Ranjau Pendidikan Agama

 Ranjau Pendidikan Agama 

M. Bakri Musa

Petikan kemas kini #31 daripada buku saya: Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat: Exercises In Critical Thinking. 

Disember 24, 2025

Umat Islam terutamanya dalam Dunia Ketiga sering melihat pemikiran kritis sebagai usaha Barat, yakni rekaan minda dan masyarakat sekular mereka yang kononnya tidak sesuai untuk Dunia Timur khasnya Islam. Inilah sisa kegilaan giat “MengIslamkan Ilmu" (Islamization of Knowledge). Sebelum boleh di terima oleh umat Islam, pemikiran kritis mestilah “di-Islamkan” terlebih dahulu, tidak kira makna istilah itu. Tetapi pada hari ini malah golongan Islamis yang berfikiran kuno sekalipun sudah berputus asa dengan daya mengIslamkan Ilmu. Namun itu bukanlah satu kemajuan kerana mereka kini pula taksub dengan satu lagi kegilaan yang sama sia-sianya, yakni “Mengintegrasikan Ilmu.”

Punca masalah terletak kepada cara agama diajarkan dalam masyarakat kita. Ia berlebih kepada indoktrinasi dan bukan pendidikan. Pendidikan cara Islam bukan untuk membuka minda, tetapi sebaliknya untuk memaksa pelajar menerima dogma yang direstui secara rasmi tanpa soalan atau dikaji. Pendidikan Islam di semua peringkat kini hanya berkisar tentang ritual dan jauh daripada menghormati nilai kemanusiaan dalam iman; lebih banyak bicara tentang nasib kita di Akhirat berbanding masalah mendesak kita di dunia fana ini. Ini tidak berbedza dengan agama Kristian atau Yahudi ortodoks zaman dahulu.

Renungkan “perbincangan” yang biasanya berlaku dalam bilik darjah di sekolah Melayu.  

Guru: Apakah bukti adanya Tuhan?  Murid (dengan nada yang telah dihafal): Ada bumi, api, angin, dan air!

Habis perbincangan! Kedua guru dan murid berpuas hati dengan jawapan yang dimuntahkan. Itu akan di ulang semula semasa peperiksaan hujong tahun. 

Jika ditanya mengapa unsur itu menjadi bukti adanya Tuhan, mereka akan terpinga. Jika ditanya lebih lanjut lagi sama ada ketiadaan unsur tersebut di muka bulan bermakna Tuhan tidak ada di sana, itu akan dianggap bidaah! Jika didesak sama ada Tuhan boleh “dibuktikan” mengikut kaedah saintifik, guru dan murid keduanya akan terus terbelengung dan hilang berfikir.

Munshi Abdullah mengibaratkan pendidikkan sebagai mengasah parang dan bukan mengisi tong sampah dengan dogma, sama seperti model perbankan Paulo Freire. Dengan model tong sampah, anda hanya boleh terdapat semula apa yang telah anda campakkan ke dalamnya, tolak apa yang melekat di bawah. Dengan model perbankan Freire pula, penyusutan dana simpanan berlaku melalui yuran bank dan kehilangan nilai wang akibat inflasi.

Tetapi dengan parang yang tajam, anda boleh merintis jalan keluar dari hutan. Bagi seorang pakar bedah pua, pisau (sejenis parang kecil) adalah alat untuk menyembuhkan barah; bagi seorang pengukir, mencipta karya seni yang indah. Bagi seorang samseng, pisau adalah alat membunuh. Itulah pentingnya etika dan moral dalam pendidikan.

Socrates mengibaratkan pendidikan seperti menyalakan api, bukannya mengisi sebuah bekas. Nyalaan api di dapur nenek boleh memasak kari kegemaran anda. Tetapi semasa musim panas dan kemarau di California, itu mungkin mencetuskan kebakaran besar. Itu perlunya moral. Itulah yang sepatutnya menjadi peranan pendidikan agama, bukannya penghafalan tanpa terhenti.

