OutSyed The Box

Part 2 : Muslim Irrelevance & Extra Quranic Beliefs

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 10:56 PM PDT

I was actually intending to write this yesterday but it was overtaken by that Bernard Lewis article that was sent to me by our reader Ben Hassan. Thanks Ben Hassan.

Let me make a statement : in today's world, the Muslims are largely not relevant to the continued functioning and prosperity of the human race. We certainly dont like to hear this but it is true.

This is a sad decline from the heights of Muslim achievements of say about 700 to a thousand years ago when Muslims were still relevant. The Muslims of the present age have just lost it.

If tomorrow an alien space ship were to appear and suck up all the Muslims and disappear into the sky, there would not be much of a negative impact on the lives of other human beings on earth.

Muslims dont make Toyotas or Peugeot or Volkswagen so no one will be deprived of cars. We dont sing anything that is on the popular charts in the world (singing and music is possibly haram for some) so no one would miss any music.

We do not grow, harvest and process any food that the world cannot already provide for itself - so no one will starve either.

Muslims do not make any movies that may upstage Hollywood so no one will miss their favorite movies. Muslims dont make any brand name clothes or even the underwear that they wear - so the rest of the world will still be clothed quite comfortably.

The few Muslim countries (including Malaysia) that do appear on the world scene run on natural resources like oil and gas. They run on oil money. If you take away the oil and gas they will disappear just as quickly.

And even the oil and gas has to be extracted by the non Muslims. New oil deposits have been discovered off Pahang. But an American oil company discovered the oil and is drilling it. They keep 75% and give Petronas 25%. This is a petroleum sharing contract and it is good. But still it is "buta money" - we did not drill for the oil ourselves.

The only "Islamic" country that can take care of its own is Turkey - but the fact is for about 90 years now Turkey has been a strictly secular nation. In many ways Kamal Ataturk has contributed a lot for Turkey. Even with Erdogan I dont think Turkey can be identified as an Islamic country (but that is perhaps changing).

My view is that the Muslims can only return to greatness if they follow the Quran closely and uphold Quranic values which are really universal values.

I gave an example yesterday of Surah 39:18 in the Quran which says in effect that we should "listen to all views and then follow the best thereof". This means we should allow freedom of speech and not penalise or persecute people who may have a different view from us - especially "religious views".

The West used to torture and persecute people who had different opinions from the Church, from the Kings and in recent times from the Communist governments that ruled some of the Western countries. This made them backward and poor.

Through much pain and agony the West learnt to ignore the Church, chopped off the heads of their Kings and overthrew its feudal systems. They learnt to place their future on freedoms - the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to pursue wealth and many other freedoms. They have been unstoppable since - for about 700 years now.

This is what the Muslim countries do not have in large enough amounts - especially when it comes to religion. And in some really backward countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Arab countries it is not the government or the king who will persecute you. People of the same village and the same town may kill their neighbours if they disagreed with their religious views.

In Pakistan, Sunnis and Shiahs kill each other sometimes on sight. Sunnis and Ahmadiyas also kill each other. In Tunisia local people slaughtered a neighbour who had embraced christianity. So in Muslim countries they dont need cruel governments, wicked kings or tyrant rulers to torture them over differences in "religion". Their neighbours will do the job. Here read for yourself :

1. Suami isteri bunuh anak guna asid di Pakistan : MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan 2 Nov. - Sepasang suami isteri didakwa membunuh anak gadis mereka dengan mencurah asid ke atasnya selepas melihat remaja itu berbual dengan seorang pemuda, di sini semalam.

2. LAHORE 2 Nov. - "Polis telah menahan Asim Farooqi selepas dia didakwa menyediakan kertas ujian bahasa Inggeris yang mengandungi bahan menghina Nabi.

Semalam, kira-kira 250 tunjuk perasaan membakar perabot dan peralatan di Sekolah Tinggi Perempuan Farooqi.

All this is of course based on extra-Quranic beliefs. The Quran never teaches anyone to kill or attack anyone else for their beliefs. The Quran is very clear - there is no compulsion in the deen ('laa iqraaha fi-ddeen' refer Surah 2:256). There is no punishment prescribed in the Quran for apostasy either. Allah does not guide or forgive the rejectors (refer Surah 4:137). That is all.

So if the Muslims stick to the Quran closely, they will suffer less of these "religious tensions" among themselves. But that is if they stick closely to the Quran. When they follow extra-Quranic ideas then the disputes begin.

The subject today is irrelevance. Freedom of speech, freedom of faith and many other freedoms are very relevant to the modern non-Islamic countries in the world. Their very existence and prosperity depends on preserving their freedoms. But in this arena too the Muslims will appear quite irrelevant to them. Here are some examples.

