----- Original Message ----- From: Bahari Mustakim
SPEAK UP! :: Letters
Not compulsion, but counsel advised
On behalf of Pertubuhan Muafakat Kesejahteraan Masyarakat
Malaysia (Muafakat), I strongly object to the way you have framed
your moral stand on the wearing of tudung. You maintain that
"according to various Islamic jurists, wearing the tudung or
covering up certain parts of the body is not a religious
imperative". In making this statement without any further
qualification or explanation, you have distorted the real fact. In
the specific context in which your editorial (March 10) has been
written that particular statement could be read as telling Muslim
females "you can throw away or forget the tudung since it has no
religious significance whatsoever".
You claimed many Islamic jurists, the experts on Islamic law,
support this position. What is the real fact? If you know well the
history of Muslim interpretations of the Quran from the beginning of
the history of Islam until now, and still persist in maintaining
your statement, then you have been dishonest, biased, and motivated
by certain sectarian interests.
The fact is that the vast majority of authoritative Muslim
religious scholars and interpreters of the Quran in all schools of
thought throughout Islamic history have always considered the
wearing of hijab (head cover that meets certain requirements) a
Quranic imperative.
The view you quoted and seem to have adopted is endorsed by
only a very small minority of Muslim scholars. Moreover, it is
entirely a modern view that gained adherents following the impact of
various strands of modern Western thought on Muslim societies,
including its philosophy of dress. You have therefore committed
yourself to supporting a moral position that puts you at odds with
the traditional view of Muslim religious scholars on a matter that
is of great concern to Muslims.
It is your right to adopt whichever view you want. But your
failure to state the majority view among Islamic jurists, which
favours tudung, is not helpful to the pursuit of an "informed public
discussion" that you yourself have pleaded for.
Muafakat would not have objected to your editorial if it had
limited itself to criticising schools or other government
institutions zealously enforcing tudung wearing. Although we
strongly believe the Quran prescribes the wearing of tudung for
Muslim females, we also do not agree they should be compelled to
observe this Quranic teaching. Rather their observance of the
religious obligation should be a result of wise counselling,
encouragement, and inculcation of religious knowledge.
Having said this we still need to acknowledge the following. In
Islam it is the right of parents or lawful guardians to enforce the
Quranic injunction on their female children. However, if there are
parents who do not want their girls to wear tudung whatever the
reason is, then schools should respect their individual choice.
It is also the right of religious schools established to
promote an Islamic identity and other Islamic goals to enforce dress
codes and other rules and regulations on its students that conform
to their desired identity and goals.
Muafakat feels the present Ministry of Education tudung policy,
namely one of encouragement rather than compulsion, is good enough.
Excesses by certain teachers or schools in observing the policy
could and ought to be corrected.
But your editorial conveys a different message. Through a
religious fatwa you want to discourage tudung wearing.
Given the dominant Islamic beliefs and practices in this
country, your failure to clarify the majority as opposed to the
minority view on the issue in question may cause people to accuse
you of deliberately using your influential position to wage a "fatwa
war" against the Muslim majority view.
Prof. Datuk Dr Osman Bakar
President
Muafakat
Updated: 03:56PM Mon, 20 Mar 2006 Printable
Version | Email to a Friend
=========================Kenyataan sisters in
Islam==================
Press Statement
THE DONNING OF TUDUNG: PERSONAL CHOICE TO BE RESPECTED
Sisters in Islam is opposed to any attempt by any government, public
institution or the private sector, to force girls and/or women to cover
or uncover their heads.
In reference to the two recent cases of an employee of a five-star
hotels decision to wear the tudung and the cutting of the schoolgirls
tudungs in SMK Teluk Sentang, Kuala Krau, Temerloh, SIS maintains that
the personal choices of the girls and women must be respected and no
punitive measure or harsh treatment should be imposed.
Even amongst Muslims who choose to don the tudung, the style of wearing
the tudung varies and it should not be regarded as a reflection of the
degree of their piety. I n the history of Islamic jurisprudence and
scholarship, there has been no consensus regarding the right form of
womens dress. Even the several verses in the Quran that talk about
womens dress do not explicitly espouse a specific type of dress. In
fact, the Quran infers that modesty can be achieved in different forms
of dress suitable to different cultures, times and places. Thus, to
legislate or regulate on womens dress based on a perceived single
Islamic standard is a misguided attempt at representing the breadth of
thought and scholarship in Islam. Al-Quran surah Al-Araaf 7:26 mentions
about clothes and adornments, but stresses that
.the raiment of
righteousness, that is the best.
As repeatedly stressed in the Al-Quran, there should be no compulsion in
religion (Surah al-Baqarah 2:256, Surah Yunus 10:99-100, Surah
al-Ghashiyah 88:22). The decision to cover or not cover ones head
therefore, remains the sovereign choice of the individual, not any
external human authority under any pretext.
Sisters in Islam
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perkataan yang sia-sia;[mukminun:1-3]
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ada lelaki atau perempuan, (kerana) setengah kamu (adalah keturunan) dari
setengahnya yang lain; maka orang-orang yang berhijrah (kerana menyelamatkan
ugamanya), dan yang diusir ke luar dari tempat tinggalnya, dan juga yang
disakiti (dengan berbagai-bagai gangguan) kerana menjalankan ugamaKu, dan yang
berperang (untuk mempertahankan Islam), dan yang terbunuh (gugur Syahid dalam
perang Sabil) - sesungguhnya Aku akan hapuskan kesalahan-kesalahan mereka, dan
sesungguhnya Aku akan masukkan mereka ke dalam Syurga yang mengalir di bawahnya
beberapa sungai, sebagai pahala dari sisi Allah. Dan di sisi Allah jualah
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