QHH Excerpt #2: Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

 :  Excerpt #2:  Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

Qur’an, Hadith, And Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking

M. Bakri Musa

 

Excerpt # 2:  Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

 

The central injunction of the Qur’an is “Command good and forbid evil.” This is strengthened by the sunnah, the utterances attributed to the Prophet (hadith) as well as by his exemplary conduct. Interpretations of both Qur’an and sunnah must therefore conform to this central command. If our readings of the Holy Text or sunnah were to lead us otherwise, then we must re-examine our premise.

 

         One particular term I examine here is ribaa. Our current interpretation of that term results in more harm than good. It discourages Muslims from putting aside savings and thus contributing as well as participating in the modern economy. It is time to re-scrutinize the meaning as well as intent of ribaa.

 

         Reciting the Qur’an and recalling hadith are not the challenge; living their message is. That would necessitate some degree of comprehension, and that in turn requires a critical mind. Muslims believe that the Qur’an is Allah’s words and thus perfect. However, its interpretations, being the works of humans, are not. They are burdened with all the imperfections inherent with such endeavors. Only Allah is perfect.

 

         Man-made laws, unlike Allah’s which are perfect and immutable, of necessity require amendments from time to time. The US Constitution for example, has been amended 27 times since its inception.

 

         Pramudya Azhar Oktavinanda in his University of Chicago JSD dissertation, “Interpreting Immutable Legal Texts: The Posnerian Pragmatism of Islamic Law,” asserts that at the operational level there is little to no difference between the two. While Allah’s dictates cannot be altered, their interpretations can and do change with time, culture, and circumstance.

 

         While amending secular laws are governed by prescribed rules and procedures that have been agreed upon ahead of time, with God’s laws however, we need our critical thinking faculties both at the individual as well as societal levels to interpret them to meet our current needs and challenges. Absent critical thinking we would be trapped by the interpreters of yore.

 

         While we acknowledge their vast contributions and tap their wisdom, we should also be aware that theirs was of a different era, norms, culture, and language; likewise, the challenges they faced. Instead, we should deduce from the particularities of their reading and try to derive the underlying universal principles, and then apply those to our current tribulations. This was the method used and advocated by the late Fazlur Rahman as manifested in his various treatises.

 

         We should not be led astray by the specifics. Such a challenging task would entail much critical thinking. Endlessly reciting the texts or views of past luminaries is no substitute; likewise when reading our hikayat and folklores.

 

         Writing on critical thinking in English for a Malay audience may seem, as per the wistful Malay saying, teaching a fish how to swim. All you have to do there is provide the water. Or so it may seem.

 

         Malays educated in English or have been exposed to Western liberal education should be familiar if not facile with critical thinking. Alas that is not so. Pursuing my earlier fish metaphor, Western-educated Malays may have been taught to think critically, but back in their familiar home waters, most are content flowing with the stream and swimming with the rest of the school.

 

         That stream is now full of fish bred and pampered in protected hatcheries, with all their needs provided. Even the currents they swim in are artificially created and their directions controlled, unlike in the real world where those and other elements are unpredictable and often treacherous, far from the comfortable artificiality of the hatchery.

 

         So comfortable and for so long have Malays been pampered in the hatchery that we assume it as the natural order. We have been lulled by that sense of false security and have failed to realize that we have been controlled and manipulated all along. We have been led to believe that since those in control are of our own kind, they would have the same benign benevolent intentions, or at least share our values and goals. We have been lured and trapped by our tribalism instinct, the very danger our Qur’an and Holy Prophet had warned us against.

 

         Hatchery operators are by nature obsessive control freaks. They have to. A slight error and they would wake up in the morning to see all their fish belly up, and they are stuck with the stench.

 

         Shifting to terrestrial imagery, ponder the kind shepherd leading his contented flock from one lush meadow to another, as per many religious texts; to wit, the Biblical “The Lord Is My Shepherd,” and J S Bach’s cantata, “Sheep May Safely Graze.”

 

         Malays too have our comparable comfortable wisdom, as with Raja dan rakyat berpisah tiada! (King and citizens separate not!) Those pristine pastoral temperate imageries of Bach contrast to the raw realism of the tropical jungle as so aptly captured by the African proverb:  The sheep will spend its entire life fearing the wolf only to be butchered by their shepherd. Malay leaders are closer to the African shepherd model than the biblical one.

 

         To revert to the hatchery metaphor, Malays are now but pampered minnows to be released into the recreational fishing waters for the enjoyment of their leaders and other sports fishermen.

 

         A major contributing factor to this sorry state of Malays vis a vis non-Malays in Malaysia is our schools. The vast majority of Malay children attend national or religious schools. The focus and rewards there are on memorization, regurgitation, and following the existing order–the very antithesis of critical thinking. In short, indoctrination masquerading as education.

 

         As for the few smart ones (test-wise) who would later attend universities in the West, old habits die hard. When they return home, they would be back accommodating with ease to the controlled flow and artificial current. Soon, either out of habit or having been re-acculturated to the existing value system, they too would go happily with the flow without realizing that the stream had since been directed towards the fish trap. By the time they realize that, it would be too late.

 

         For many Malays it is their belief that God had created the hatchery and its current. Who are we mere mortals to challenge that or swim against it? The idea that those currents are created and manipulated by our own kind, with the best of intentions or otherwise would never enter our mind because of our lack of critical thinking.

 

         I hope this book would help disabuse my fellow Malays and others out of their comfort zone.

 

Next:  Excerpt #3:  The Outline