Oleh : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat : PALACE OF THE GOLDEN HORSES
KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh : 30-09-2000
Tajuk : AT THE LAUNCH OF THE
INTERNATIONAL HAJI CONFERENCE
Penyampai : PM
On behalf of the government and the people of Malaysia,
I wish all delegates "Selamat Datang" or "Welcome" to the
International Conference on Haj Guidance, the first to be
held in Malaysia. I hope it will be a fruitful and
successful discussion to all of you. It is a great honour
for me to be given this opportunity to address you and to
open this inaugural conference.
2. The Haj Pilgrimage is an event that has no parallel in
the world. More than two million Muslims from every corner
of the world, from all walks of life, often travelling great
distances and enduring great hardship would come and gather
in the holy cities of Mekah and Madinah and the fields of
Arafah to perform the rituals and recite the prayers,
submitting to Allah as reaffirmation of their faith in
Islam, their religion.
3. But the Haj is more than just a religious ritual. It
is a gathering of the `ummah' where there is a sense of
oneness, a sense of being brothers as enjoined by Islam.
For those who come from many lands, the gathering is a
gathering of brothers of the same faith. The feeling of
kinship was real.
4. This is the significance and the true achievement of
the Haj other than the performance of the fifth pillar of
the faith as enjoined by Islam. The performance of the
rituals and the utterances of the prayers are for oneself,
for each of the faithful. They gain merit by their
performance for themselves. But the brotherhood of the
pilgrims, the message that that implies is for all Muslims,
for the Muslim `ummah' who over the years and centuries have
become divided into so many sects and nations which quite
often are at odds with each other, even at war with each
other. They seemingly feel no longer as brothers. They
seem to have rejected a cardinal principle of Islam, that
they are really one people, one ummah.
5. Of course the avoidance of conflict and fighting is a
part of the Haj for fighting is forbidden during the holy
month and in the holy places. Even before the coming of
Islam this was so. But Islam goes further. Fighting and
killing by Muslims of other Muslims is forbidden anywhere,
at any time.
6. But quite clearly Muslims are ignoring the injunction
blatantly. Muslims are fighting and killing Muslims
everywhere. Sometimes they condemned their Muslim enemies
as being `kafir', non-Muslims, apostates in order to justify
their killing of fellow Muslims. Sometimes they just did
not bother to do even this. They just regard their enemies
as enemies inspite of their being fellow Muslims. In a way
we can say that many Muslims have reverted to the pre-
Islamic days of ignorance, the age of the Jahiliah, when
Arab tribes hold their tribe as the sole object of their
loyalty. They would side with their tribe even if what
their tribe did was wrong. Today it is their nation or even
their political parties that they fanatically uphold and
fight for and kill other Muslims. In their eyes their
nation and their political parties and groups can do no
wrong even when they ignore the clear injunctions of Islam.
7. And so despite the Haj, despite the injunction against
fighting and killing other Muslims, the Muslims are bitterly
divided against each other. They fight each other without
compunction. They even side with non-Muslims in order to
ensure their Muslim enemies are defeated, subjugated and
oppressed. They care not for Muslim brotherhood. Indeed
when they invoke the brotherhood of Islam, it is only to
justify their assault against other Muslims. The sufferings
of other Muslims mean nothing to them. If fellow Muslims
are oppressed and massacred even they will not help because
they are too preoccupied with their own quarrels, their
fights among themselves.
8. Yet the al-Quran and the Hadis tells us about how the
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. banished the narrow and fanatical
loyalties of the Arab tribes, in particular the Meccan
refugees and the people of Madinah through the unifying
teachings of Islam and set up the first Muslim state of many
tribes. And the united Muslims then defeated their
`Khuraish' enemies until eventually the whole Arabian
Peninsular and more were united for the first time. We know
from history that the Muslims then went on not just to
conquer most of the known world at that time but to unite
the people of different races and creed and to build an
empire the like of which the world had never known. Though
many in the Empire remained faithful to their original
religion, most embraced Islam and the Arab language. The
community of the Muslims grew far bigger than the sum total
of Arabs and they went on to achieve glory for Allah for 13
centuries. There was no talk then that the world belongs to
the infidels, the kafir, and that for the Muslims, Allah has
prepared for them heaven in the hereafter. They therefore
should not seek to widen their territories nor strive to
increase the number of Muslims.
9. The Muslims of the Golden Age of Islam must have been
tolerant because they were ready to study the works of the
ancient scholars including the Greek philosophers in order
to add to their knowledge and to apply them. Today we read
of the great Muslim scientists, doctors and mathematicians;
the great navigators, the experts in metal and glass work,
the producers of all kinds of quality goods to meet the
needs of their people and the rest of the world. But to
their ranks we add no more nor do we care to achieve the
greatness of those Muslims of the past.
