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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : AL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY, CAIRO, EGYPT
Tarikh/Date : 10/05/98
Tajuk/Title : TOLERATION AND MODERATION IN ISLAM
"TOLERATION AND MODERATION IN ISLAM"
I am deeply conscious of the honour of being
invited to speak at this august and ancient seat of
Islamic learning. I am aware that despite my efforts to
learn about the teachings and practices of Islam, I am
in the presence of those who are truly learned in the
subject. I accepted this invitation because I hold very
strongly to my religion and I regret the perceptions
about it both by non-Muslims and Muslims which have lead
to Islam and Muslims being vilified, being associated
with unsavoury activities and even made fun of. All
these perception and vilification are due not to Islam
itself but to the interpretations given to it by Muslims
and non-Muslims with vested interest, wanting to justify
the wrongs that they have done or intend to do. Our
religion is perfect but we are not perfect. It is our
imperfections and refusal to adhere to the true
teachings of Islam that has lead to the decline and to
the unfortunate circumstance that Muslims worldwide are
in today.
2. I would like to thank the University of Al-Azhar
for inviting me to speak on the topic of "TOLERATION AND
MODERATION IN ISLAM". This is a very pertinent topic
given the fact that Islam as a religion and Muslims as a
community are currently being equated with intolerance
and extremism not just by non-Muslims but even by some
Muslims of professedly liberal views.
3. Islam as preached and propagated by the Prophet,
Muhammad s.a.w. is a tolerant and moderate religion.
This is evident from many of the Prophet's sunnah, by
his attitude towards those members of his family who did
not embrace Islam, by his attitude and treatment of the
peoples of Mekah, his former enemies when Mekah
surrendered to him, by his injunctions against the ill-
treatment of prisoners, of Muslims who had erred and
even of apostates. In none of these was he extreme and
rigid. In all he showed understanding, moderation and
tolerance.
4. At no time did his tolerance and forebearance
manifest themselves more than during the drawing up of
the Treaty of Hudaibiyah. We know how the jahiliah
citizens of Mekah ill-treated him and his followers, how
they prevented the pilgrims from Medinah from performing
the haj. We know too how arrogant were the Mekans when
the treaty was drawn up, rejecting the inclusion of the
Unity of Allah and the Prophethood of Muhammad in the
text. His followers resented the behaviour of the
jahiliah. They wanted to reject negotiation, to reject
the words and the terms of the treaty. But the Prophet,
Muhammad s.a.w. prevailed and accepted the text of the
Treaty of Hudaibiyah and sealed it. He was not just
being diplomatic and wise but he was showing the
greatest degree of toleration and moderation even in his
dealing with his bitter detractors and enemies. And we
know what happened in the following year. He and his
followers entered Mekah without much resistance by the
citizens and they all eventually accepted Islam. He was
magnanimous to them, even to Hendon who had eaten the
liver of Saidina Hamzah at Uhud. And the behaviour of
the Prophet at Mekah won over all the Arabs of the whole
Peninsular so that they all embraced Islam and united
into one ummah. From then on the spread of Islam as a
faith and as the motivating spirit to build an empire
could no longer be resisted. Such was the significance
and the miracle wrought by moderation and tolerance for
Islam and the ummah.
5. In case we still doubt that Islam enjoins us to be
moderate and tolerant, doubt that the Prophet followed
the injunctions of Islam when he was magnanimously
tolerant and moderate to his followers and to his
enemies, let us look at what the Quran says about
moderation and tolerance in Islam.
Surah Al-Mumtahinah, Verse 8 says,
" Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight
you not for (your) Faith nor drive you out of your
homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for
Allah loveth those who are just. "
Surah Ali-'Imran, Verse 159 says,
" It is part of the Mercy of Allah that thou dost deal
gently with them. Wert thou severe or harsh-hearted,
they would have broken away from about thee: so pass
over (Their faults), and ask for ((Allah)'s) forgiveness
for them; and consult them in affairs (of moment).
Then, when thou has Taken a decision put thy trust in
Allah. For Allah loves those who put their trust (in
Him). "
6. The Constitution of Medina encouraged cooperation
and solidarity among Muslims, Christians, Jews and
others. The Constitution which was put in writing
ensured freedom, including the freedom of worship,
equality and justice for all.
