Sunday July 13, 2008
Misunderstood concept of Islam
I REFER to the letter by M.B.A. titled “No compulsion in religion” (The Star, July 10). When I first read the article I felt a sense of anger and frustration that the writer, being a Muslim, is attacking the most important tenet of Islam which is the five daily prayers.
However, when I started writing this letter, it occurred to me that this is the core problem in the Muslim World. Many who profess the religion do not fully understand many of the basic principles of the religion, let alone expecting people who profess other religions to understand it.
“No compulsion in religion” is the most misunderstood concept in Islam. The quoted verse from Surah Baqarah does not at all imply that a Muslim is free to do whatever he likes and no one can force him to do it. The verse only implies that a non-Muslim cannot be forced to become a Muslim.
However, once he is a Muslim, he must be forced to do all the compulsory things in Islam, five times daily prayer included. What is the use of the five tenets of Islam if the person who professes it chooses to ignore them?
PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz rightly compared the compulsion to work with the compulsion in religion. However, the writer understood it differently. If a person works in an organisation, he is compelled to follow the rules and regulations of the organisation, whether he likes it or not.
Of course, he cannot be forced to join the organisation in the first place. But once he is in, he cannot refuse to follow its rules and regulations without being punished or sacked.
The comparison of forcing a lactose intolerant person drinking milk with forcing a person to pray five times a day shed light to how little M.B.A understands the basic principles of Islam.
The religion of Islam was sent down by Allah to ordinary men with all its practicalities and perfection. Allah knows how weak and extremely busy men are in pursuit of wealth. The five daily prayers are timed to exactly coincide with our daily activities from waking up in the morning to go to work, taking a lunch break, going home after work, having dinner and right up to going to bed again.
After all, a person just needs about 10 minutes, at most, at each of the daily prayer. In addition there are flexibility in shortening and combining prayers when a person is travelling. So there is no way the five daily prayers can interfere with our daily activities.
I commend Nik Aziz for making it compulsory for government servants to pray five times a day. If they cannot spend less than 10 minutes to pray whilst they can waste away hours at lunch and coffee breaks, not to mention on the golf courses, they do not deserve to work for the Government.
ANAE,
Puchong.
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