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Malaysia bans Shi'ism
Malaysia bans Shias from promoting their faith
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia said on Wednesday that Shias in the country, who have been termed a ‘deviant’ sect, are barred from promoting their faith to other Muslims but are free to practise it themselves.
Some 200 Shias were arrested in December by religious authorities who accused them of threatening national security in multicultural Malaysia, where most of the 16.5 million Muslims are members of the Sunni sect.
“We don’t prohibit Shia adherents to practise but there are (laws) that don’t allow preaching to adherents of Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Sunnis),” Islamic affairs minister Jamil Khir Baharom told parliament according to state media. Jamil Khir said the government had made ‘various efforts’ to halt the spread of the faith in the country, including issuing fatwas against the sect and the ‘monitoring and control of materials promoting Shia faith.”
Mohammed Khusrin Munawi, a former religious department head in Selangor state who led the December 16 raid, has said that Shia Islam represents a threat because ‘fanatical followers of the sect consider other Muslims infidels’.
Shia community leader Kamil Zuhairi Abdul Aziz said on Wednesday that Shias in Malaysia do not preach to other Muslims. “Although we keep a very low profile, live in harmony with Sunnis and non-Muslims and practise our religion within our community, we have been persecuted by the authorities for many decades,” he told AFP. “In fact, we are not the ones who are spreading our faith. By arresting us and making this an issue, the state religious authorities are giving us the publicity and spreading our teachings.”
The estimated 40,000 Shias in Malaysia are one of several Islamic sects under close watch by religious authorities, who crack down hard on so-called deviant groups. A 1989 Islamic law and a 1996 fatwa by Malaysia’s top Islamic clerics banned Shiism, declaring it a deviant ideology. Malaysia has a dual-track legal system, with civil courts running in parallel with Islamic courts where Muslim Malays can be tried on religious and moral charges. afp
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
------------
Malaysia cracking down on Shi'ism
,
Salim Osman
The Straits Times
Sunday, Aug 11, 2013
MALAYSIA - Malaysia is clamping down on Shi'ism, the second branch of Islamic orthodoxy, in a move that appears to have both religious and political overtones.
The nationwide crackdown began last month with the ban of local Shi'ite group Pertubuhan Syiah Malaysia. The same month, state governments gazetted a 1996 fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council that declared Shi'ism deviant and therefore haram or impermissible.
There is also a witch hunt that has been going on for Shi'ite believers in four universities in Selangor and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, as well as in the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
It is now illegal for Shi'ite groups to conduct their activities and preach the teachings to Malays who subscribe to the Sunni branch of Islam known as Ahli Sunnah Wal-Jamaah.
"Stern action will be taken against those propagating the Shi'ite ideology," de facto Religious Affairs Minister Jamil Khir Baharom said last Saturday.
Those who contravene the ban can be prosecuted for defying a religious edict and fined up to RM3,000 (S$1,200) or jailed for two years if convicted.
According to the Home Ministry, a growing number of Malays have become Shi'ite believers in recent years, with an estimated 250,000 people now belonging to 10 active groups.
Although Shi'ism is accepted as part of the Islamic orthodoxy by the Muslim world, it is being treated as a non-Islamic religion in Malaysia. Like other religions, it is prohibited from being preached to the Malays.
Pages
Malaysia cracking down on Shi'ism | Malaysia News | Msia | AsiaOne
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Clampdown on Shi'ism in
Malaysia a cause for concern
Salim Osman, The Straits Times/ANN, Singapore | Opinion | Fri, August 23 2013, 9:06 AM
Life has not been good for Shi'ite Muslims in Malaysia. Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are free to practise their religions in this Muslim-majority country but the Shi'ite form of Islam has been outlawed.
Last month, the Malaysian home ministry banned their organisation, the Pertubuhan Syiah Malaysia. Several state governments also gazetted a 1996 fatwa (ruling by an Islamic council) of the National Fatwa Council declaring Shi'ism as deviant and, hence, haram or forbidden. Offenders charged under the Syariah Criminal Offences Act for defying the fatwa face a fine up to 3,000 ringgit (US$904) or a jail term of two years.
The ban and the gazetting of the fatwa mean that Shi'ites are restricted from practising their faith, and prohibited from propagating it to Malay Muslims in Malaysia, who follow the faith's Sunni version.
This is surprising. Even Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism is dominant, has not banned Shi'ism. Shi'ites there even perform the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities exclusive to Muslims.
But there are reasons for the hardening stance towards Shi'ism in Malaysia. First, there is alarm over Malays who converted after being enamoured of Shi'ism and the 1979 Iranian revolution. The home ministry said the small community has grown in a decade to an estimated 250,000 in 10 active groups. This development has divided the Malay community, which has traditionally subscribed to the Shafie school of the Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah.