10. But we know that today we Muslims are less tolerant.
We regard only the study of religion and its practices, the
enhancement of religious rituals not originally prescribed
as the only thing that should be incumbent upon us.
Anything else carries no merit and should not occupy our
time. Religion is about rituals, to be observed in order to
get merit in the afterlife.
11. We cannot determine the exact date when we became less
tolerant and reject what we claim to be unIslamic and not
religious. Some even go so far as to describe everything
that is not directly concerned with the knowledge of Islam
and the Islamic rituals as being secular and must be
rejected. But the decline of the Muslims must coincide with
this date of rejection. We say it does not matter because
we are destined for heaven while those who are successful in
this world would end up in hell.
12. But do we know for certain that we are without sin and
are destined for heaven? The al-Quran has enjoined upon us
to ensure the safety of ourselves as Muslims by being
prepared with all the worldly needs to defend ourselves and
to frighten our enemies. It is quite obvious that we have
not heeded this injunction. As a result the Muslims all
over the world are oppressed. Many have been forced to
emigrate to non-Muslim countries. We cannot claim to be
emulating the early Muslims who went to a Christian country
to save themselves. They were running away from the non-
Muslim Mekah. Today Muslim emigrants are running away from
Muslim land, from fellow Muslims.
13. Can we say that being dependent upon non-Muslims for
our defence is in accord with the teachings of Islam? We
perform the Haj every year flying in aircrafts made by non-
Muslims, sometimes piloted by non-Muslims. What this mean
is that without the technology of the non-Muslims a much
lesser number of us would be able to perform the Haj. We
say that aiding someone in the performance of a necessary
`ibadah' is as incumbent (wajib) upon us as the performance
of the `ibadah' itself. We have done little and are quite
incapable of aiding fellow Muslims in the performance of the
Haj. Can we believe that we have not disobeyed the
injunction of our religion? Can we believe that we have not
sinned for failing to perform the `Fardu Kifayah' by
preparing for the defence of the `ummah' or by helping the
`ummah' to perform an enjoined ritual? Can we truly believe
that we have a place in heaven despite these failures and
many other failures?
14. We should not be too complacent about our place in the
`akhirat'. We should really examine whether all that we
need to do is to focus on the performance of `Fardu Ain' for
ourselves and ignore our other worldly duty. Does Islam
teach us to be selfish and perform only those rituals which
will gain merit for us alone and ignore our duties to the
Muslim community which are equally enjoined by Islam? Can
we ignore `Fardu Kifayah' because we have perform `Fardu
Ain' for ourselves?
15. We say proudly that Islam is no ordinary faith. It is
a way of life. Is the way of life that the Muslims must
practise limited entirely to preparing for the `akhirat'
through the performance of rituals and esoteric prayers
while neglecting the well-being of the `ummah' completely,
while letting Muslims to be oppressed, while quarrelling and
fighting each other? If we think that is what is meant by
the Islamic way of life, then there is nothing more to be
said. But I don't believe that the Islamic way of life is
limited to the performance of the compulsory rituals and the
acquisition of religious knowledge which gains merit for
oneself only. The Islamic way of life is the way that will
ensure that Muslims and Islam are highly regarded and
respected, that Muslims and their countries are not
oppressed, that Muslim Governments are skilled in
administration and able to provide the necessities of life,
that they can govern wisely and with justice; that Muslims
are also foremost in the field of worldly knowledge and
skills, that they are able to exploit the resources Allah
has given them, that they are benignly rich and considerate
of the poor and the miserable, whether Muslims or non-
Muslims, that they are the epitome of all that is virtuous
and honourable in the human race.
16. There is a view that the religious rituals we perform
are mere expressions of the faith and carry no guidance for
the life of Muslims. It is enough to perform them and to
gain merit thereby. There is nothing else to be learnt from
the rituals that we perform. But others believe that these
rituals have something more to teach us, so we may be better
Muslims.
17. The Haj cannot be just a ritual which we perform
because we are enjoined to perform so we may gain merit for
the next world. The Haj must surely be more than that.
There must be more lessons from the Haj for us Muslims.
There must be some significance in what we do and in our
expression of total submission to Allah.
18. You are here at this International Conference on Haj
Guidance to expand our knowledge and lessons from the
performance of the Haj. I am sure that Allah will give you
guidance and that you in turn will be able to enlighten us,
the Muslim `ummah'. The Muslims are in dire need of guidance
for many of us have lost our way. We want to return to the
right path. But we are confused by the myriads of
interpretations of our religion, and we are thus unable to
derive from this great religion the essence that will make
us true followers and a great people once again.
19. You will not be able to solve everything but we hope to
be better enlightened by your deliberations.
20. On this note, I have great pleasure in opening this
First International Conference on Haj Guidance.
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