No joy for Lina Joy

Hey guys.

I know a lot of people were confused about my previous entry. Almost every sentences were indirect and I bet you with further investigations you should be able to find out the real stories behind them.

Unfortunate, disgraceful stories behind them. Some are really funny though. Hehe.

However, this time lets talk about Lina Joy. A Malay woman who found love with a guy who has a different religion practice. She is even in the wikipedia under the heading Christian Converts after her controversial issue with the Immigration dept over her status in her MyKad.

The first question I would like to throw regarding this issue is, why did she has to convert?

Under the constitution, citizen of Malaysia are free to practise any religion. One might argue that she has every right to change her religion, from Islam to Christianity according to the right to choose a religion of practice.

But the question is why? Did her husband ask her to convert? Or was it her who voluntarily wanted to convert?

A bit about Lina Joy, she was born and raised as a Muslim. She converted in 1998 and wanted to freely live as a Christian. Recently, she applied her for her NRD to have the word Islam removed.

What problem does she got really with Islam? What really happened in 1998? Speculations are rife about why did she actually convert to Islam. Was she caught having sex before marriage or better known as 'khalwat' by the authorities? How was she actualy being mistreated until she decided to convert?

When there's smoke, there's fire. Every action there's a reaction and unfortunately, Lina's reaction was to convert. But I keep asking the question why? I know its her a choice but why?

And what if, her case was a success to her? What would be the consequences? Will there be another 300,000-ish new converts in Malaysia? Will that be ideal?

A lot of questions are yet to be answered. Some people find Islam a very hard religion to follow. They want to be free, they said. They want to live life so freely without having the problem of being caught by JAKIM. In all honestly, they want to commit adultery, drink profusely, involve in homosexual activities, have hugs and kisses in public, getting porky with pork and ham, having an expensive US-movie-like white wedding and etc without having to think about the consequences of being summoned and prosecute in the Syariah court.

OK now tell me one religion that gives the right to its followers to do all of the above. i.e. commit adultery a.k.a sex before marriage if you like. Christianity? Buddhism? Hinduism? Sikhism?

No, scientology is not a religion. It's some profit making, fame seeking people trying to come out with their new ideas of life.

So why leave Islam?

I think the different is that how a religion is being spread or practiced or authorized by religious groups. I gotta be honest with you of how I am quite disappointed with some people in JAKIM. The way they portray Islam like a hard religion. The way they come out with puzzling fatwas. The way they videotaped people dating in the parks of local universities uncensored! (asking their names, marital status in the process when confronted). The way the become peeping toms in looking for people commiting sins (catching an American and Chinese couple at the same time). I mean, you call yourselves religious enforces but yet I still heard many stories of some of you rotten apples asking for bribes after you actually know where to go to catch these people committing 'zina', somehere in Brickfields for an example.

And 'mencari-cari kesalahan orang lain' is also one of the dosa besar as far as I'm concerned. It's not me who said that. You can do some research if you want to know if I'm speaking the truth and it was taken from the words of Allah and Muhammad. And what is this 'membuka aib orang membuat dosa' activities videotaping and distributing them in the internet. It's a shame to Islam because all of this is done by Muslims. They said they want it to be a lesson to the rest of the Muslims but the results show that more and more videos were made and distributed. So you webmasters of mykakis and sabul, are actually carrying the most of the sins by showing off these videos and breeding them more. And come on, don't tell me you are doing it for a good cause. It's in your blood that you are perverts and making money from the adverts you put on your sites. So simply admit that you don't have to say that you are doing it 'sebagai pengajaran kepada Melayu-melayu yang lain'.

But still, I'm not saying those people in the videos are not wrong. They are wrong as well. No doubt about that.

No, there's nothing wrong with Islam. It's sometimes people misinterpreting it and using it for their own self-interests. I dont have the adequate knowledge to comment about other religions but I bet they are also good for us to lead our lives. And I bet there's no religion that promotes hate and war and provokes disharmony.

So come back to the question why leave Islam, Azlina Jailani? Is it in the name of love? For if it was in the name of love why didn't he let you keep your religion, your belief since you were small? The religion of your parents? What actually triggerred you to convert? What is wrong with Islam?

In my opinion, she's only being emotional over something that might had happened to her in her life. Because I dont find the reason why she has to leave. And for her to seek change in her MyKad religious status is something that I see as looking for cheap publicity. Right from the start you know you are not gonna win. But don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna kill you for being an apostate. Although some Muslim scholars might think we have to kill apostates under the heading 'memerangi orang murtad' but correct me if I'm wrong, I think that's not the way of Islam.

Feel free to correct me but this is entirely my opinion based on what I learned in Sirrah Nabawiyah (History of Muhammad). Musaylimah al Kadzaab was on of the first to claim himself as a prophet alongside the time with Muhammad S.A.W. People claimed him to have a divine power by dazzling the crowd with apparent miracles. He was rumoured that he could put an egg in a bottle; he could cut off the feathers of a bird and then stick them on so the bird would fly again; and he used this skill to persuade the people that he was divinely gifted.

Musaylimah, from Banu Hanifah suggested that he could share the earth 50:50 with Islam-led Muhammad from Banu Quraisy as a sign of immunity. His influence only rose after the death of Muhammad and Abu Bakar As-Siddiq first two generals were even defeated by Musaylamah. Fortunately, he was later defeated by Khalid Al-Walid.

To say that Musaylimah was an apostate and thus must be slaughtered for converting is debatable. The last time I was taught about 'memerangi golongan murtad' was back then in Form 5 under the case scenario of Musaylimah being fought off by Abu Bakar As-Siddiq. But in my opinion, Musaylimah was not even a Muslim at the first place. He started off claiming himself a prophet and thus making him having a religion he himself created. Thus, I reject the idea that he was an apostate and must be killed. Musaylimah was later killed in Yamamah war because he was a threat to Islam at that time. He tried to banish the existence of Islam and thus had to be killed. Not simply because he was an apostate.

Of course you wudnt let people destroy your heritage and race wud you?

But even if he was an apostate, must he be killed? I humbly request to the people whoever read this to give me the dalil that we have to kill all apostates. Because I actually do not know the dalil. At this stage, I think we have other alternatives in dealing with people who convert from Islam and killing them is not an alternative. And at this stage, I think it's un-Islamic to kill people who leave Islam.

Islam is a religion of peace. It's sad that people thought the other way. It's sad that Lina Joy and 300,000-ish applicants thought the other way. For me, the religious departments must do something about this. We must promote that Islam is a religion for all and I still find it awkward using the word religion to describe it.

It is actually the way of life.

And being a muslim for 24 years, I never thought that it's hard. It all makes sense to me. Being quite a realist, Islam does makes sense in all areas. But it's sad that some religious authorities failed to make the job well promoting Islam.

It's hard to prevent people committing sins and it is also a sin to be looking for sins. And the way I see it, people who are supposed to show a good image of Islam must do their job and protect it in the name of Allah. Show people what Islam really is.

I don't want to hear anymore of these statements blaming the religious authorities to justify whatever sins they are doing.

Finally, I still think it was a good decision on Lina Joy's case. It was made because of the consequences that might arise if the decision was in her favour. I'm hoping that she does not hold grudges on Islam or being bias/emotional in her quest to look for the purpose of life. My advice to her, keep asking questions and in the end, you will find the answer yourself.

Wallahualam.

Azrul,
Promoting peace in this world.