The Muslims make themselves irrelevant to the world around them - such that the world does not benefit from their presence.

Now folks, especially the Muslim readers, you can argue the merits of this statement. You can say

i. so what Syed?
ii. the rest of the world are kafir anyway
iii. the rest of the world are going to hell
iv.eventually the Muslims will succeed in the hereafter etc.

Yes my Muslim friends, you can say all this. But it does not change the fact that in today's world, the non-Muslims do not find the Muslims as being relevant to their lives. (This was not the case 700 or 1000 years ago). If an alien spaceship came out of the sky tonite and sucked up all the Muslims, I dont think it will make a huge negative impact on human life on earth.

Here is another example. Muslims celebrate the Aidil Adha wherein they sacrifice animals for the meat. The meat is then shared charitably among the people. But non-Muslims are not given a share. The prevailing belief is that the sacrificial meat cannot be shared with non-Muslims.

First of all this is another extra-Quranic belief. The Quran does not say anywhere that you should not share the meat with non-Muslims. In fact the Quran admonishes anyone who does not want to feed the poor :

Surah 69:34 "He did not advocate the feeding of the poor (miskeen)"

Miskeen means 'orang miskin' - referring to all poor people. A person who does not advocate the feeding of the poor is in deep trouble. The Quran does not say 'feed only the Muslim poor'. We have to feed all poor people - irrespective of whether they are Muslim or not. This is what the Quran teaches us - these are good universal values.

Now how does feeding only the Muslim poor make Muslims irrelevant - at least on Aidil Adha day? Well its simple isnt it - poor non-Muslims who are hungry will realise soon enough that the Muslims are not relevant to helping them overcome their hunger.

In Makkah during the Aidil Adha, hundreds of thousands of sheep and goats are slaughtered. Most of these animals used to go to waste. The Saudi Arabian government spent money to collect the thousands of slaughtered goats and sheep, process and freeze them and then send them off by ship to poor Muslim countries. But only to Muslim countries. Poor non-Muslim countries do not get any meat.

So again the Saudis (and the Muslims) become irrelevant to the poor non-Muslim countries. They cannot look forward to any help from the Muslims in terms of sharing sacrificial meat. The Muslims are not relevant to help them overcome their hunger.

The same argument goes for the zakat money (religious tithes) collected by Muslims. Muslims are required to contribute 2.5% of their income to the zakat charities. The zakat is used for charitable purposes like feeding the poor. Again the zakat money is not used for non-Muslims. It is reserved for Muslims only.

I cannot provide any references from the Quran about "zakat as charity" because there are none in the Quran.

In the Quran, the word zaka' literally means to purify. But there is no verse in the Quran which provides any details of zakat as a payment of money for charity. The 2.5% zakat payment rate is also not mentioned anywhere in the Quran.

The Quran does speak extensively and in detail about sadaqah (sedekah) and nafkah - both of which do relate to charity.

Again coming to the subject of irrelevance - the non-Muslim poor will again not look towards the Muslims to share their obligatory 'zakat' collections. The non-Muslims can have no share in the zakat charities. So when it comes to sharing sacrificial meat or sharing zakat charity, the Muslims are not relevant to the non-Muslims.

The Muslim retort may be (or it will be) : "Well actually it is the non-Muslims who are not relevant to the Muslims". Yes you can say this. But it only reinforces the point I am trying to make, it makes you more irrelevant to the non-Muslims (aka ALL other human beings on the surface of this earth).

But the fact is around the world today - the non-Muslims undertake much more and greater charitable works than the Muslims. And they do this to benefit everyone, Muslim, non-Muslim, the animals, the environment, the whales in the sea, even the mangrove swamps. The non-Muslims make themselves relevant to the entire world.

There is no need to mention the various international charitable organisations - there are thousands of them - nearly all of whom are non-Muslim. And many are religion based too, especially Christian based like the International Red Cross. In the 21st century non-Muslims like Bill Gates have put up billions of US Dollars for charitable purposes. We do not see as much charitable work coming out from rich Muslims. If there are, it is often reserved for the Muslims only.

Again it becomes a question of relevance. To the non-Muslims they do not see as much Muslim charitable works. By simple default the lack of Muslim charity makes the Muslims not relevant to non-Muslims. And since the non-Muslims represent the majority of people on earth, it means that Muslim charity is not as relevant to the rest of the world.

And why do the non-Muslims perform so much charity that is relevant to the whole world? Because they do not want something like this to be said about them :

Surah 69:34 "He did not advocate the feeding of the poor (miskeen)"

Here is another example. Many Muslims, especially the Arabs and the PAS, believe in the concept of Darul Harbi or 'the land of war'. This concept is also extra-Quranic meaning it is NOT found in the Quran. There is no such thing as Darul Harbi in the Quran. Those who believe in this concept say that all countries in the world that are ruled by non-Muslims are Darul Harbi or 'the lands of war'. So the US, UK, Singapore, China etc are all Darul Harbi. What does this mean? Put on your seat belts ok.

