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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : UNITED KINGDOM
Tarikh/Date : 16/04/96
Tajuk/Title : THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC
STUDIES OXFORD
1. I would like to express my appreciation to the
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies for inviting me to
talk on Islam. I have chosen `Islam - The
Misunderstood Religion' as the title of this talk.
I do not claim to be an expert or an ulama, an
Islamic scholar, but it would be fatal for me to say
that I am not qualified. Many who speak on Islam
and claim to be `ulama' are also not qualified. I
do claim that I have much a right to speak on Islam
as many others who speak on the subject.
2. Islam is perhaps the most misunderstood
religion in the world today and indeed throughout
history. It is not only misunderstood by non-
Muslims, but it is also misunderstood by Muslims
themselves. How else can there be so many Muslim
sects with beliefs and teachings which are so
different and contradictory? Some must be wrong,
the result of not understanding or misunderstanding
Islam.
3. One of the missions of the Prophet of Islam was
to bring peace and unity to the feuding tribes, the
Jahiliah or the ignorant Arabs of the pre-Islamic
days. This he succeeded in doing as narrated in
several verses of the Quran.
4. The messages of Allah were brought by one
Prophet and recorded in one Quran. There is no
other Quran, or versions of it, or editions which
carry different texts. The Quran is not in the form
of Gospels by Muslim saints or `ulama'. The Quran
is just the record of the messages of Allah in the
Arabic of the period. Translations of the Quran may
be different in minor ways, but they are not
accepted as the Quran. Only that in the original
Arabic is accepted.
5. So there can be no differing texts or Gospels
or versions which can result in differences in the
messages or teachings of Islam. Yet, clearly there
are differences, serious differences, so serious
that Muslims are divided sometimes into warring
sects. Why is this so?
6. Actually people who are merely literate in
Arabic cannot understand the language of the Quran,
or at least the whole of it. To understand,
explanations must be made by those learned in Islam,
the `ulamas', who understand the language of the
Quran and are knowledgeable of the circumstances
under which the messages were revealed to Muhammad.
Most of the messages were about or referred to
events which occurred before or during the life of
the Prophet.
7. The `ulamas' felt a need to add words to the
verses in order to make them clearer. These words
are bracketed particularly in translations of the
Quran and are clearly not part of the original
message. They are necessary in order to make the
messages clearer.
8. Although there is only one Quran, there are two
categories of verses in the Quran; the specific or
`Muhkamat' and the general or `Mutashabihat'. There
`should be no mistaking the meanings of the specific
verses, but in fact interpretations differ due to
elaborations by the `ulamas'. But the general ones
are more subject to differing interpretations. In
Chapter 3 Verse 7, Ali Imran the Quran states, "It
is He who has sent down to you (Muhammad) the book
(Quran). In it are verses that are entirely clear,
they are the foundations of the Book, and others not
entirely clear".
9. The general verses must necessarily be so for
they are intended to provide guidance in different
situations and for untold problems that Muslims have
to face not only during the life of the Prophet but
for all times. The learned in Islam, the `ulamas'
can refer to these verses for guidance on any and
every issue or problem.
10. The procedures for referring to the Quran and
interpreting the verses have been determined by the
early Muslim jurists in order to prevent casual
interpretations. But since the procedures were made
by mere men, however learned they may be,
misinterpretations and wrong usage can and may
occur, leading to wrong teachings.
11. The procedures involve, firstly, reference to
the `sunnah' or traditions of the Prophet and
secondly through `Ijmak' or consensus of opinions of
the `ulamas' or scholars. Where the Quran or Hadith
are not clear, the scholars may express an opinion
or `ijtihad', by analogy or `Qias' or through
`Istihsan', the use of the capacity to think,
applying the Quran to the realities of the
situation.
12. The Quran is comprehensive and provide guidance
for all things at all times but clearly if
individual verses are taken in isolation, the
teachings can become distorted and contrary to the
teachings of Islam as a whole.
13. Thus justice and avoidance of injustice is
stressed in numerous verses of the Quran. Yet the
tendency is to take just one verse and to interpret
it without concern for the result, justice or
injustice. And so Islamic justice can become quite
contrary to the claim that Islam upholds justice.
14. After the Quran, the next most important source
of Islamic teachings are the `Hadith' and `Sunnah'
of the Prophet i.e. his sayings and deeds as related
by those who had heard or seen him in his lifetime.
These must be good and truthful witnesses and these
traditions must be passed on by word of mouth
through reliable good Muslims through the years.