Pemikiran kritis adalah sesuatu yang amat dikeji dan perkecilkan oleh ahli pendidik Islam. Malaysia mungkin negara yang moden dan maju tetapi masyarakat Melayu masih bersifat feudal. Golongan raja dan bangsawan berada di luar batas kritikan, dan kita menerima keadaan itu dengan secara membuta tuli. Lihatlah nasib dan desakan orang ramai untuk menghukum satiris Fahmi Reza kerana berani mengkritik seorang putera Johor yang suka masuk campur dalam urusan tertentu.

Seperti yang dicatatkan oleh Perdana Menteri Anwar dalam bukunya terbaru Rethinking Ourselves (Kita Berfikir Semula), perhambaan adalah sebahagian besar daripada budaya Melayu. Jika bukan kerana kedatangan British, mungkin datuk dan nenek saya kekal sebagai orang hamba di istana Sri Menanti. Buku Anwar dibincangkan secara meluas semasa Festival of Ideas anjuran Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi baru-baru ini, serta di Universiti Islam Antarabangsa. Namun tidak ada seorang pun mengulas atau menyedari pemerhatian tajam Anwar. Kebanyakan pengulas tempatan buku itu, seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh beberapa orang menterinya, hanya sibuk membodek. Anwar sepatutnya menghapuskan sifat budaya yang menjijikkan ini; ia hanyalah satu lagi jenis perhambaan.

Kekurangan berfikir secara kritis dalam budaya Melayu juga dibebani dengan peminggiran mata pelajaran matematik dan sains. Matematik adalah pemikiran kuantitatif yang tepat. Sains pula menuntut fikiran yang bebas dan rasional, serta dengan logik yang ketat.

Pengaruh yang mendalaman dari golongan Islamis dalam kurikulum kebangsaan (dan di tempat lain) menyekat inkuiri bebas dan membiakkan sikap anti-intelektual. Inilah penghalang terbesar kepada pemikiran kritis yang tidak diakui oleh pemimpin dan masyarakat kita. Ia adalah bencana kepada sistem pendidikan negara. Oleh sebab ianya tidak diakui, maka ia tidak disedari. Jika tidak disedari, kita tidak boleh mula memperbaikinya.

Seterusnya: Penggantungan Pemikiran Kritis (Atau Sebarang Pemikiran) Dalam Pendidikan Islam

The Blight Of Religious Education In Malaysia

 The Blight On Religious Education In Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

 

Updated excerpt #31 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

Dec 22, 2025

 

Muslims (more so those in the Third World) view critical thinking as a Western construct, the concoction of secular minds and societies, thus not applicable to them. That is the penumbra of the “Islamization of Knowledge” fad. If there were to be any critical thinking, it first must be “Islamized,” whatever that term means. Today even the most Bedouin-minded Islamists have given up on Islamization of Knowledge. That is no improvement as they are now consumed with the equally futile fad of “Integration of Knowledge.” 

 

         The crux of the problem is how the faith is being taught. More indoctrination, less education, serving not to open minds but to unquestioningly accept officially-sanctioned dogmas. Islamic education at all levels is consumed with rituals rather than the humanistic values of the faith; more with speculations on our fate in the Hereafter rather than our pressing problems in this temporal world. This was also true of many orthodox faiths of yore. 

 

         Consider the typical religious classroom “discussion” in Malaysia.

 

Teacher: What proof is there of God?

Pupils (in scripted fashion): There is earth, fire, air, and water!

 

         End of discussion. Both teacher and students would be satisfied, with the answer regurgitated at test time. Ask why those would be proof of God, they would be baffled. Extend the query on whether their absence on the moon would mean that there is no God up there, that would be blasphemy! Pressed further whether God could be “proven” as per the scientific method, both students and teachers would be lost.

