Category: Bakri Musa

by M. Bakri Musa

In the 19th Century, tiny Britain was able to humiliate the great Chinese Empire and subdue its masses by making opium readily available to them. It was also highly lucrative for the British, with the poor Chinese bearing the heavy burden. To be fair, Chinese leaders from the Emperor on down were fully aware of the dangers, but despite their valiant efforts they were unable to prevail against the British.

Today Muslims, Malays in particular, are being similarly narcotized, not by opium but by an equally potent agent: religion. Unlike the Chinese of yore who were victims of a malevolent foreign power, with Malays it is our leaders who are doing it to us, and with good intentions too. They want us all to end up in Heaven! Touching!

The Muslim masses today, like the Chinese of the 19th Century, were not unwilling victims. They are not to be blamed, just like we cannot blame a patient who is in great pain wanting a powerful painkiller. It may not cure the underlying disease but at least it relieves the suffering. Likewise when your daily existence is terribly painful — the fate of the vast majority of Muslims — you too need immediate relief. It would be cruel and inhumane to deny that.

The familiar official indices readily reveal the targic reality of daily existence of the Muslim ummah: high mortality and low literacy rates, pathetic per capita income, gross abuses of human rights, women deprived of their basic dignity, and oppressive governments. It is obvious to all, except the leaders. Visit the slums and squatters of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, and the anguished reality of unbelievable depravation will hit you hard even if you try to avoid it.

Muslim leaders should worry less about their followers ending up in Heaven and focus more on the monumental task at hand of lifting the masses out of their current living hell. It may be argued that if religion brings relief to their daily struggle, so be it. That is a delusion; the narcotizing effect of religion is even more destructive. Continue reading “Narcotizing the Masses Through Religion”

(Din Merican and M. Bakri Musa)

Dear Bakri:

I had the pleasure of chatting with Imam Feisal Rauf at the Blog House in Bukit Damansara last Sunday (September 9, 2007) after he led our Maghrib prayers. The occasion was the special interfaith Doa Selamat prayers seeking Allah’s Blessings for Tun Mahathir’s speedy recovery from his second bypass operation on Tuesday September 4th. As you know, The Tun had his first on January of 1989.

Apart from being the former Prime Minister and an outstanding leader, Tun Mahathir was also my mentor and hero. Thus the multi-faith congregational prayers Imam Feisal led had a special significance for me.

The Imam’s greater effort is in trying to bridge the divide between the West and Islam. I thoroughly enjoyed his recent book and understood his theme: the commonality of our faiths with their universal message of love, charity, and goodwill.

Until I met him, I did not know that he had studied at a local school in Kuala Lumpur. That explained his impeccable Malay and special affection for Malaysia!

I was also delighted to learn that he is the son of the distinguished and yet very humble Egyptian scholar-teacher, the late Tan Sri Professor Dr. Muhammad Rauf of Al-Azhar University, Cairo. I must say that Imam Feisal also inherited his father’s handsome features!

The late Professor — I knew him as Dr. Rauf — was my professor at the University of Malaya when I did Islamic Studies in my first year (1960). He (Al-Fatihah) taught Islamic History, the Quran, and the Hadith. He had a huge influence on my thinking about and my attitude towards our religion. Prior to that, my exposure to our Holy Book, like you I presume, was through the lessons taught by my simple kampong ustaz.

Hence the special bonding I felt for Imam Feisal, as reflected in my affectionate hug after the Maghrib prayer that Sunday. I had to hold back my tears. I felt deep within my heart that he reminded me very much of my earlier special Professor of Islam. Yet it did not occur to me to ask him whether he knew Professor Rauf! Imam Feisal’s manner of speaking, appearance, and views on Islam were very much of my enlightened intellectual Professor Rauf, Imam Feisal’s father. Continue reading “Distilling the Essence of Islam”