With the passage of time, identifying a series of
good Muslims who related these traditions became
more and more difficult. By the time Imam Bukhari
studied and sifted through the 600,000 odd `hadiths'
and `sunnah', 200 years had passed. The learned
Imam selected only about 7000 as `sahih' or genuine
which he recorded. His students, Muslim, verified
even a lesser number. Other learned theologians
verified numerous others.
15. These collection of `Hadiths' and `Sunnah' are
now accepted as genuine by most Muslims of the Sunni
sect. The Shiites have their own verified
traditions.
16. Since the learned Imams and scholars were not
Prophets but were mere men, they too could be wrong.
The traditions which they reject may be genuine and
those they accept may not be genuine. Of course,
many still quote unverified hadiths.
17. Sometimes the pronouncements of the religious
authorities at a given time and in a given situation
are mere opinions or `ijtihad', based no doubt on
their wide knowledge of Islam and their
understanding of the problem or the situation. But
again these are the opinions of very human
individuals and they too can be wrong. In today's
world, with the advances made by science and
technology, new problems often arise. In the
medical world all sorts of procedures and cures are
being devised all the time. Some of these
procedures alarm even the agnostics. Yet Muslim
`ulamas' are often asked to make a ruling.
18. To do so they must understand not just the
injunctions of Islam but the very complex nature of
the subject requiring a ruling. The most learned
`ulama' cannot possibly know everything about
everything. They must rely on the expertise of
others. Even then they may still not understand all
aspects and the religious implications of the
problem. They may reject simply because they cannot
understand or because they are dogmatic. And of
course one `ulama' or one group of `ulamas'may reach
quite different conclusions from those of another
`ulama' or group on the same subject. Both cannot
be right, although both can be wrong. It may
require further consultations before an acceptable
interpretation can be made which is compatible with
the realities of the situation.
19. The `ulamas' or the learned in Islam are
admittedly indispensable to the understanding of
Islam. Even those layman who understand Arabic and
the language of the Quran need them. For non-Arab
Muslims the `ulamas' must also be linguists in order
to explain the Quran verbally or in written form.
Such translations of the Quran and `Hadith'
invariably contain a lot of bracketed words which
help to interpret the particular verse but which are
not a part of it. The choice of words reflects the
particular `ulamas' understanding. It may also
reflect the views and opinions of the `ulamas'.
Again as the `ulamas' are not prophets they may be
quite wrong.
20. Unfortunately, there is a tendency among
Muslims to treat the pronouncements of the `ulamas'
as `infallible'. There are any number of people who
claim to be learned in Islam and call themselves
`ulama'. Some of these are clearly charlatans and
people with vested interests, including, of course,
politicians with very worldly personal ambitions.
If all these people are considered to be the
successors of the Prophet and are qualified and
infallible in their interpretations of Islam, then
it is easy to see why there is confusion and
misunderstanding of the teachings of Islam.
21. Thus not so very long ago Muslims considered
even the printing of the Quran as forbidden,
`haram'. For a long time the Turkish Government
which bought a printing press was not allowed to use
it. The Quran must be handwritten. Electricity was
considered as haram for use in mosques. Mecca was
lighted by oil lamps long after electricity
brightened the cities of the rest of the world.
22. Turkish soldiers were forbidden from wearing
western-style trousers and peak caps because these
too were considered `haram'. Paintings of humans or
animals were banned until the advent of printing,
photography and the television rendered the ban
impractical.
23. Yet all these pronouncements had been adhered
too religiously for centuries by Muslims.
24. But these are trivialities. They do the Muslims
no real harm although they may have retarded the
progress of the Muslims in a fast changing world.
Much more serious are the `fatwas' which relate to
the relationship within the Muslim community and
between Muslims and non-Muslims.
25. The Arab society at the time of the Prophet was
given to feuding, incessant wars between tribes
which weakened them and retarded their progress.
26. The feuds were the result of excessive tribal
loyalties. Those given to these excesses were said
to be `taasub' or fanatical. Islam condemned this
excessive tribalism or fanaticism and the Prophet
preached against it, promoting unity instead.
27. Thus in Chapter 3, Verse 103 the Quran says:
"And hold fast all together by the Rope (religion)
which Allah (stretches out for you) and be not
divided among yourselves, And remember with
gratitude Allah's favour on you, for you were
enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that
by His Grace You became brethren".