 

         Munshi Abdullah, 19^th Century Malay Man of Letters, likened the process of educating young minds to the sharpening of a parang (machete, the de rigueur tool of rural Malays), not the filling of dustbins with dogmas, ala Paulo Freire’s banking model. With the dustbin model, you could retrieve only what you had thrown in, minus what’s stuck at the bottom. With Freire’s banking model, attrition would be through fees and loss of value through inflation.

 

         With a sharp parang you could hack yourself out of a jungle. Meanwhile to a surgeon, a knife (a parang derivative) is an instrument to cure cancer; a sculptor, creating exquisite works of art. To a thug, a killing tool; hence the importance of ethics and morals in education.

 

         Socrates likened education to the kindling of flames, not the filling of a vessel. A kindling could start a fire on grandma’s stove to cook her favorite curry. However, during a dry hot California summer, a kindling could trigger an inferno. Hence the moral component. That should be the role of religious education, not endless rituals and regurgitations. 

 

         Critical thinking is anathema to Malaysian educators. Malaysia may be modern but Malays are still feudal. The royalty and bangsawan (aristocratic) class are beyond criticism, and we blindly accept that. Note the fate and the call by the masses to censure satirist Fahmi Reza for daring to criticize a meddling Johor prince. 

 

         As Prime Minister Anwar noted in his recent book, Rethinking Ourselves, slavery was very much part of Malay culture. If not for the British, my grandparents would have remained an orang hamba at the palace in Sri Menanti. Anwar’s book was widely discussed during the recent Festival of Ideas sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education, as well as at the International Islamic University. However, not one local reviewer or commentator noted this sharp observation (as well as others) of Anwar. Most reviewers, as typified by more than a few of his ministers, were engaged in the usual bodek or sucking-up gestures. Anwar should eradicate this odious cultural trait; it is but a variant of slavery. 

 

         Lack of critical thinking in Malay society is compounded by the accompanying de-emphasis of mathematics and science. Mathematics is precise, quantitative thinking, demanding free and rational enquiries, as well as logical rigorous thinking. 

 

         The suffocating presence of the Islamists on the national curriculum (and elsewhere) inhibits free inquiry and breeds outright anti-intellectualism. That is the biggest unacknowledged barrier to critical thinking. That is a blight on the nation’s education system. It is unacknowledged and thus unrecognized. If unrecognized one cannot even begin to rectify it.

 

Next:  Suspension Of Critical (Or Any Thinking) In Islamic Education

 

University Awam Malaysia - Lemah, Menjuru Kepada Penipuan

 Universiti Awam Malaysia – Lemah, Menjurus Kepada Penipuan

Oleh M. Bakri Musa

(Petikan dari Qur'an, Hadith, dan Hikayat saya akan disambung minggu hadapan.)

Dec 17, 2025

Tiga peristiwa dan perkembangan baru baru ini melambangkan kelemahan dan kekurangan yang ketara serta cabaran mendalam yang dihadapi oleh universiti awam tempatan. Jika tidak di batasi, universiti tempatan akan terus terjerumus menjadi satu penipuan besar yang menghampakan cita cita anak muda kita dan masa hadapan mereka selain daripada menelan dan membazirkan dana negara.

Pertama, pemansuhan pinjaman pelajar bagi mereka yang mendapat ijazah kelas pertama dan cadangan bahawa keistemewaan itu di beri kepada mereka di institusi swasta. Kedua, menempatkan kelas Tingkatan Enam di kampus universiti. Dan ketiga, upacara konvokesyen yang keterlaluan mewah dan membazirkan dana serta tenaga.

Renungkan pula. Pada masa ini hanya lebih kurang sepuluh peratus daripada lebih 300,000 graduan setiap tahun boleh diserap ke dalam ekonomi. Mengejutkan! Sebaliknya, di negara yang maju pendidikan tinggi adalah pemacu pertumbuhan ekonomi.