Thus in Surah Al-Kafirun, the non-believers were told, "
To you your religion, and to me my religion. "
7. It was the same teachings of Islam which united the
Ansar and Muhajirin into "an ummah distinct from all
other peoples of the world", but he also referred to the
Jewish clans who allied themselves with him, as "an
ummah along with the Believers", even though each
continued to practise its own faith.
8. One of the most significant teachings brought by
the Prophet to the Arab tribes was the futility and the
wrongness of the eternal feuds. We know that before
Islam these tribes fought against each other
continuously over some slight or quarrel that they had
had in the distant past. They had even forgotten the
reasons for their quarrels but for generations they
would remain enemies and would attack each other
whenever they met. They were wholly consumed by tribal
loyalties and hatred of each other.
9. This fanatical unquestioning espousal of tribalism
and a tribal cause through generations can only result
in wasteful fighting, disunity and weakness. Islam
condemns fanaticism which invariably leads to and is
associated with extremism, lack of moderation and
tolerance. Certainly one of the greatest achievements
of the Prophet and of Islam was to bring the tribes
together, to give them a new common and sensible loyalty
and to enable Islam to spread eventually worldwide.
In Surah Ali-'Imran Verse 103, inter alia Allah says,
"And remember with gratitude Allah's favour on you, For
ye were enemies And He joined your hearts in love, so
that by His Grace, Ye became brethren".
10. The loyalty to Islam was not fanatical. It was
based on reason, on the knowledge that unity brought
strength and enabled success to be achieved. It was a
loyalty that tolerated differences even in the practice
of Islam. It was not rigid. Only if the articles of
faith, the acceptance of the one Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala and that Muhammad is his Prophet are rejected is
a person no longer Muslim. Today there are literally
millions of non-practising Muslims but they are still
people of the faith because they have not rejected the
Oneness of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and that Muhammad
is his Prophet. We accept them as our brothers praying
that one day their hearts will open and they will be
practising Muslims once more. And indeed today we see
millions who were forced to give up Islam or had lived
in an anti-Islamic environment returning to Islam with
such great ardour, fighting against terrible odds in
order to protect their belief.
11. But do Muslims follow the teachings of Islam
regarding tolerance and moderation? The answer is
"Yes". The vast majority of Muslims throughout the
world are faithful to the injunctions of Islam to be
tolerant and moderate. But in any society, in any
grouping and in any religion there will be the 'black
sheep', the exceptions to the rule.
12. There are Christian extremists more cruel and
intolerant than Muslim extremists. We see them in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, raping, torturing and killing fellow
Slavs simply because these Slavs are Muslim.
Historically of course, the Spanish Inquisition which
lasted 300 years exhibited an extreme degree of
intolerance on the part of Catholic Christians. In
Ireland religious intolerance among Christians resulted
in a long-drawn out war. And the Christian militia in
Lebanon wrecked that jewel of a country.
13. We see intolerance in the Jewish state of Netanyahu
and some of the Jewish religious parties of Israel.
Forgetting their own oppression by the Christians of
Europe, they oppress the Arabs of Muslim and Christian
faiths and confine them to ghettoes in the same way that
they were themselves treated by Hitler's Germany.
14. The Hindus and the Buddhists are also given to
extremism leading to intolerance and oppression of
others not of their own faith.
15. No one has a monopoly of tolerance and moderation.
In any society, in any religion there will be
aberrations. We are tempted to label everyone in a
society with an abberant minority with the same label.
And having labelled we then proceed to act in a manner
that reflects our prejudices towards the whole of that
society.
16. Within the Islamic community, the ummah, we must
admit that we have a fair share of aberrations, of
extremist intolerance and immoderation despite the fact
that these are against the teachings of Islam. And as
is usual we, the Muslims, are all tarred with the same
brush by our detractors. The unfortunate thing is that
quite often the extremist and the intolerant have gained
such power over their own communities that they are able
to influence almost everyone with their perception of
things. And so among non-Muslims, in particular the
ethnic Europeans, there is almost total belief that
Muslims and terrorists are one and the same thing. They
perceive Islam as a religion which preaches intolerance
and immoderation no matter how we try to explain that it
is not, that it is due to misinterpretations, that it is
as much an aberration as the Inquisition was to
Christianity, as much as the cruelties and intolerance
of the Serbs are not typical of the Eastern Orthodox
Church. This unfortunate perception of Islam persists.