28. But after the Prophet passed away, the Arabs
returned to their feuding ways. Tribal loyalties
returned. Disputes over which tribe had the right
to succeed the leadership of the Muslim `ummah'
after the death of the Prophet eventually led to the
most serious schism among the Muslims. The
followers of Saidina Ali, a nephew of the Prophet
who became the fourth Caliph, broke away to
eventually found the Shiite sect, while the
followers of `Muawiyah', claiming to abide by the
traditions, formed the Sunni sect. Subsequently
both the sects divided up again and again as
different `Imams' and `Ulamas' interpreted the
teachings according to their own understanding or
sometimes their political affiliations.
29. The feuding between the Muslim sects and the
Muslim nations are obviously contrary to the
teachings of Islam. Certainly the fanaticism and
violence with which they oppose each other,
reminiscent of the pre-Islamic and Jahiliah days of
feuding, is not in keeping with Islamic teachings.
Muslims and non-Muslims
30. That there is a misunderstanding among Muslims
regarding the teachings of Islam on relations with
non-Muslims is even more obvious. The Quran clearly
stated that the Christians are the friends of the
Muslims. Indeed, when the first few converts to
Islam were persecuted by the Quraish idol-
worshippers, they were advised by the Prophet to
seek refuge in Christian Abyssinia. The Christian
King of Abyssinia protected the Muslim refugees so
well that attempts by the Quraish to extradite them
failed.
31. If the Sunnis believe in the Traditions, surely
being friendly with Christians should be one of
their beliefs. But we know that Muslims do not
accept this. The `ulamas' explain that the present-
day Christians are not the Christians referred to in
the Quran. And, therefore, they are justified in
regarding all Christians as enemies.
32. All Jews are also regarded by Muslims as
enemies because the Jews of Medina had been disloyal
to the Government of the Prophet. Yet the Quran
states that only those who take up arms against the
Muslims are their enemies.
In Chapter 2 Al-Baqarah Verse 190, the Quran states:
"Fight in the cause of Allah
whose who fight you
but do not trangress the limits
For Allah loveth not transgressors."
In Chapter 8 Al-Anfaal Verse 61, the Quran stresses:
"But if the enemy
Inclines towards peace
Do thou (also) incline
Towards peace and trust
In Allah, for he is the One
That heareth and knoweth."
33. This means that the Zionists and their
supporters who advocate violence against the Muslims
must be regarded as enemies. But when they sue for
peace they should get a positive response from the
Muslims.
34. Yet Muslims regard all Jews as eternal enemies
against whom Muslims must forever fight. This
sounds very much like fanatical feuding and against
the teachings of Islam. But woe betide anyone who
may suggest that the Jews are not the eternal
enemies of the Muslims.
Misunderstanding among non-Muslims
35. If Muslims frequently misunderstand certain
teachings of Islam, the misunderstanding among non-
Muslims, in particular Jews and Christians about
Islam and Muslims today, is even worse.
36. The clash between Muslims and Christians
occurred quite early when Byzantium was still a
Great Empire and stood in the way of the spread of
the Islamic faith. But Christian Europe really
worked up feelings against Islam during the time of
the Crusades. The Crusaders whipped up anti-Muslim
feelings to a frenzy. The perpetuity of this anti-
Muslim feeling and the consequent violence against
them can be described as a kind of feud.
37. And so the deliberate whipping up of anti-
Muslims feelings has been going on for centuries.
Nothing good that Muslims do, in particular in their
relations with non-Muslims, is recognised. Thus the
fact that Christians and Jews could practise their
religions in Muslim Spain was hardly ever mentioned
in European history books. The fact that the
Christian reconquest of Spain led to the expulsion
of the Muslims and the Jews, or forced conversion or
execution has never been condemned. That Jews
actually preferred migrating to Muslim North Africa
rather than stay in Christian Spain is regarded as
of no significance.
38. In the Balkans the mainly Christian Slavs
preferred Turkish rule to that of Christian
Byzantine. They actually helped the Turks to defeat
the Byzantines. For the most part they were not
converted to Islam, but remained Christian, surely
testifying to the liberalism of the Turks towards
non-Muslims.
39. The misunderstanding of Islam by the West today
is perhaps at its peak. Forgetting that
Christianity too had experienced extreme abberations
as exemplified by the Spanish Inquisition and the
burning of witches in Europe and America, the West
has made aberrations in the practice of the Muslim
faith by a minority of Muslims as the true
manifestation of Islam.
40. No one, Muslim or non-Muslim, can deny that
there have been a lot of terrorist acts perpetrated
by Muslims. But then a lot of terrorism has also
been perpetrated by non-Muslims. The difference is
that if a Muslim does it, the deed is immediately
attributed to his faith. When a non-Muslim commits
the most heinous of terroristic crimes, his deed is
not linked to his religion.
