Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy that is located in Southeast Asia. It occupies part of the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo. Malaysia is separated into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, which comprises thirteen states and three federal territories. The official religion of Malaysia is Islam. The constitution of the country however, guarantees freedom of religion. The non-Muslims therefore who reside in Malaysia are able to profess and practice their respective faith and religion freely. The aim of this study is to identify the contemporary issues (Liberalism in Islam) that are faced by the Muslim intellectuals in Malaysia and to derive possible solutions to address the problems. Pursuant to the findings of this case study, we can conclude that the foundation that stems liberalism is rooted from the lack of knowledge and exposure on religious teachings. Therefore, we hope to tackle the confusion surrounding the liberal understanding of Islam.
Introduction
Liberalism is a worldview that is created from the ideas of liberty and equality. Liberalism is divided into two understanding, namely; classical liberalism and social liberalism. The classical liberalism stresses on the role of liberty and the social liberalism emphasizes on the importance of equality. Both understandings however, support the ideas of inter alia the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of civil rights and gender equality. Malaysia is a secular state that holds Islam as the official religion of the country. Therefore, it places Malaysia in a precarious position especially in this age of advance technology where information and ideas float freely throughout the borderless cyber world and available for the consumption of everyone. Due to this, it is easily understood the reason liberalism in Islam is overwhelmed with dilemmas. The Rukun Negara of the country was introduced pursuant to the aftermath of May 13 tragedy. The liberal ideals were repeated in Rukun Negara where it held that Malaysia aspires to achieve unity amongst its people through a liberal approach. Vision 2020 also holds that Malaysia will live in a democratic, liberal, tolerant, caring, economically just and equitable, progressive and prosperous society. Therefore, it is clear that liberalism forms an important part of our nation’s birth and progression for several decades. However, the term “Liberalism” in this context has been misunderstood and misused. Alien conservative ideas that go against our country’s founding principles are introduced to the people and are putting a dark cloud over our country – creating problems which separates the unity between Muslims. The problems create a barrier and gap between Muslims who have different opinions and understanding towards the teachings of Islam. Muslims in Malaysia are then divided into two sects, namely; the liberal Muslims and the conservative Muslims, both of whom interpret the Muslim scriptures and laws differently. Liberal Muslims are taking a stand against the conservatives by funding and building their own Non-governmental Organizations (NGO) to promote their differences in ideas and opinions on Islamic teachings. One of which is the famous feminist NGO called Sisters In Islam. Sisters in Islam is a civil society organization committed to promote the rights of women within the frameworks of Islam and universal human rights which are based on the principles of equality, justice and freedom enjoined in the holy Quran. Their organization was also founded to break the dominant belief that Islam discriminates the LGBTQ+ Muslim community. The organization consists of lawyers, academics, journalists, analysts and activists.
Problems
In the era of globalization, many Malaysians seek interpretation of the Quranic verses through articles posted online to learn and understand more about the religion, Islam. Due to the current issues we face in the 21st century such as the rights of same sex marriage and gender equality, many interpretations are made to show that Islam is a liberal religion where it is accepting towards everything and anything without boundaries. Therefore, Malaysian of this age are leaning more towards the liberal views as the views given by the conservatives are too narrow-minded. Therefore this produces younger generations who are more accepting towards the liberal views than the conservative views in addressing matters. Liberals in our nation love to reassess and challenge the views of classic Muslim Scholars on many things to fit the current problems in the country to show the progression of Islam.