Semak statistik itu dengan teliti. Kebanyakan yang menganggur, atau lebih tepat lagi mereka yang tidak mempunyai kelayakan atau kemahiran untuk berkerja, adalah graduan dalam bidang Pengajian Melayu dan Pengajian Islam, serta mereka yang kurang fasih dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Kebanyakkannya pula mereka adalah penuntut Melayu. Itu seharusnya membimbangkan pehak berkuasa. Sebaliknya, para birokrat dan menteri terus berbangga dengan beratus ribuan graduan yang dihasilkan setiap tahun. Alasan bahawa mereka menganggur kerana sektor swasta di kuasai oleh masyarakat asing adalah dangkal, malah menghasut.

Berbalik kepada pemansuhan pinjaman pelajar yang mendapat ijazah kelas pertama, lebih bermakna jika pemansuhan itu di beri kepada mereka yang berjaya diterima melanjutkan pengajian pos siswazah di universiti terkemuka di luar negara. Itu adalah petunjuk kualiti yang lebih sah dan bermakna. Menghadiahkan mereka yang menganggap ijazah kelas pertama mereka sebagai kemuncak pencapaian tidak bermakna. Yang lebih mencerminkan kebolehan anda serta mutu universiti anda ialah jika anda kemudiannya diterima masuk ke institusi elit di luar negara. Itu juga bermakna bahawa anda bukan sekadar jaguh kampung sahaja. Di Amerika ukuran mutu sebuah universiti adalah peratusan graduan mereka yang melanjutkan pengajian.

Pelajar di Negeri China tidak menganggap ujian universiti mereka sebagai cabaran utama. Sebaliknya mereka berusaha dengan lebih hebat lagi untuk cemerlang dalam peperiksaan luar seperti TOEFL (Ujian Kecekapan Dalam Bahasa Inggeris), GRE (Ujian Rekod Siswazah), dan GMAC (Majlis Kemasukan Pengurusan Siswazah) supaya mereka boleh bersaing untuk institusi global elit. Pelajar Cina tidak berpuas hati hanya dengan gred atau markah di pepereksaan tempatan.

Inisiatif kedua, menempatkan kelas Tingkatan Enam di universiti, merupakan penyalahgunaan besar sumber kampus yang terhad serta mahal. Lebih berkesan serta murah lagi jika kelas Tingkatan Enam di kembangkan di sekolah-sekolah. Itu juga akan meningkatkan peringkat akademik sekolah itu dengan penambahan makmal, perpustakaan, dan kemudahan lain serta kakitangan pengajar yang berkelulusan tinggi. Begitu juga, hapuskan kelas matrikuasi dan assasi yang kini dikendalikan oleh pehak universiti.

Universiti tidak sepatutnya melakukan sesuatu yang boleh dikendalikan dengan harga yang jauh lebih murah serta berkesan di tempat lain. Universiti di Amerika juga mempunyai program jangkauan (outreach) untuk meningkatkan bilangan bakal pelajar dari kumpulan B40 mereka. Walau bagaimanapun itu dijalankan di sekolah, bukan di kampus universiti yang mahal dan terhad.

Berbalik kepada upacara konvokesyen yang mewah, meriah dan berpanjangan, renungkan fakta ini. Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) dengan belanjawan tahunannya yang jauh lebih rendah daripada sebuah kolej komuniti di California, menghasilkan ribuan graduan setiap tahun, termasuk ratusan PhD. Membuat penyelidikan untuk ijazah PhD amat mahal dan pasaran untuk ahli akademik juga adalah global. Maknanya jika ingin mendapat pengajar yang bermutu pihak kampus mestilah berani memberi peruntukkan yang sesuai. Jika tidak, mutu sudah tentunya terkorban. Kakitangan akademik yang paling berbakat tidak boleh melakukan keajaiban dengan belanjawan yang kecil dan kemudahan yang berkurangan.

Lihatlah program konvokesyen yang gemilang penuh dengan gambar pegawai atasan dicetak atas kertas satin berkilau ala majalah fayshen Vogue. Mahal untuk dicetak. Sebaliknya program konvokesyen UCLA menggunakan kertas kitar semula tanpa potret mewah sesiapa pun.