41. The immediate reaction to the bombing of a
government building in Oklahoma was that it was
another Muslim terrorist act. When it was
discovered that it was not a Muslim who did it, the
fact that the bomber was a Christian was ignored.
It was not described as Christian terrorism.
42. The bitter fighting in Northern Ireland
involves religious differences between two Christian
sects. But at no time have the bombings, killings,
maiming by the IRA and their Protestant rivals been
termed Christian terrorism or Catholic or Protestant
terrorism.
43. But the terrorism by people of the Christian
faith in Northern Ireland pales into insignificance
when compared to the brutality of the Christian
Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Tens of thousands of
Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina have been raped,
starved, tortured and massacred by the Serbs. Mass
graves are found everywhere. The Bosnian Serbs
openly declared that they were carrying out `ethnic
cleansing' in order to prevent the setting up of a
Muslim nation in Europe. Because of certain
implications, Europe refuse to describe `ethnic
cleansing' as `genocide' which is what it really is.
44. Yet at no time have the massacres and terrorism
by the Christian Serbs been described as Christian
terrorism. Instead, European forces willingly
handed over safe havens for the Muslims to the Serbs
who subsequently massacred thousands of young Muslim
men.
45. Supposing, just supposing, it was the Muslim
Bosnian Slavs who had the weapons and the numbers,
and they were supported by Muslim countries and they
had committed the atrocities, the world would be
screaming Muslim terrorism from the mountain tops.
And NATO would have moved in and ended the
independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina in no time.
46. But such is the perception of Muslims by the
West that it is not even noted that the victims of
Muslim fanatics and the misnamed fundamentalists are
insignificant compared to the numbers of Muslims and
non-Muslims who have been massacred by terrorists of
the Christian faith. The misunderstanding of Islam
and Muslims is such that the West naturally assume
that terrorism is a Muslim creed and is confined to
Muslims. Evidence to the contrary are just ignored.
47. There have been a few Western writers who have
tried to be factual and fair. But these writers are
either ignored or condemned. Attempts by Muslims to
point out that the Muslims who are terrorists are a
minority and that Muslims desire peace as much as
anyone else have also been brushed aside.
Fundamentalism
48. Fundamentalism is the most abused of words. It
is equated with extremism. Yet if the teachings of
Islam are studied, it would be clear that the best
Muslims are the fundamentalists. The fundamentals
of Islam are based on peace. Indeed, Islam means
peace. The people who are usually described as
fundamentalists are far from following the
fundamentals of the Islamic religion. On the
contrary, they are people who reject the teachings
of Islam or who deviate from them. Most of them
have seemingly reverted to the pre-Islamic
`Jahilliah' ways of extreme loyalty to their groups,
to fanaticism or `taasub'.
49. In calling these deviationists Muslim
fundamentalists, the West has displayed its lack of
understanding of Islam. The West certainly fails to
appreciate the problem faced by many Muslims. When
beliefs are strong and widespread, whether they are
right or wrong, it is not easy for anyone to differ.
To do so would risk accusations of heresy. The
consequences can be very unpleasant. People who go
against these extreme deviationist groups risks
ostracism or even violence. For these reasons the
majority prefer not to be openly critical or to
oppose. But when non-believers condemn all Muslims
as terrorists and plain bad people, they certainly
are not being helpful. They are simply pushing the
good Muslims into the arms of the deviationist.
50. Islam is the religion of people who once
dominated the world; dominated it not only in terms
of territorial size and political strengths, but in
terms of the sciences, the arts, technology, skills
in exploration, navigation and in trade and
industry. For almost 800 years the Muslim Arabs
ruled the largest empire known up till the 15th
century and then the Muslim Turks and Mongols
presided over an even bigger Empire.
51. Empires, of course, rise and decline and the
Muslim Empires did not escape this cycle. But
throughout, their greatest foes were the Europeans.
Having embraced Christianity, another Asian
religion, the Europeans were quite fanatical in
their opposition to Islam. From the very beginning
there was a deliberate campaign to distort Islamic
teachings, to prevent the Europeans from
understanding it and so risk their conversion.
52. It is not surprising that the fall of the
Turkish Empire was largely due to the machinations
of European powers. Playing on Arab nationalist
sentiments and the promise of independence from
Turkish rule, the European powers obtained Arab
cooperation to break up the Turkish Empire. But
almost immediately the Arabs found that they had
exchanged domination by fellow Muslim for European
domination. All the Arab territories were occupied
and exploited by the Europeans.
