Muslims must see difference between criticism and insult, says ex-Perlis mufti
In a veiled attack against an ustaz, who incurred the wrath of Hindus after a video clip of him insulting Hindus went viral, former Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said Muslims needed to be wiser in differentiating between criticism and insult.
"Everyone needs to be careful. Islam allows us to be critical in order to make people realise things but not to the point of making others feel insulted," Asri told The Malaysian Insider.
The well-known Muslim scholar said Islamic analysis on other faiths using academic arguments was allowed, but attacking or poking fun was clearly forbidden in Islam.
Asri was commenting on Ustaz Shahul Hamid Seeni Mohd who had poked fun at the statue of a Hindu deity on the premises of an Alagappa’s factory in Bukit Mertajam and told his audience at a ceramah four years ago not to buy curry powder from "Hindu companies", such as Alagappa’s and Baba’s.
In the recording that was uploaded onto YouTube, Shahul had said: "If you go to the Alagappa's factory near Permatang Pauh, you will see a statue (goddess) at the entrance, and the tongue is out. Why is the tongue out? Because the goddess must taste all the curry powder before they sell it."
Asri said Muslims needed to be more careful when making statements.
"If he had said that Muslims do not worship idols because Allah does not have such an image, that is okay.
"There is no need to touch on spices because that is not scholarly.
"Everyone needs to be careful. Islam allows us to be critical in order to make people realise things but not to the point of insulting others."
He reminded Muslims not to insult other religions as it was forbidden in the Quran and would bring enmity against Islam.
Asri said Muslims needed to be firm in their stand and be able to differentiate between the concept of Islamic faith and other religions.
But he added that the differences, however, must not result in creating enemies and must not touch on topics that focused on belittling other religions.
"We can criticise academically like, for instance, I cannot accept the old Hindu custom of suttee, where a widow cremates herself with her husband. "But I never poked fun at what they did to the point of causing enmity."
Following the outcry over Shahul’s remarks and subsequent police reports lodged against him by several Hindu NGOs as well as MIC and PPP, which demanded that the authorities act against the preacher, Shahul posted an apology to Hindus and Malaysians on his Facebook page and released a video clip.
On Thursday he reiterated that he never meant to insult Indians or Hindus in his ceramah four years ago.
"I sincerely and openly apologise for the remarks that might have insulted Hindus or the Indian community and others. I assure you that this will never happen again... this is the last time,” he said. – August 3, 2014.