California mempunyai sistem pendidikan tinggi yang amat dibanggakan dan di iktiraf seluruh dunia. Dia mempunyai tiga peringkat. Pertama ialah kolej komuniti selama dua tahun. Ia mempunyai 116 kampus bebas yang mendaftarkan lebih dua juta pelajar dan menerima sesiapa sahaja berkelulusan sekolah menengah. Kolej tersebut hanya boleh memberi Ijazah Bersekutu (Associate Degrees) serta latihan khas untuk pasukan polis dan industri penerbangan mithalnya.

Peringkat seterusnya ialah sistem Universiti Negeri (California State University-CSU) dengan 23 kampus serta 471,000 pelajar. CSU hanya boleh menawarkan ijazah Sarjana Muda dan Sarjana terpilih.

Keatas sekali ialah Sistem Universiti California (UC System) dengan sepuloh kampus yang elit. UC hanya menerima satu per lapan keatasan lepasan sekolah yang terbaik untuk jumlah penuntut 300,000. Hanya UC sahaja yang boleh menawarkan ijazah kedoktoran dan profesyanal. Yang paling penting, pelajar boleh bertukar antara sistem serta kampus.

Dengan mencermatkan dana, usaha dan kakitangan, California berjaya menjadikan pendidikan tinggi awamnya sebagai tumpuan dunia. Ciri penting lain ialah ini. Walaupun dengan besarnya, jangkauan, dan belanjawan yang amat lebih tinggi, tiada terdapat Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi di California. Sebaliknya, ibu pejabat UC adalah bangunan biasa di kampus Berkeley. Kebebasan unik ini serta desentralisasi yang berkesan mengurangkan birokrasi pusat ala Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi seperti terdapat di Malaysia.

Mutu sesebuah universiti tergantung atas ahli akademiknya di kampus, bukan oleh kakitangan di ibu pusat Kementerian. Bebaskan yang pertama; hapuskan yang kedua.

Jangan harap Rangka Tindakan Pengajian Tinggi yang ditunggukan itu akan memberatkan masaalah yang saya kemukakan. Sebaliknya ia akan memberi tumpuan kepada angan angan dan matlamat muluk yang tidak mungkin tercapai. 

 

Malaysian Public Universities - Weak, Bordering On Being Fraudulent

 Malaysian Public Universities – Weak, Bordering On Being Fraudulent

M. Bakri Musa

(Excerpts from my Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat will resume next week.)

Three recent events and initiatives are emblematic of the glaring deficiencies in and serious challenges facing Malaysian public universities. Unremedied they would reduce these institutions to be nothing but a massive expensive fraud perpetrated upon the hopeful young.

            First, the forgiving of student loans for those with first class degrees, and whether to extend that privilege to those at private institutions. Second, having Sixth Form classes on university campuses. Third, the orgies of elaborate convocations. 

Consider that less than ten percent of the over 300,000 annual graduates are absorbed in the economy. Shocking! Elsewhere higher education is the driver of economic growth.

Tease that statistics. The bulk of the unemployed, or more accurately unemployable, are those in Malay Studies and Islamic Studies, as well as lacking in English language skills. Meaning, Malays. That should alarm the government. Instead, the bureaucrats and ministers continue bragging of the number of graduates churned out annually. The excuse that those graduates are unemployed because the private sector is dominated by non-Malays is specious if not inflammatory. 

As for forgiving student loans, far more sensible to do so for those accepted for graduate studies at leading universities abroad. That is a more valid indicator of quality. There is minimal value in rewarding those who consider their first-class degree as their peak achievement. It would reflect more on you and your university if you were to be subsequently accepted into an elite institution abroad. You are then not mere jaguh kampung (village champion). A measure of a good university is the percentage of its graduates pursuing further studies.