53. Despite their enforced close association with
the Muslims in their Middle Eastern and North
African empires and elsewhere, no attempt was made
to understand Islam and its influence on Muslim life
and thoughts. There was always that latent
antagonism which the Europeans never manifested
against other non-Christian faiths. While many
races which came into contact with Islam accepted it
to some extent, the Europeans almost universally
rejected it.
54. The people of European origin of today may not
be so fanatically Christian but the attitude towards
Muslims and Islam remains. And this is manifested
in very painful ways for the Muslims. Whole nations
are isolated, blockaded and punished for the faults
of a few. Muslims were allowed to be slaughtered in
full view of their so-called European protectors.
55. Is it any wonder that the Muslims are bitter
and seek to avenge the wrongs visited upon them? Is
it any wonder that they resort to violence? But
still only a few do so.
56. The Europeans should be able to understand
this, for this is also the European reaction to
their real or imagined repression by their own
people or others. But no attempt is made to
understand or appreciate the frustrations of the
Muslims. True, the fall of the Muslims and the
deterioration in their practice and interpretation
of Islam can largely be blamed on them. But the
anti-Muslim propaganda and deliberate
misunderstanding of the religion by the Europeans
have merely aggravated the frustrations of the
Muslims.
57. Malaysia has a Muslim majority and the
Government is Muslim dominated. Although the
Muslims have sufficient majority to rule the country
on their own, they have chosen not to do so.
Instead they deliberately chose to share power with
the non-Muslim minorities.
58. In 1969 race riots broke out in Malaysia,
resulting in some 200 people, mostly non-Muslims,
being killed. An emergency was declared and the
Muslim Malays took over the Government. The Western
press declared that democracy was dead in Malaysia
and wrote it off as another developing country
destined for the waste-basket of history.
59. Yet today Malaysia, still under a Muslim
dominated Government, is peaceful, stable and
prosperous, growing at 8 percent per annum for
almost 10 years. The Muslims of Malaysia are
apparently not terrorists. Indeed, they have proven
themselves capable of living and working with non-
Muslims to create a united and progressive nation.
60. There are no feuds in Malaysia; not between
Muslims nor between Muslims and non-Muslims. The
official religion of Malaysia is Islam but Buddhist,
Hindu, and Taoist temples and Christian churches are
to be seen everywhere. Religious festivals of the
different races and faiths are celebrated by
everyone together. The non-Muslims in Malaysia do
not regard Muslims as terrorists or Islam a violent
creed.
61. One would have thought that Muslims and non-
Muslims would look to Malaysia as an example of the
practice of Islam. But the West and their media
refuse to recognise that the Muslims of Malaysia
actually exemplify the teachings of Islam. They
prefer to regard Malaysian Muslims and their
behaviour as aberrations. They keep on asking about
fundamentalism in Malaysia and when told that there
are really no Islamic fundamentalists of the kind
they describe, they reject the claim. The prejudice
against Islam and Muslims remains even with
Malaysia.
62. Islam is indeed a misunderstood religion. Such
is the misunderstanding and the prejudice against it
that Muslim and Non-Muslim alike often regard it as
an impediment, as a barrier to good peaceful
relations between Muslims and non-Muslims and even
between Muslims and Muslims. Both regard this
religion that brought greatness to the Arabs and
built a very progressive empire as being responsible
for everything bad that happened between Muslims and
non-Muslims.
63. Ignorant of the teachings of Islam and
frustrated by the apparent failures of Islam and
with their own countries, some Muslims tend to
deride and even condemn the religion. Others, again
due to frustration with the Muslim communities in
which they live and ignorant about the teachings of
Islam and its history, suggest that the Quran itself
is at fault and needs to be revised.
64. When such frustrations are aired, the western
media, the principal guide to western intellectual
thinking, would make heroes or heroines of these
religiously illiterate and untutored people. The
Western countries would confer upon them awards and
make them out to be brave people fighting the
injustices of Islam.
65. The West would love to hear me condemn the
religion of Islam for the failures of Muslims and
their nations. But I know that their concerns about
Islam and the Muslim are at best academic. I
suspect that all they want to see is the removal of
Islam as a faith, the way that Communism was
debunked. But that will not serve the cause of good
inter-religious or non-religious relations between
Muslims and the others.
66. The answer lies in correcting or abandoning the
tendentious and incorrect interpretations of Islam
by some of the `Ulamas'. These interpreters of
Islam, no matter how learned they may be in the
teachings of the religion or how large may be their
following or how established are their teachings,
are not prophets. There is only one prophet for the
Muslims and he is Muhammad, the last of Allah's
messenger who brought and spread the faith of Islam
among man. Muhammad and the Quran cannot be wrong
but the interpreters of Islam can be.
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