your Day of Judgement could come as early as year’s end with your spectacular examination results and being rewarded with a prestigious scholarship.

 

         If you are in business and give good service to your clients and customers, your Day of Judgment would come soon enough – your lucrative practice or thriving business. If you are not diligent and cheat on your customers, your Day of Judgement and Hell too would come

sooner than you expected, as your being sued for negligence.

 

         Whether my interpretation of Islam a la John Calvin is true or not, Allah hu Allam (only Allah knows). There is no denying however, of the benefits to medieval Christians from their adopting Calvin’s views. As per Max Weber, Calvin gave rise to the famed protestant work ethics and the rise of capitalism.

 

         The Muslim world too was not without its own reformers a la Calvin, and much earlier too. Ibn ‘Ata Allah Al-Iskandari in his Al-Hikam–Sufi Aphorisms (The Book Of Wisdoms) wrote:  “If you want to know your standing with Him, look at the state He has put you in now.” (Aphorism No: 73.) That is Calvin’s wisdom put succinctly. Another, “Hope goes hand in hand with deeds; otherwise it is just wishful thinking.” (No:78). Meaning, du’a (supplications) alone is but wishful thinking. 

 

         Ibn ‘Ata Allah Al-Iskandari was born 250 years before Calvin. Yet when we study ancient Islam, we are content with merely reciting their words of wisdom but little pondering and much less application to contemporary challenges. That would require considerable thought. Mere regurgitation, even if endless, would not do it. 

 

         It is significant–and no surprise–that not a single Malaysian university has a dedicated Department of Philosophy. We do not even know our own past luminaries. Ahmad Tajuddin Rasdi, Professor of Architecture at a private Malaysian university, lamented the sorry state of Malaysian graduates, all on the path towards what he termed “educated ignorance.”

 

         That is a great shame. Islam offers such a rich treasure of intellectual works that could ignite the fire of curiosity and critical thinking among the faithful, and keep it burning for a long time. Even the most cursory review of the history of Islam would reveal that in its first few centuries, the period rightly referred to as the Golden Age of Islam, the faith was characterized by one recurring theme–vigorous questioning and re-questioning of authorities.

 

         Even the Prophet was not spared. He was asked, and often, to prove his prophethood and that the revelations he received were not “mere poetry.” Bless him! He did not try to “outdo” Moses by entering into a “stick to snake” contest, or Jesus in being able to walk on water.

 

         There was a price to pay for those earlier vigorous debates; for many, deadly. It is not coincidental and a tragic commentary that only one of the Prophet’s immediate successors, Abu Bakar, died of natural causes; the other three all in suspicious circumstances if not by outright

assassination.

 

         Those early believers strived to make the Prophet’s teachings relevant to their everyday lives. As Islam spread across cultures, geography, language, and polity, the faithful had to grapple not only with what the Prophet had preached but also separating the universalities of this great faith versus its desert Bedouin specifics.

 

         Thus, the emphasis on tajdid–the constant search for and continuous efforts at renewal of the faith, or more correctly to seek a fresh understanding to guide us better in our everyday lives, whether we are wanderers in the arid Arabian desert or the settled dwellers of the humid

tropical isles of Southeast Asia. The hadith, every century Allah would send a new leader to purify and cleanse our faith of all the accumulated accretions, acknowledges this reality. 

 

         Early Muslims were prolific in their commentaries and the efflorescence of their intellectual activities. The 9thCentury Al Kindi, regarded as the first Muslim philosopher, wrote voluminous treatises. He and others began by translating the works of Greek philosophers and then went on to make their own seminal contributions.

 

         Later scholars like Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sini made significant contributions not only in Islamic theological knowledge but more so in the natural sciences, both physical and biological. Those ancient scholars made no differentiation between religious and secular knowledge. To

them, all knowledge ultimately came from Allah through human efforts. That He chose to impart the concept of zero to a Hindu, the insights on gravity to an Englishman, or the secrets of the polio virus to a Jew is not for us to question but to accept and benefit from those discoveries. Consider that those early Muslims did not hesitate to learn from the godless and polytheistic Greeks. By contrast we Muslims today dismiss the significant achievements of the West as but illusory and the products of Godless minds.

 

Next:  The Fad of Islamization of Knowledge