Students in China do not consider their university tests the challenge. They strive to excel at such foreign examinations as TOEFL (Test for English competency), GRE (Graduate Record Examination), and GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) so they would be competitive for elite global institutions. Chinese undergraduates are not satisfied with only local grades.   

The second initiative of having Sixth Form on university campuses is a colossal misuse of scarce expensive resources. More effective and cheaper to expand schools’ Sixth Form. That would also elevate the academic standards with the accompanying improvements in laboratories, libraries, and other facilities as well as the teaching staff. Likewise, get rid of the current university-run matrikulasi and assasi.

Universities should not duplicate efforts that could be done far more cheaply and effectively elsewhere. American universities have outreach programs to increase the number of potential admittees from disadvantaged groups. However, those are done at the schools, not on expensive limited university campuses. 

As for the current orgy of elaborate convocations and the glut of graduates, ponder this. Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), with an annual budget much smaller than that of a California community college, produces thousands of graduates annually, including hundreds of PhDs. Research is expensive and the market for academics is global. Something has to give. Even the most talented academic staff cannot perform miracles on a shoestring budget and inferior facilities.  

The typical convocation on Malaysian campuses is elaborate, with glossy programs and full portraits of top officials printed on satin papers a la Vogue magazine. By contrast, UCLA’s convocation programs use recycled papers with no fancy portraits of anyone.

California has a three-tiered public higher education. First, the two-year community colleges with its 116 independent campuses enrolling over two million students and accepting any high school graduate. They award only Associate Degrees as well as specialized training for the police force or aviation industry. Next, the 23-campus California State University (CSU) System with its 471,000 students. They offer only Baccalaureate and selected Master’s degrees. Then there is the elite ten-campus University of California (UC) System accepting only the top one-eighth of high school graduates for a total enrollment of 300,000. Only UCs can offer doctoral and professional degrees. Most importantly, students could switch between systems as well as campuses. 

This focusing of funds and efforts makes California’s public higher education the envy of the world. Its other salient feature is that despite the size, reach, and budget, there is no Ministry of Higher Education in California. Instead, UC’s headquarters is a nondescript building on the Berkeley campus. This unique independence as well as effective decentralization reduces the central bureaucracy a la Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education. 

The quality of a university is determined by their academics on campus, not the bureaucrats at Putrajaya. Free the former; get rid of the latter. 

I predict that the upcoming Blueprint for Higher Education will miss these critical issues, focusing instead on the usual hifalutin ideas and lofty goals that are unachievable. I hope to be proven wrong.  

 

Bukan Ulama Tetapi Lebih Penghafal Tanpa Berakal

 Bukan Ulama Tetapi Lebih Penghafal Tanpa BerAkal

M. Bakri Musa Petikan #31 dari buku saya: Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat: Exercises In Critical Thinking. 7 Disember 2025

Walaupun keIslamanan cara kuno a la kaum Arab Badawi bermaharajalela dan membelenggukan di Malaysia, masih terdapat segelintir jiwa dan perbadanan yang berani mencabar keadaan sosio-agama semasa.

Antaranya ialah badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Sisters In Islam (SIS) yang diterajui oleh Puan Zainah Anwar. Mereka lebih memberatkan masaalah yang di hadapi oleh kaum wanita kita dan berpegang teguh pada keyakinan bahawa Islam adalah daya pendorong untuk membebaskan wanita, bukan mengongkong mereka.

Dalam tafsiran kuno Islam di Malaysia (seperti juga di tempat lain), cabaran yang dihadapi oleh SIS sememangnya berat dan tenat. Mereka dalam SIS kurang mementingkan tafsiran kitab suci yang rumit dan usang, sebaliknya lebih menumpukan usaha untuk menyelamatkan wanita yang didera, isteri yang diceraikan dan diabaikan, serta menyelamatkan gadis muda yang dipaksa kahwin dengan lelaki tua. Semoga Allah memberi ganjaran kepada para wanita SIS atas kerja baik mereka, dan semoga mereka terus gigih melaksanakannya.