17. Do we need to worry about how others, in particular
our detractors perceive Islam and the Muslims? I think
we should worry. When the Prophet received his wahyu,
the first followers came from among those who see in
Islam a means of salvation. The Jahilliah community was
intolerant and cruel and given to infanticide, to taking
innumerable wives of dubious legality, to ill-treatment
of slaves and servants and prisoners, to oppression of
the rich on the poor, the strong on the weak. Islam
preached salvation of the oppressed, just laws,
abolition of infanticide, limitation of wives to four,
equality between the wives and a host of other teachings
which would create a better society. And so the
oppressed turned to Islam and Bilal the oppressed slave
was among the first to accept Islam.
18. Whether we want to spread Islam or not, we have a
duty to explain Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
We have to explain it in such a way as to reduce the
wrong perception of our religion that is now common
worldwide. But the best explanation, the most
convincing argument is through demonstrating visibly the
true teachings of Islam with regard to tolerance and
moderation, and the rejection of fanaticism and
extremism.
19. Islamic justice is based on equitability between
crime and punishment; roughly exemplified by the
aphorism, 'an eye for an eye'. But what is less known
but nevertheless equally strong a principle is the
stress on moderation and the quality of mercy in the
dispensation of justice.
20. The Quran repeatedly enjoins us to be considerate
and merciful. It gives the person wronged the right to
demand equity, to demand an eye for an eye, a life for a
life but it also provides for compensation in lieu of ,
for forgiveness and mercy. An eye for an eye is not
mandatory. It merely evaluates the crime and the
appropriate punishment.
In Surah Al-Maaidah, Verse 45, Allah says,
" We ordained therein for them: Life for life, eye for
eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and
wounds equal for equal. But if any one remits the
retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement
for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of)
what Allah hath revealed, they are (No better than)
wrong-doers. "
21. Allah is Merciful and Compassionate. Can we really
believe that He does not want us to be merciful and
compassionate? To be merciful and compassionate
requires tolerance and moderation. Certainly the single-
minded quest for revenge, the consuming desire to
inflict upon our enemies what they have inflicted upon
us is not in keeping with being Merciful and
Compassionate.
22. If we are to correct this image of Islam, if we
want to banish the perception that Muslims are
implacable enemies, intolerant, immoderate and extreme
then we must demonstrate a willingness to forego the
desire for revenge, for unmitigated violence. Killing
each other and killing others in order to emphasise the
depth and strength of our commitment to our struggle may
succeed in drawing attention to our grievances, but they
will not lead to the success of our struggle. We know
that the more the injustice and the oppression that are
heaped upon us, the greater will be our determination to
fight on. Similarly the more we inflict the same on our
enemies, the more determined they will be. And the
greater will be their resistance. We will not win that
way unless of course it is not winning or success that
we are after but the desire to seek revenge for the sake
of revenge, to satisfy our animal desires.
23. It is therefore imperative that we cultivate the
values of tolerance and moderation that are enjoined
upon us by our faith. We know that the Quran says that
failures and wrongs are due to us and that success comes
from our Creator, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. So far we
have failed. We have failed to regain our past glory.
We have failed to protect ourselves. We have failed
even to keep up our strength and our knowledge. All
these are due to our own faults, faults which emanate
from our failure to adhere to the teachings of Islam as
contained in the Quran and the verified Hadith. It is
not due to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, to what He has
ordained for us.
24. But there will be those who believe that they are
truly following the teachings of Islam because they
perform all the rituals and more, because of their
superficial appearances being compatible with what they
think is the image of Islam. I do not question the
strength of their faith. But Islam is not just about
rituals and appearances. Islam is a way of life, Ad-
din. And the way of life is reflected not just in
religious piety but also in those characteristics of
tolerance and moderation in all that we do.
25. How can we pray and then go forth to seek revenge
against fellow Muslims by slaughtering them? They may
not pray as much as we pray, but can we really know
whether they have gained less merit than we have? Surely
only Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala will know who adheres
more to the teachings of Islam, we or they. Can we then
take it upon ourselves to pass judgement on the Islam of
others, to punish these people and in the process weaken
Muslims and allow those who are against Islam and the
Muslims to triumph over us? How many times have Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala repeated in the Quran that we may
not assume that those whom we condemn are less pious
than us, that they may be even more Muslim than us. Our
condemnation of others is in fact a reflection of our
intolerance and that certainly is against the teachings
of Islam.
