by Dr. Mazeni Alwi and SL Pang @ Farah Abdullah
Aliran Monthly Vol 25 (2005): Issue 10

	His is a mere gut reaction based on a blind support for a particular interpretation of Islam which has little acceptance among Muslims. Dr. Mazeni Alwi and SL Pang @ Farah Abdullah

We read with interest Clive Kessler�s �The struggle between �gentle Islam� and �ungentle Islam� within Malaysia may have more than local significance� in your recent issue of Aliran Monthly (Volume 25: Issue 9). It is unfortunate that he has stooped to use labels such as �backward� and �regressive� on those with whom he disagrees. That an emeritus professor of sociology is not above employing such infantile rhetoric is all the more regrettable.

One of the Muslim Professionals Forum�s (MPF) objectives is to contribute to current discourse that concerns Islam and Muslims in our society. We endeavour to present the viewpoints of traditional mainstream Islam in matters that are increasingly being contested, such as the interpretation of Islam (in the area of praxis) in the modern world.

Dissecting the issues

Liberal Islam is slowly but surely encroaching into the public debate. Its ideas of how Islam is to be interpreted in certain areas of praxis are in contradiction to what is regarded as consensus teachings by traditional mainstream Islamic scholars.

Our seminar on �Liberal Islam - A Clear and Present Danger� attempted to dissect these issues in a scholarly manner. The three major presentations have been written as full papers and are available online at the Muslim Professional Forum's website. All three papers are also available in our conference proceedings. Anyone is at liberty to critique the ideas presented therein. At all times we have been careful to maintain our professional decorum by refraining from labelling any organisation or personalities in our country as proponents of Liberal Islam.

We are not averse to any individual or organisation wanting to re-interpret Islam for the modern world. Anyone is welcome to present what he/she feels is the correct interpretation. Muslims have their own dynamics in evaluating interpretational claims based on scholarship of the sacred texts and the corpus of knowledge on kalam (theology), ibadah (worship), fiqh (jurisprudence) and akhlaq (excellence of conduct).

Professor Kessler seems to think that the Muslim women NGO whom he describes as �less protected�, �courageous� and �principled� are victims of persecution and onslaughts of slander. On the contrary, the said NGO has been enjoying undreamt of access to the major English press in Malaysia. Their statements, letters and views do not seem to have any problem getting published while the same cannot be said for those with more traditional �backward� or �regressive�, i.e. mainstream view points. Nevertheless, we commend the said NGO for its efforts in highlighting the weaknesses in the administration of Islam, especially those that concern the plight of disadvantaged Muslim women.

Rejoinder by Prof Clive Kessler Dr. Mazeni Alwi and Farah Abdullah (S.L. Pang) of the Muslim Professional Forum take offence at my pointed adjectives. This delicacy of feeling comes only after the outright incitement of their association�s heavily promoted forum scandalising �Liberal Islam�. "A bit rich" Do Dr. Mazeni and the MPF not know the origins and are they unaware of the connotations, of the expression, so recklessly invoked in the title of their association�s forum, of �a clear and present danger�. Do they not understand the seriousness of branding people of another opinion than one�s own as traitors, their views as seditious? After this unprovoked onslaught, the MPF�s call�in response to my alluding to that provocation�that the association�s critics should exercise delicate care in their use of language, a principled restraint and responsibility in their choice of adjectives, is, to put it mildly, �a bit rich�. The substantive issues involved here are hugely important, to Muslims and non-Muslims alike: the historicity of all human understandings of the divine, and hence of all philosophical, theological and legal systems as human constructs built upon the bounded human grasp of divine imperatives; and hence, too, the right of humans to revise and to engage in sincere and informed debate about the revising of their available frameworks of understanding within the historically ever expanding intellectual horizons of their time and place. Dialogue not denunciation These issues merit and require serious, calm and respectful discussion: dialogue, not pre-emptive scandalising and denunciation. That kind of measured discussion is simply not possible in a contaminated atmosphere: on ground wilfully tainted in advance (as in the case of the MPF�s recent forum) by prejudicial framing of the issues and gratuitous antagonism, by contrived outrage and the unleashing of calculated if unacknowledged intimidation. By all means, let the MPF declare and argue for its position. But its choice to promote its views not by the dialogical negotiation but by the pejorative typification of differences�of what are, on both sides, sincerely held differences of conviction and conscience�is a �clear danger�, not just in the �present� but also, with far-reaching implications, long into the future. Those whose preferred rhetorical style and tactical recourse are of the �passive-aggressive� variety (that is, who covertly or indirectly act to wound and damage, and then protest that they have been wantonly attacked when others respond to such disguised provocation) cannot call for such restraint, as do Dr. Mazeni and his friends, with any consistency and plausibility. Who is the wronged party here, Dr. Mazeni�s association with its grave insinuations against many fellow citizens, or those whom it attacked and branded as subversives and heretics; and who began the retreat from the ideals of civility of which Dr. Mazeni, in his sensitivity to my adjectives, now complains?

Highly preposterous

The Prime Minister�s vision of Islam Hadhari in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Malaysia is encapsulated in the following mission statement:

�Islam Hadhari is an approach that emphasises development, consistent with the tenets of Islam and focused on enhancing the quality of life. It aims to achieve this via the mastery of knowledge and the development of the individual and the nation; the implementation of a dynamic economic, trading and financial system; an integrated and balanced development that creates a knowledgeable and pious people who hold to noble values and are honest, trustworthy, and prepared to take on global challenges.