Some Salafi Arabs (who were pious) who lived in the UK said that they can treat the Western women in the UK (the Darul Harbi) like 'prisoners of war'. So they had no qualms about living with the Western women while they were studying in the UK. To their understanding 'cohabiting with prisoners of war' is permissible in a Darul Harbi like the UK.

When I was a student in the US, I have seen with my own eyes Egyptian Arabs - who also prayed five times a day - constantly putting their hands on the non-Arab girls. I think they believed in the same concept. They had no respect for the non-Arab girls (or for their own selves - it only confirmed my belief that they were still an uncivilised people).

This is just hypocrisy of the highest order. Such behaviour by the Arabs does not go unnoticed by the rest of the world. This is also why the non-Muslims look down upon them so much. And again they make themselves irrelevant in the real world. The world does not need this type of sick behaviour. If the Arabs gave up their strange belief in this concept of Darul Harbi, the world may become a better place for all human beings.

And the Arabs are ignorant of their own Quran. Here is a situation in a real war :

Surah 9:6 "If one of the pagans sought safe passage with you, you shall grant him safe passage, so that he can hear the word of Allah, then send him back to his place of security. That is because they are people who do not know."

In a time of war with the mushrikeen or pagans, if anyone of them seeks safe passage then give it to him. After that send him back to his place of safety. It does not say that you can declare a peaceful country like Britain as a Darul Harbi (ikut lu punya suka hati) and then do as you wish with their women. These are very strange extra-Quranic ideas.

Finally here is something from closer to home. A college lecturer teaching Islamic Studies teaches Muslim students that it is permissible for Islamic countries to invade non-Muslim countries. Then the Muslim country can maintain the peace and guarantee the security and protection of all the non-Muslims in the countries that have been invaded.

The non-Muslims must also pay a special tax called the jizya tax to the Muslims for this protection. If the non-Muslims refuse to pay the jizya then they can be punished. So the non-Muslims must say 'Thank you for invading my country. Here is some money for keeping the peace and for not harming me'.

Dear friends (especially the Muslim readers) there are a few things to be noted here. First of all this is another extra-Quranic belief. There is no such thing in the Quran.

Secondly this type of belief only makes the Muslims less relevant to the rest of the world around them. The non-Muslims are not going to come running out of their houses smiling and laughing and welcome the Muslim invaders with hugs and kisses. The non-Muslims will not happily say, "Yes please invade my country. Take care of us. We are not capable of taking care of ourselves. Yes we will pay you the special tax"

I really dont think so. The non-Muslims will probably say, 'Take one step into my country and I will bomb you back to the Stone Age'. And they will also do it.

Again, this type of belief only makes the Muslims more irrelevant in the eyes of the rest of the world.

The word jizya is mentioned in the Quran but it has nothing to do with non-Muslims paying never ending protection money to the Muslims. The word 'Jizya' comes from the root 'Jaza' which means a compensation or recompense.

Here is an example :

Surah 5:85 "Allah has rewarded them for saying this. He will admit them into gardens with flowing streams. They abide therein forever. Such is the recompense (jaza-u) for the righteous.

Jaza and Jizya refer to recompense, a compensation. Those Muslims who think that every non-Muslim country should be invaded and their citizens be forced to pay the special tax or jizya tax quote Surah 9:29 to back up what they say. Here is Surah 9:29

Surah 9:29 : "You shall fight back against those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His messenger have prohibited, nor do they abide by the religion of truth - among those who received the scripture - until they pay the compensation, willingly or unwillingly."

But this verse has a huge context before it. From the beginning of this chapter (Surah 9) it deals with hostilities, peace treaties, those who break peace treaties, the conduct of war, granting asylum and such.

Verses 9:1-4 talk about treaties and the obligations of treaty.
Verses 5-6 talk about hostilities and granting asylum to the pagans (mentioned earlier)
Verses 7 - 10 warn about treaties with people who are not sincere

Verses 11 - 16 talk about people who violate treaties and oaths
Verses 17 - 22 talk about the Masjidil Haram and striving for Allah
Verses 23 - 24 warns against your OWN FAMILY MEMBERS who stray
Verses 25 - 29 talks about hostilities again, Allah's help and striving

Paying compensation after the end of hostilities has been standard human practise since history. In the modern day it is called paying war reparations. Here is the Wikipedia :

"War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land."