Verse 11 of Surah Al-Hujuraat, makes this quite
clear and I quote:
" O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at
others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the
(former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be
that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor
defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each
other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name
connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has
believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed)
doing wrong. "
26. Islam is a pragmatic religion. It is not meant as
an imposition on the followers. It is not meant to
bring hardship on them.
Thus In Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 256, Allah says,
" Let there be no compulsion in religion. "
and in Surah Al-Maaidah, Verse 6, Allah says,
" O ye who believe! When ye prepare for prayer, wash
your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; Rub
your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the
ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity,
bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill, or on a
journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or
ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or
earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands, Allah
doth not wish to place you in a difficulty, but to make
you clean, and to complete his favour to you, that ye
may be grateful. "
27. We know that not all Muslim communities live in
countries with a population one hundred percent Muslim.
Today more and more Muslims are living in non-Muslim
countries, in non-Muslim communities. There are things
that a hundred percent Muslim community can do which
cannot be done in a community in which the Muslim
majority is small, or indeed in which they are a
minority. Those Muslims living in a purely Muslim
country must remember that in this shrinking world
anything that is done in one Muslim community or country
will affect the lives of other Muslim communities.
28. We may, in a largely Muslim country be intolerant
and oppressive towards the few non-Muslims in our midst.
But we must always remember that this may affect the
lives of those Muslims who make up the minority in
another country. We would not like these Muslim
minorities in so many countries to suffer because of our
actions against the non-Muslims in our midst.
29. True sometimes even when we are fair and just,
tolerant towards the non-Muslims in our midst, Muslim
minorities in other countries are still oppressed. What
did we do to deserve the atrocities against Muslims in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere? But the ways of Allah
are beyond us to reason. What we do know is that we are
far from living up to the way of life as enjoined by our
religion. We pick and choose those teachings which can
justify our desires and disregard those which would show
that we are wrong.
30. In Malaysia, Muslims are in the majority, but only
just. More than 40 percent of our population is made up
of non-Muslims. Under British rule, the races were
separated from each other physically and by occupation.
The separation was augmented by religious differences,
the Malays being entirely Muslims, the Chinese Buddhist
or Taoist and the Indians Hindus. Clearly all the
elements for conflict were there when independence
forced the races to come into contact with each other.
31. But the tolerance and moderation of Malaysia's
first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman brought the
ethnic-based political parties under one coalition, the
Alliance. The racist extremists left the Alliance to
form alternative parties. But the majority stayed with
Tunku Abdul Rahman and the resulting coalition won the
first election held under British rule and subsequent
post-independence elections. In 1969 race riots broke
out because political unity was not enough to overcome
extreme economic disparities. The violence and the
killings did not last long. Within a year the leaders,
especially the Muslim leaders calmed their people by
drawing up a policy to correct economic imbalances.
Since then there has been no race riots of any kind in
Malaysia. Attempts by extremists, both Muslims and non-
Muslims to stir up feelings of intolerance and hatred
failed. The Government curbed any tendency towards
religious extremism through judicial and psychological
persuasion.
32. Today Malaysia is stable and peaceful. Not even
attempts by foreign elements to stir up racial and
religious extremism, to destabilise the economy and
recreate economic disparities between the races have
succeeded in bringing the forces of intolerance and
immoderation back.
33. As a result Malaysia has been able to develop fast.
The economic wealth, the technological knowhow, the
administrative skills have grown among all, including
the Muslims. Today the Muslims are as capable in
administration, politics, science and technology, in
business and in industry as are the non-Muslims.
34. Malaysia's Muslims believe in moderation and
tolerance because that is what our religion tells us.
That is reciprocated by the majority of the non-Muslims.
Indeed they actively support the Muslims in order to
enable them to achieve the same degree of development
and success. Tolerance and moderation have therefore
paid off handsomely for the Muslims in Malaysia. We see
not just a religious dogma in the teachings of Islam but
truly a good way of life.
35. Tolerance and moderation is clearly a part of the
teachings of Islam. If we ignore these teachings then
we will not only be sinning but we will be depriving
ourselves of the benefits of Islam. If because of this
we fail, if we become weak and oppressed, we have only
ourselves to blame.
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