Setelah fatwa pengharaman pengkid, kini yoga pula masuk dalam senarai terbaru polemik nasional. Biarpun ia menjadi isu yang saya tidak senangi kerana menambah lagi kekusutan dan kekalutan dalam iklim sosial negara, ia juga pada masa sama menunjukkan pada saya sisi-sisi lain tentang watak dan sikap sebenar sebahagian ahli masyarakat kita apabila keadaan menuntut kita berfikir dengan waras, lurus dan matang. Jelas di mata saya, sebahagian daripada kita memang cepat melatah dan melenting tanpa usul periksa.
Justeru, bagi memberikan suluhan kepada isu dan polemik ini saya ingin kongsikan senaskah tulisan dan beberapa petikan kritis – dari dua belah pihak – yang muncul di laman web dan blog yang sempat saya kutip untuk renungan semua khalayak pembaca terutama pelajar saya.
Kepada khalayak pembaca, amatilah maksud tulisan-tulisan berikut sebagai reaksi orang awam terhadap isu ini.
Namun untuk lebih mencelikkan dan menyuluh kita mengenai erti pemahaman lintas budaya dan agama anda perlu membuat kajian lebih lanjut tentang kaedah bagaimana seharusnya pemahaman lintas budaya dan agama dapat diwujudkan dalam konteks masyarakat majmuk di negara kita. Pandangan yang objektif dan mendalam hendaklah diperolehi dari para ilmuan atau sarjana dalam bidang sains sosial. Jadikan amalan merujuk kepada mereka yang ahli atau profesional dalam bidang masing-masing sebelum memuktamadkan pendirian atau pegangan kita. Inilah yang dimaksudkan dengan melakukan ‘usul periksa’ terlebih dahulu!
Naskah pertama ialah tulisan oleh blogger Shamsul Yunos dalam blognya ‘My Anger, It may be yours too’.
Tulisan ini menyinggung sikap tidak rasional penganut Hindu yang kononnya tersentuh ekoran fatwa pengharaman amalan Yoga kerana ada unsur kehinduan yang boleh mencacatkan akidah Islam oleh Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan. Perasaan terhina dan bernada kecewa ini telah dinyatakan oleh MIC baru-baru ini sebagai satu protes ke atas fatwa tersebut.
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
My religion is the best, the others are all wrong
By definition, the religion that we adopt is the one that we think is right, the only one that we think is right or at least it is the best way back to God and by deduction, all other religions must be wrong.
Is that a racist statement or a statement of fact?
If I do not think Islam is the one true path I would not be a Muslim, if someone does not think that Jesus Christ is their saviour, would they Christians?
I bring this up because some people are saying that Hindus are offended by the Fatwa council saying that their chanting is Haram. Why?
Basically all religious practice that is not Islamic is not permissible IN ISLAM. I think that is part and parcel of accepting organised religion.
Then there are those who say that his sink friends said they would not eat animals slaughtered the Muslim way because it is haram to them. Well don’t eat animals slaughtered the Muslim way, many Chinese slaughter their animals their own way because they think it tastes better or whatever.
Then someone wondered aloud how a Muslim would feel if the Hindu Sangam were to say that islamic zikir is haram for Hindus. Well we would be surprised if they encouraged it….
Think about it, Jews don’t believe that Jesus is a Prophet, Christians basically think that Prophet Muhammad is not a Prophet, is that insulting to Muslims who believe that he is the GREATEST Prophet? No. that is the way things are.
Tulisan ini boleh diakses di http://marahku.blogspot.com/.
Berikutnya ialah pandangan dari Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, yang dipetik dari BERNAMA (http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/bm/newsindex.php?id=374274.)
Jangan Jadikan Fatwa Terhadap Yoga Sebagai Isu Agama, Kata Dr Mahathir
KUALA LUMPUR, 25 Nov (Bernama) — Bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hari ini menggesa pihak tertentu supaya tidak menjadikan keputusan Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan yang melarang umat Islam daripada mengamalkan yoga sebagai isu agama.
“Jika mereka (Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan) percaya ianya salah, jadi ianya salah. Malanglah jika orang lain fikir keputusan itu mencela agama mereka. Ia sama lah seperti kita kata orang Islam tidak boleh makan babi, ia bukan menghina orang Cina. Dan ia adalah sama bila orang Islam tidak boleh melakukan yoga. Ia bukan kerana mereka menghina orang Hindu.
“Mereka tidak patut buat begitu. Sama ada orang Melayu ikut atau tidak, itu hal mereka, orang lain tidak boleh jadikannya sebagai isu agama. Seperti perkara lain yang dilarang di dalam Islam, ia bukan menghina orang lain. Tetapi ada orang yang mahu menjadikannya sebagai isu. Saya kesal. Saya sendiri tidak peduli jika anda berdiri di atas kepala atau berdiri di atas kaki anda. Ia bukanlah semata-mata jika anda mengamalkan yoga, anda tiba-tiba menjadi orang bukan Islam,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas menyampaikan ucaptama pada persidangan Antarabangsa Pertama 2008 mengenai Bahasa dan Linguistik anjuran Universiti Islam Antarabangsa di sini, Selasa.
Berikutnya pula ialah beberapa pandangan orang awam yang dikutip oleh wartawan Malaysiakini.
Yoga ban: ‘Let Muslims deal with it’
Nov 25, 08 9:22am
(http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/93672)
S Mohan: The fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council’s on the practice of yoga by Muslims as haram should be left alone for the Muslim community and their leaders to deal with.