Here is an example : "World War I. Main article: World War I reparations. Russia agreed to pay reparations to the Central Powers when Russia exited the war in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Germany agreed to pay reparations of 132 billion gold marks to the Triple Entente in the Treaty of Versailles. The last installment of these reparations was paid on 3 October 2010. Bulgaria paid reparations of 2.25 billion gold francs (90 million pounds) to the Entente, according to Treaty of Neuilly."

These payments of war reparations (compensation) tallies exactly with the meaning of jizya in Surah 9:29.

Nowhere does it say in the Quran that Muslims should simply invade the non-Muslim countries around them without any provocation and then start collecting a permanent tax on the non-Muslims as protection money.

Again extra-Quranic beliefs like these makes the Muslim of no relevance to his non-Muslim neighbour. The Muslim will become relevant to his non-Muslim neighbour if the Muslim can promise friendship, if he can do some honest trade or business or if he can help his neighbours. Then the rest of the non-Muslim world will see the Muslims as useful to have around.

But if you tell the non-Muslim that 'I can invade your country and collect a protection tax from you permanently' then you immediately become of no relevance to your non-Muslim neighbour. They will avoid you. Or they might just decide to bomb you.

To conclude the Muslims have become quite irrelevant to the rest of the world because they uphold extra-Quranic beliefs that do not benefit many people. The non-Muslims on the other hand seem to be better at upholding good universal values that are found inside the Quran. This makes the non-Muslims much more relevant than the Muslims. This is the situation in the world today.

Jawapan KPDNKK : Isu Penyeludupan Diesel di Johor

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 05:30 PM PDT

Following my Blogpost about the diesel smuggling in Johor, I have received the following comment from the Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan or KPDNKK. I must express my thanks and appreciation to the KPDNKK for their sending me their side of the story plus also the various facts and details that have been provided here. Terima kasih di ucapkan.

I hope that strong enforcement will continue and there will be more successes against diesel smuggling. Here is their comment in full:

Assalamualaikum,

Salam Sejahtera dan Salam 1Malaysia,

Tuan Syed,

Dengan segala hormatnya pihak kami merujuk kepada posting di laman blog tuan bertarikh 29 Oktober 2012 bertajuk "Ismail Sabri Wake Up : RM1.0M A Day Lost In Diesel Smuggling". Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih atas keperihatinan tuan dalam memastikan subsidi negara tidak diseleweng.

Kementerian ini sentiasa menjalankan operasi penguatkuasaannya secara bersepadu bersama-sama agensi-agensi lain. Sepanjang tahun 2012, Pejabat Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan Johor (PPDNKK Johor) telah menghasilkan 35 kes dengan 18 kes tangkapan oleh Agensi Penguatkuasa yang lain.

Jumlah kenderaan yang disita adalah 44 buah lori dan 2 buah kapal tangki. Jumlah minyak diesel yang dirampas pula adalah sebanyak 450,467 liter; dengan jumlah keseluruhan nilai rampasan bernilai RM 3.575 juta.

Tindakan bersepadu ini telah menghasilkan impak yang sangat positif. Aduan keputusan (shortage) bekalan minyak diesel di stesen minyak di Negeri Johor telah berkurangan dengan banyaknya.

KPDNKK dengan kerjasama pelbagai Agensi-Agensi Penguatkuasaan yang lain sentiasa meningkatkan kerjasama melalui pemantauan bagi membendung kegiatan penyelewengan ini dan tindakan tegas akan dikenakan terhadap mereka yang bertanggungjawab.

Sehubungan itu juga, Kementerian amat mengalu-alukan sebarang maklumat atau aduan dari pihak orang ramai dalam bersama-sama membanteras penyelewengan minyak diesel bersubsidi, dengan menghubungi talian berikut:

1) Hotline 1-800-886-800

2) SMS 36663

3) Pejabat Perdagangan Dalam Negeri Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan Johor.

07-2262017 / 2272811 @ faks 07-2235252 / 07-2272848

Pembanterasan penyelewengan minyak diesel tidak akan berjaya sepenuhnya tanpa maklumat dan kerjasama daripada orang ramai serta pengusaha stesen minyak. Sehubungan itu, kerjasama tuan serta orang ramai amat-amat diharapkan untuk memberikan maklumat kepada Kementerian berkaitan perkara ini.

Sekian, terima kasih.

Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri,

Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan.

1 November 2012

"KUASA PENGGUNA: 1 PENGGUNA 1 SUARA"
Hairuddin Bin Maslan
Penolong Pengarah
Unit Sumber dan Maklumat Kepenggunaan,
Bahagian Penyelidikan dan Dasar Kepenggunaan,
Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri,
Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan
Putrajaya
Tel: 03-88825973
Fax: 03-88825983
Website: www.kpdnkk.gov.my
Facebook: www.facebook.com/myKPDNKK
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MYConsumer

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OutSyed The Box

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