Malay representative United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) leaders view the matter with concern because a divided Malay community implies a weakening of the political position of the Malays, who half a century earlier were united under Sunni Islam.
Sunni Islam is now seen as threatened by the presence of Malay Shi'ites, who are swelling a Shi'ite community that was previously dominated by Indian Muslims from the Dawoodi Bohras, the Ismailis, and the Jaafaris or the Ithna Ashariyya school of thought - the official faith of Shi'ite-dominated Iran.
There is also a fear that large Shi'ite numbers in a largely Sunni society could lead to sectarian conflict, similar to that in Pakistan. Hence, it is a security concern.
The historic seeds of distrust were sown when the group that later became the Shi'ites disputed the succession of Prophet Muhammad after his death in AD632. Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law and cousin, they said, was the rightful successor as caliph of Islam. They refused to recognise the three companions of the Prophet who became caliphs before Ali became the fourth caliph in AD656.
After 14 centuries, the Shi'ites still lament the usurpation of Ali's rights as caliph and mourn the death of his son Hussein - killed by the forces of Caliph Yazid in AD680 - as if the two events occurred just yesterday. Hence their vilification of the Prophet's three companions and two of his wives.
The Sunnis hit back by labelling Shi'ites as infidels; theological differences involve prayers as well as other rituals and beliefs.
The animosity between the two strands continues despite efforts at rapprochement. Both Sunni Islam and Shi'ism were accepted as two branches of Islamic orthodoxy by Al-Azhar cleric Mahmud Shaltut in Cairo in 1959 and the conference of clerics in Amman, Jordan, in November 2004.
Significantly, the Jordan conference issued the Amman Message that recognised four schools in Sunni Islam and two Shi'ite schools, namely the Zaydi and the Jaafari, as Islamic schools of jurisprudence. Malaysia was one of the 2004 signatories.
Politics is yet another reason for Malaysia's hardening stance towards the Shi'ites. A small Shi'ite community has emerged in several Kedah districts, upsetting Umno as the Shi'ites support the Islamic Parti Islam SeMalaysia (or Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS).
Word has spread that PAS has been infiltrated by Shi'ites, and that even some top leaders have become believers. Hence, the current witch hunt in PAS. But PAS and its Kelantan state government are opposed to the anti-Shi'ite campaign.
After Kedah's Umno state government announced plans to gazette the 1996 fatwa declaring Shi'ites as deviant, other state governments, excluding Kelantan, announced similar moves. For several weeks last month, UMNO-linked Malay-language newspapers raised the spectre of a Shi'ite threat to Islam and Muslims, with articles suggesting Shi'ite proselytisation among Sunni Muslims, widespread conversions and controversial Shi'ite practices, escalating Malay hatred towards the group.
Global politics has also played a part in whipping up anti-Shi'ite sentiment. This includes Syria's civil war and the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Although the roots of the Syrian turmoil are complex, with the involvement of foreign powers and Islamists siding with the rebels, it is being perceived as primarily a Sunni-Shi'ite conflict. In other words, a struggle by the Sunni majority against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is regarded in Malaysia as a Shi'ite dictator oppressing Sunnis when in fact, he is an Alawite, an offshoot strand of Shi'ism.
Assad is backed by Iran, a Shi'ite power, and Lebanon's Shi'ite militia Hizbollah, in a conflict that has killed thousands of Sunnis. This has incensed Sunni clerics in the Arab world and Gulf states to the point where anti- Shi'ite rhetoric is whipped up against Iran and Hizbollah. Such rhetoric resonates in Malaysia where one of the Sunni clerics, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, has a large following. He is also revered by Muslims worldwide.
In a May 31 sermon, the Qatar- based Egyptian cleric called on Muslims to wage jihad against Shi'ites and Hizbollah in Syria. He also regretted the many years he had spent on attempts at Sunni- Shi'ite rapprochement, adding that Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi clerics were right to consider Shi'ites as infidels. His words are largely responsible for the upsurge in Shi'ite bashing in Malaysia.
Malaysia may feel that its clampdown on Shi'ism is justified on religious and security grounds.
But by doing so, it downplays the concerns of civil society groups regarding human rights violations and freedom of religion. The ban and the related fatwa hit non-Malay Shi'ites who lived in peace until last month, when the nation started demonising Shi'ites and Shi'ism.
