Malaysia’s first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra (1903-1990) will always be the ideal Muslim man to me.
He was NOT and NEVER a non-practising Muslim, as some Western educated writers often made him out to be.
He was a true Orthodox Muslim, like the great ulama of Sunni belief Al-Ghazali and Jalaluddin Rumi.
He prayed five times a day, fasted during Ramadan, expressed the creed of Islam daily, paid zakat and performed the Haj.
The whole trouble with these Western educated writers is, they ASSUME that Orthodox Muslims are those who behave like the members of the Islamic Party (Pas) or worse, the Saudis and the Anti-Christ named Al-Qaeda.
They assume that those who are ‘purists’ in their pursuit of Islamic values are similar to the above groups.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
A ‘purist’ Muslim could be found in the example of Tunku Abdul Rahman or Father Malaysia.
He upheld the five pillars of the Muhammadan Message, religiously.
But he did not believe that they were the ends to achieve God’s praise and eternal life.
Abdul Rahman believed that the way to achieve God’s praise and eternal life was to do good to others and avoid doing evil to others.
He believed that religion was simple, and not complicated.
That God was not worried about whether people worshipped him in strict conformity to their community’s traditional rituals or otherwise.
That religion was not and was never meant to be something institutional, lest it became a tool of oppression and tyranny in the name of God.
Abdul Rahman believed that the Muhammadan Message was all about Love.
And that those who believed that Love played second fiddle to Tyrannical Rules and Regulations, were not true Believers.
Abdul Rahman believed that the True Islam or Islam Hadhari was Love.
And that Love was Orthodox or Sunni Islam.
Wahhabism, the literal and hateful adherence to tyrannical rules and regulations, was not Islam.
It was really, the cult of murder and terror inaugurated by Genghis Khan, the failed Buddhist king of Mongolia, who conquered the Muslim world and decided to corrupt the world’s last and most unifying message from God.
Genghis forced his version of the Muhammadan Message on the Muslim world, and it stuck.
It became worse when Ibnu Tayimiyah embraced it and spread it.
And when his disciples Shah Waliullah of India and Muhammad Ibnu Wahhab of Arabia continued his efforts.
Syed Jamaluddin Al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh and Syed Rashid Rida broke free from the clutches of Wahhabism, and re-interpreted the Muhammadan Message in the mould of the most successful society of their time - European society.
Their efforts produced Tunku Abdul Rahman and his compatriots such as Datuk Onn Jaafar, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Dr Burhanuddin Helmi and Datuk Abdullah Sani Raja Kecil (Ahmad Boestamam).
But the Anti-Christ of Wahhabism struck back in the 1970s, thanks to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which never, never hesitates to see the death of the Muhammadan Nation.
The CIA, headed by George Bush, went around the planet promoting Wahhabism, poisoning the minds of Muhammadan children.
And it used Saudi Arabia as its agent of destruction.
Only countries with a strong tradition of Afghani, Abduh and Rida organisations - called Muhammadiyah - managed to stave off the challenge of Wahhabism and these countries were mostly African countries and, to a lesser extent, Indonesia.
Today, the Muhammadan family stands at the crossroads.
Its soul is being fought over by the forces of Muhammadiyah and the forces of Wahhabiyah, and Bush’s son seems to suggest that the latter is winning the war, not the former.
The former is winning, really.
Just that the damn Republicans, and some bloody idiotic Democrats, ASSUME that Wahhabiyah is Quranic and Sunnah.
The forces of Muhammadiyah should handle their public relations better.
They should read up the Holy Books (Quran and Hadis Collections, minus those clearly un-Sahih Hadis) and use their knowledge of the Holy Books to explain why the way of Europe is the truth.
If they do not read what their Holy Books actually say, and just tell the world that the Muhammadan Message is all about Love and Peace, not only will the Wahhabis laugh at them but so will the non-Muslim leaders, especially the European ones, who are full of ignorance and prejudice.
If the Wahhabis can work hard and arm themselves with their (mis)interpretation of God’s Word, the Muhammadiyahs should work harder and arm themselves with their correct interpretation of God’s Word.
And they should always avoid teaming up with false prophets who tell the world that the correct way to salvation is by sculpting the Muhammadan Message in the style of the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi.
Such false prophets are unwitting collaborators of Al-Qaeda and all that is wrong and evil in this world.