They will be the best persons to judge what is right or wrong for their community. Though I personally feel that the blanket ban is not right, however who am I to say that as I am not a Muslim.
What upset me is the news about S Samy Vellu wanting to meet with the PM over this yoga ban. So tell me Samy, what you are going to achieve by doing so and why are you interfering with other people’s religious affairs?
Don’t you have any better matter to discuss with the PM? What about the welfare of the Indian people or the poor state of the estate workers in face of a global economic slowdown or the Hindraf issue etc.
As a Hindu myself, I don’t feel any anxiety as claimed by the MIC head. I feel sorry for my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters but not to the extent of losing my temper or becoming too emotional.
Therefore my two cents advice to him is ‘back off’ as we don’t need you to make this into a political issue and create racial tension which I think we all can avoid right now.
I guess there are other competent leaders and organisations in the Muslim community that can speak out. We can share in our support to but leave the questioning to them.
So Samy and the MIC, don’t try to score brownie points on this issue. Try cha
mpioning the right reason for once.
On ‘Fatwa on karate next?’
Fauzul: I totally disagree with all the comments either from Muslims on non-Muslims that reject the ban on yoga by the National Fatwa Council.
It is the responsibility of the Fatwa Council to alert all Muslims on something that is not right or can lead to something wrong.
It is so sad that there are some ‘Muslims’ who think they are so smart in giving statements which they think as ‘logically correct’.
For non-Muslims, please be clear that the ban is only applies to Muslims. Please respect the decision.
For those Muslims who do not know much about religion, please stop from giving any statement that will make the non-Muslims even more confused. One of the problems these days is people who know little but talk much!
Please be informed that the National Fatwa Council won’t simply issue a fatwa without first discussing the matter among all the ulama either within or outside the council.
Aisha: Have Umno/PAS/PKR issued any ‘formal complaints’ on the banning of yoga by the National Fatwa Council? They will not dare. Ask why.
Apparently non-Muslims underestimate the influence the National Fatwa Council has on the Malay-Muslim community.
Cynical comments are being published without regards to communal sensitivities. For those who think racial tension is bad, try religion.
Fatwa are meant for and only for the Muslim community and on rulings which were previously unclear.
New fatwa are not issued on rape, murder or money politics simply because their rulings have existed for centuries and will not change.
Khairil Anuar: I think non-Muslim readers should not comment on this matters. They do not have the right to do so unless they really understand what is Islam and what are the teachings.
Moreover, this fatwa does not affect anything to you or your religion. How can you guys judge about this fatwa if you do not fully understand what is Islam or the teachings of Islam.
This fatwa does not ban you guys from performing yoga – not at all. So please stop. This only concerns Muslims.
I dare your readers to read the whole Quran, to fully understand the teachings, and then tell me which part about it is not right.
If you can find even one mistake in it, I’m sure Islam is not the right religion to follow.
The fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council’s on the practice of yoga by Muslims as haram should be left alone for the Muslim community and their leaders to deal with.’
A Nony Mous: I asked a yoga-practicing Malay friend of mine if she was going to give up yoga now following the recent fatwa against yoga.
Her response was that smoking has been haram in Selangor for more than 10 years, and yet none of our Malay smoker friends/colleagues have given up smoking. In fact, the number of smoking Malays we know has increased (‘forbidden fruit’ effect?).
She was not that disturbed by this fatwa or the National Fatwa Council. Like many other fatwa issued by the various fatwa committees in Malaysia, it will just become another fatwa most Malays will be blissfully oblivious of or just not bother to heed even if brought to their attention.
She is, in fact, more upset with the media and non-Muslims for kicking up such fuss about this yoga fatwa now – which may then force the various state authorities to enforce this and other fatwas.
In 1995, Selangor issued a fatwa that smoking was haram. The BN-led Selangor state government did not pay any attention to its own Jawatankuasa Perunding Hukum Syara’s fatwa since it did not enact any laws to enforce the fatwa.
In fact, none of the Malay BN lawmakers who were smokers bothered to respect the fatwa and just kept on smoking.
Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Sarawak have similar state level fatwa against smoking. Why is there no national level fatwa against smoking?
Is the National Fatwa Council more worried about their perceived ‘ill-effects’ of health-promoting yoga exercises than it is of the scientifically proven detrimental effects of the smoking habit? Or has the tobacco industry got to them?
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Saya sajikan pula pandangan dari temubual wartawan The Star seperti yang tersiar dalam edisi internet 28 Nov lalu di bawah tajuk “MIC welcomes PM’s clarification on fatwa”.
(Berita ini boleh diakses di http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/28/nation/2666692&sec=nation)
…Universiti Sains Malaysia communication lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Mustafa Kamal Anuar, 57, said his faith had not wavered despite practising yoga in his late 40s.
“I don’t think Muslims’ faith is so fragile that we can be swayed into Hinduism with a few movements here and there. It’s a bit insulting to think we can be so easily duped into another religion,” he said, adding that yoga helped him gain stamina and taught him proper breathing methods.
International Islamic University Malaysia’s (IIUM) History and Civilisation student Shamsiah Mukhtar, 22, said the council could have been overzealous in its decision to ban yoga.
Amirul Iman Dollah, a karate exponent educated in Chinese schools, agreed with the outgoing Mufti of Perlis Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin’s stand that yoga could be practised as long as there was elimination of Hindu elements.
cikgubad 