They, and the Malay Shi'ites, will feel victimised as individuals whose only crime is having a different vision of the world and spirituality. As Malaysians, they feel they deserve to be protected and their interests served.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia said on Wednesday that Shias in the country, who have been termed a ‘deviant’ sect, are barred from promoting their faith to other Muslims but are free to practise it themselves.
Some 200 Shias were arrested in December by religious authorities who accused them of threatening national security in multicultural Malaysia, where most of the 16.5 million Muslims are members of the Sunni sect.
“We don’t prohibit Shia adherents to practise but there are (laws) that don’t allow preaching to adherents of Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Sunnis),” Islamic affairs minister Jamil Khir Baharom told parliament according to state media. Jamil Khir said the government had made ‘various efforts’ to halt the spread of the faith in the country, including issuing fatwas against the sect and the ‘monitoring and control of materials promoting Shia faith.”
Mohammed Khusrin Munawi, a former religious department head in Selangor state who led the December 16 raid, has said that Shia Islam represents a threat because ‘fanatical followers of the sect consider other Muslims infidels’.
Shia community leader Kamil Zuhairi Abdul Aziz said on Wednesday that Shias in Malaysia do not preach to other Muslims. “Although we keep a very low profile, live in harmony with Sunnis and non-Muslims and practise our religion within our community, we have been persecuted by the authorities for many decades,” he told AFP. “In fact, we are not the ones who are spreading our faith. By arresting us and making this an issue, the state religious authorities are giving us the publicity and spreading our teachings.”
The estimated 40,000 Shias in Malaysia are one of several Islamic sects under close watch by religious authorities, who crack down hard on so-called deviant groups. A 1989 Islamic law and a 1996 fatwa by Malaysia’s top Islamic clerics banned Shiism, declaring it a deviant ideology. Malaysia has a dual-track legal system, with civil courts running in parallel with Islamic courts where Muslim Malays can be tried on religious and moral charges. afp
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
------------
Malaysia cracking down on Shi'ism
,Salim Osman
The Straits Times
Sunday, Aug 11, 2013
MALAYSIA - Malaysia is clamping down on Shi'ism, the second branch of Islamic orthodoxy, in a move that appears to have both religious and political overtones.
The nationwide crackdown began last month with the ban of local Shi'ite group Pertubuhan Syiah Malaysia. The same month, state governments gazetted a 1996 fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council that declared Shi'ism deviant and therefore haram or impermissible.
There is also a witch hunt that has been going on for Shi'ite believers in four universities in Selangor and the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, as well as in the opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
It is now illegal for Shi'ite groups to conduct their activities and preach the teachings to Malays who subscribe to the Sunni branch of Islam known as Ahli Sunnah Wal-Jamaah.
"Stern action will be taken against those propagating the Shi'ite ideology," de facto Religious Affairs Minister Jamil Khir Baharom said last Saturday.
Those who contravene the ban can be prosecuted for defying a religious edict and fined up to RM3,000 (S$1,200) or jailed for two years if convicted.
According to the Home Ministry, a growing number of Malays have become Shi'ite believers in recent years, with an estimated 250,000 people now belonging to 10 active groups.
Although Shi'ism is accepted as part of the Islamic orthodoxy by the Muslim world, it is being treated as a non-Islamic religion in Malaysia. Like other religions, it is prohibited from being preached to the Malays.
Pages
Malaysia cracking down on Shi'ism | Malaysia News | Msia | AsiaOne
-----------------
Clampdown on Shi'ism in
Malaysia a cause for concern
Salim Osman, The Straits Times/ANN, Singapore | Opinion | Fri, August 23 2013, 9:06 AM
Life has not been good for Shi'ite Muslims in Malaysia. Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are free to practise their religions in this Muslim-majority country but the Shi'ite form of Islam has been outlawed.
Last month, the Malaysian home ministry banned their organisation, the Pertubuhan Syiah Malaysia. Several state governments also gazetted a 1996 fatwa (ruling by an Islamic council) of the National Fatwa Council declaring Shi'ism as deviant and, hence, haram or forbidden. Offenders charged under the Syariah Criminal Offences Act for defying the fatwa face a fine up to 3,000 ringgit (US$904) or a jail term of two years.
The ban and the gazetting of the fatwa mean that Shi'ites are restricted from practising their faith, and prohibited from propagating it to Malay Muslims in Malaysia, who follow the faith's Sunni version.
This is surprising. Even Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism is dominant, has not banned Shi'ism. Shi'ites there even perform the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities exclusive to Muslims.
But there are reasons for the hardening stance towards Shi'ism in Malaysia. First, there is alarm over Malays who converted after being enamoured of Shi'ism and the 1979 Iranian revolution. The home ministry said the small community has grown in a decade to an estimated 250,000 in 10 active groups. This development has divided the Malay community, which has traditionally subscribed to the Shafie school of the Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah.
