Don’t jump to conclusions, Hadi tells critics

'Listen first to what will be presented,' he says in reference to private member's bill he intends to table.

PETALING JAYA: PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang has made an impassioned defence of the Kelantan Government’s move to enforce recent amendments to its syariah laws and his own move to table a private member’s bill in Parliament aimed at enabling such enforcement.

In an open letter addressed to the Muslim community, he says the bill he intends to table has been wrongly referred to as “the hudud bill”, pointing out that it seeks instead to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act. He stresses that the purpose is to “open up a little space to allow for the enforcement of one or two aspects of the syariah affecting Muslims only”.

He urges critics of the bill not to jump to conclusions without knowing the contents of the bill. “Listen first to what will be presented,” he says.

The title of the letter is “Isu hudud yang dikelirukan”, indicating his belief that the issue has been subjected to confusion, perhaps deliberately by some quarters.

Hadi attacks Muslims who, in opposing the bill, appeal to such concepts as “Siyasah Syari’yyah”, “Maqasid Syari’ah”, “Fiqh Aulawiyyat” and “Maslahah” without a full understanding of what the terms mean.

“In discussing such a heavy subject, it is unbecoming of us to behave like a parrot who can repeat words taught by its master but still remain an animal without the intellectual capacity to understand the meaning and implications of those words,” he says.

He then proceeds to give a scholarly explanation of the terms.

In his discussion of Maqasid Syariah (the purpose of the syariah), he makes a reference to the suspension of the hudud punishment of limb amputation for theft during the reign of the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab.

He says this was during a time of economic difficulties. The punishment could not be imposed on people who committed theft out of genuine desperation. “In such a circumstance, it would be sinful to amputate the offender’s limb,” he says, but added that this did not mean that the person would escape punishment altogether . A judge could still impose a lesser punishment based on ta’zir (discretion).

“A hudud punishment cannot be imposed (in this case) because it would not fulfil the purposes of achieving justice and educating the public. The impact of economic difficulty on the offender was a greater evil. But if, despite the economic situation, the offender was a person of means, the hudud punishment would apply to him.

“Maqasid Syari’ah does not mean the abandoning of hudud laws.”

Elsewhere in his explanation, Hadi says a person who steals out of hunger would also escape hudud punishment because Islam places the preservation of life as prior to the preservation of wealth.

Explaining that hudud is only a branch of a wide and comprehensive range of syariah criminal laws, he says it is possible that those who oppose it are doing so as a means of rejecting the syariah in its entirety. “They think hudud is an appropriate target of criticism because, in their view, it is cruel, but they hold this view out of ignorance of the details and the objectives.”

Hadi reminds the critics that the Kelantan enactment that was recently amended was passed in 1993 and claims that PAS has since been educating the public on it through dialogue sessions and other events.

He says the educational efforts have borne some fruit in that the voices that denigrate Islamic laws have gradually been lowered.

“Now, after more than 20 years, PAS would like to take another step forward in its effort to provide comprehensive education to the public on Islamic laws,” he says.

He ends the letter by quoting verses 49 and 50 of the fifth chapter of the Quran:

And judge, [O Muhammad], between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations and beware of them, lest they tempt you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you. And if they turn away, then know that Allah only intends to afflict them with some of their [own] sins. And indeed, many among the people are defiantly disobedient.

Then is it the judgement of [the time of] ignorance they desire? But who is better than Allah in judgement for a people who are certain [in faith].