The problems that we examined are the following:
2. The views of Sisters in Islam in supporting the construction of a LGBTQ+ mosque
The Sisters in Islam is fueled by the question of “If God is just as Islam is just, why do laws and policies made in the name of Islam create injustice?”. It used this as the basis to search for solutions and to address the problem of discrimination led by the Muslims in Malaysia towards Muslim women and the Muslim LGBTQ+ community, in the name of Islam. The first finding from this case study is regarding the views of Sisters in Islam in supporting the construction of a LGBTQ+ mosque in South Africa to cater for the LGBTQ+ Muslims. The sole purpose of the mosque is to guide the LGBTQ+ Muslims who were left astray by their families and to bring them back to the right path. The imam of the mosque is the second openly gay imam in the world. The organization supports the construction of the gay mosque in light that it demonstrates the principle of equality where men, women, gays, lesbians and transgender are allowed to pray side by side, in the same sahfs (“the same row or same line”). This reflects that no gender is superior towards another, in which fits the aim to destroy the stereotype that female are weaker than male. Secondly, they support the view that, the LGBTQ+ Muslims are God’s creation and like any other creation, therefore the LGBTQ+ Muslims are equal in the eyes of Allah. They believe that since we live in a plural society in terms of race, religion, within the religion itself, we are also plural in terms of sexuality. If we believe that God determines everything then surely a person’s sexuality is not a matter of choice. This is because the sexuality of a person has already been pre-determined by Allah. Therefore, we did not choose to be heterosexual and by this reason, nobody chooses to be homosexual either. In this way, we are all equal before the Divine. Therefore there is no justification on the savage discrimination that is inflicted on these LGBTQ+s by some of us. In light of this, if every single gay man, woman, child, in this country were to be persecuted for their sexual orientation, would it guarantee that Allah will not befall disaster on us? The organization lashes their frustration on the abhorrently arrogant way the authorities have conducted themselves in addressing matters concerning LGBTQ+ in the past year where they label those who complain about discrimination and abuse as irreligious. Therefore, the LGBTQ+ Muslims have the right to build their own mosque as they are not allowed to enter into mosques without being out-lashed and frown upon by society. They believe that rather than them going astray, it is better for them to pray to Allah and to provide them a proper place of worship, a place where they are able to congregate in the name of Allah.
Methods
Issue 2:
The Sisters in Islam has drawn major criticism from conservative Muslim intellectuals in Malaysia due to their liberal views on LGBTQ+. Many conservative organizations have taken course of action towards the group to stop the spread of liberal religious thinking in Malaysia. The Malaysian Assembly of Mosque Youth (MAMY) for example, took action against the organization by filing a lawsuit, alleging the misuse of the word “Islam” in the organization’s name. In 2014, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council issued a fatwa declaring that the organization (SIS) and any other organizations promoting religious liberalism and pluralism are considered as a deviate group that deviate from the teachings of Islam. Therefore the organization and any other organizations that promote the same ideology were declared unlawful.
Results
Issue 2:
As fatwas are considered binding in the state, Sisters in Islam filed a judicial review on the gazetted fatwa issued by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council. The Gazette declared the organization as deviating from Islam. According to the fatwa entitled “Pemikiran Liberalism dan Pluralisme Agama” or “Liberalism and Pluralism In Religious Thoughts”, it declared Sisters In Islam Forums in Malaysia as subscribing to liberalism and religious pluralism, therefore deviating from the teachings of Islam. The gazetted fatwa also allows the banning and seizing of any publications that are deemed liberal and plural. In addition, the gazette fatwa also calls for any form of social media that promotes such liberal and plural content to be monitored and restricted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commissions (MCMC). The Board of Directors of the non-government organization however demanded the reasons for the fatwa. It asked the authorities to define the meaning of liberalism and pluralism and to spell out explicitly what they did was against Islam. The approach by the conservative Muslims however have backlashed the actions they have taken against the liberal Muslims such as Sister in Islam. It did not make them fearful. On the contrary, they have “rebelled” and even making them more vocal. In their reaction of such ban is that they are demanding for an explanation why it should be banned. The liberals are made of intellectuals and professional. Hence, using psychological approach such as an intellectual discourse would be more effective in dealing with such liberal movements unless such approach has been utilized and exhausted, the ban would be the ultimate. This is because to retract what has been banned would make the authorities look like incompetent due to the “flip-flopped” decision.