The arrest of former Perlis Mufti, Dr Asri Zainul Abidin by officials of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) at a private function in a residential area on November 1 brings into question again the intellectual freedom in Malaysia, vis-à-vis Islam.
The excuse given by JAIS that Dr Asri did not have the religious credentials from JAIS to teach Islam runs counter to the spirit of intellectual freedom in the history of Islam. It also gives ammunition to JAIS’s detractors and critics over the years that the Department is nothing more than a tool of a small group of religious scholars who are bent on imposing their views on others. By raiding a religious talk by someone who was once a government Mufti, and who, to say the least, has the necessary academic qualifications to explain Islamic beliefs, JAIS has only shown that it is ill-equipped to take on its critics on an intellectual platform, and has to resort to high-handed tactics.
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05 Nov
Dr. Asri’s arrest and subsequent release on police bail by JAIS came as a total surprise to me. The reason given by them for his arrest is even more incredulous. If he were some unknown, obscure individuals known to only a few people, there might be some reasoning to the claim that he was arrested because he has no “tauliah” (certificate of authenticity) to teach Islam in Selangor. However, Dr. Asri is not an “unknown” individual. He was the former Mufti of Perlis and prior to that, he was already lecturing in USM and has his own religious institute, Institut al-Qayyim. What more “tauliah” do you need in order to disperse any aspersions on Dr. Asri’s qualifications?
A particular character from JAKIM has appeared to cast doubt on Dr. Asri’s qualifications. I feel that it is him that is behind this current fracas, not anyone else. This character is a well-known idealogue of the Al-Ahbash group and has always been opposed to the Sunnah movement in Malaysia. If he was involved in this issue, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Should I name this person? I don’t feel that is necessary. He knows who I am referring to.
04 Nov