Malay representative United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) leaders view the matter with concern because a divided Malay community implies a weakening of the political position of the Malays, who half a century earlier were united under Sunni Islam.
Sunni Islam is now seen as threatened by the presence of Malay Shi'ites, who are swelling a Shi'ite community that was previously dominated by Indian Muslims from the Dawoodi Bohras, the Ismailis, and the Jaafaris or the Ithna Ashariyya school of thought - the official faith of Shi'ite-dominated Iran.
There is also a fear that large Shi'ite numbers in a largely Sunni society could lead to sectarian conflict, similar to that in Pakistan. Hence, it is a security concern.
The historic seeds of distrust were sown when the group that later became the Shi'ites disputed the succession of Prophet Muhammad after his death in AD632. Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law and cousin, they said, was the rightful successor as caliph of Islam. They refused to recognise the three companions of the Prophet who became caliphs before Ali became the fourth caliph in AD656.
After 14 centuries, the Shi'ites still lament the usurpation of Ali's rights as caliph and mourn the death of his son Hussein - killed by the forces of Caliph Yazid in AD680 - as if the two events occurred just yesterday. Hence their vilification of the Prophet's three companions and two of his wives.
The Sunnis hit back by labelling Shi'ites as infidels; theological differences involve prayers as well as other rituals and beliefs.
The animosity between the two strands continues despite efforts at rapprochement. Both Sunni Islam and Shi'ism were accepted as two branches of Islamic orthodoxy by Al-Azhar cleric Mahmud Shaltut in Cairo in 1959 and the conference of clerics in Amman, Jordan, in November 2004.
Significantly, the Jordan conference issued the Amman Message that recognised four schools in Sunni Islam and two Shi'ite schools, namely the Zaydi and the Jaafari, as Islamic schools of jurisprudence. Malaysia was one of the 2004 signatories.
Politics is yet another reason for Malaysia's hardening stance towards the Shi'ites. A small Shi'ite community has emerged in several Kedah districts, upsetting Umno as the Shi'ites support the Islamic Parti Islam SeMalaysia (or Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS).
Word has spread that PAS has been infiltrated by Shi'ites, and that even some top leaders have become believers. Hence, the current witch hunt in PAS. But PAS and its Kelantan state government are opposed to the anti-Shi'ite campaign.
After Kedah's Umno state government announced plans to gazette the 1996 fatwa declaring Shi'ites as deviant, other state governments, excluding Kelantan, announced similar moves. For several weeks last month, UMNO-linked Malay-language newspapers raised the spectre of a Shi'ite threat to Islam and Muslims, with articles suggesting Shi'ite proselytisation among Sunni Muslims, widespread conversions and controversial Shi'ite practices, escalating Malay hatred towards the group.
Global politics has also played a part in whipping up anti-Shi'ite sentiment. This includes Syria's civil war and the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Although the roots of the Syrian turmoil are complex, with the involvement of foreign powers and Islamists siding with the rebels, it is being perceived as primarily a Sunni-Shi'ite conflict. In other words, a struggle by the Sunni majority against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is regarded in Malaysia as a Shi'ite dictator oppressing Sunnis when in fact, he is an Alawite, an offshoot strand of Shi'ism.
Assad is backed by Iran, a Shi'ite power, and Lebanon's Shi'ite militia Hizbollah, in a conflict that has killed thousands of Sunnis. This has incensed Sunni clerics in the Arab world and Gulf states to the point where anti- Shi'ite rhetoric is whipped up against Iran and Hizbollah. Such rhetoric resonates in Malaysia where one of the Sunni clerics, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, has a large following. He is also revered by Muslims worldwide.
In a May 31 sermon, the Qatar- based Egyptian cleric called on Muslims to wage jihad against Shi'ites and Hizbollah in Syria. He also regretted the many years he had spent on attempts at Sunni- Shi'ite rapprochement, adding that Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi clerics were right to consider Shi'ites as infidels. His words are largely responsible for the upsurge in Shi'ite bashing in Malaysia.
Malaysia may feel that its clampdown on Shi'ism is justified on religious and security grounds.
But by doing so, it downplays the concerns of civil society groups regarding human rights violations and freedom of religion. The ban and the related fatwa hit non-Malay Shi'ites who lived in peace until last month, when the nation started demonising Shi'ites and Shi'ism.
They, and the Malay Shi'ites, will feel victimised as individuals whose only crime is having a different vision of the world and spirituality. As Malaysians, they feel they deserve to be protected and their interests served.
, 
Comment