Satu lagi badan ialah Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF). Persatuan ini memainkan peranan penting membawa penceramah berkaliber seperti Tariq Ramadan (cendekiawan Islam di Universiti Oxford), Mu’nim Sirry (bukunya Scriptural Polemics: The Qur’an And Other Religions), dan wartawan Turki Mustafa Akyol (Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty) ke Malaysia. Akyol telah ditahan setelah menyampaikan ceramahnya di Malaysia. Hanya dengan campur tangan pada peringkat diplomatik tertinggi yang berjaya membebaskannya. Akyol kemudiannya terus menceritakan pengalamannya yang pahit di Malaysia kepada pendengar di seluruh dunia, termasuk di tempat seperti Harvard.

Forum awam IRF lebih cemerlang dan banyak memberi fikiran tetapi ceramahnya terpaksa diadakan di bilik persidangan hotel kerana tiada jawatankuasa masjid atau jabatan akademik universiti yang sudi menyambut di tempat mereka. Forum IRF menyegarkan dan jauh berbeza dari wacana agama biasa. Pertama penceramah mereka tampil dalam pakaian biasa dan bukan berjubah tebal dan panjang serta berhias dengan serban berjela. Lebih penting lagi, penganjur memperuntukkan masa yang mencukupi untuk sesi soal jawab dan perbincangan yang mantap. Itu adalah satu perbezaan ketara bila dibandingkan dengan "perbincangan" awam ala jalan sehala yang menjadi ciri utama di Malaysia.

Pada satu ketika IRF menampilkan Mun’im Sirry dan Mohammad Asri Zainal Abdin, seorang ulama selebriti Youtube dan juga Mufti Perlis. Beliau lebih dikenali dengan akronimnya Dr. Maza, meniru sarjana hebat Za’aba. Dalam sesi itu, Dr. Maza terus keluar semasa perbincangan kerana beliau tidak bisa di soal dengan tajam atau pandangan agungnya dicabar.

Kedua SIS dan IRF di label dengan gelaran “Islam liberal” yang bersifat untuk menghina. Beginilah caranya. Apabila anda tidak dapat mengalahkan mereka dengan hujah, anda melabel mereka dengan istilah yang hodoh.

Sebaliknya di Indonesia istilah Islam liberal juga disifat rendah atau mengejek (sekurang-kurangnya di kalangan golongan elit pemerintah), tetapi jenama Islam tersebut sedang berkembang pesat di sana. Mereka mempunyai saluran televisyen sendiri (LiberTV) dan kumpulan pemimpin dan pendakwah yang berkelayakan tinggi. Lebih mengkagumkan lagi, mereka berjaya menarik perhatian generasi muda dalam jumlah yang cepat semakin meningkat.

Apabila salah seorang pemimpin awalnya, Harun Nasution, kembali dari kajiannya di McGill Universiti, Montreal, Kanada, pada tahun 1969, beliau sedar pandangan neo-Mutazilite modennya tidak akan mendapat sambutan baik daripada golongan elit dan masyarakat umum. Beliau mengelakkan konfrontasi secara langsung dengan menubuhkan institusi beliau sendiri, yakni Institute Agama Islam Negri (IAIN) menjadikannya disangka sebagai satu perbadanan awam. Ramai sarjana terkemuka kemudian seperti Nurcholish Madjid adalah keluaran IAIN.

Walaupun terdapat usaha seperti yang dilakukan oleh IRF dan SIS serta IAIN di Indonesia, kepercayaan yang dominan di kalangan Muslim Nusantara ialah akal (rasional atau intelek) tiada tempatnya dalam agama kita, malah dianggap sebagai anti-Islam. Seperti minyak dan air, mereka percaya akal dan agama harus kekal terpisah, berbeza, dan tidak boleh dicampurkan sama sekali.

Tidak hairanlah bahawa Islam di kalangan orang Melayu hari ini kurang untuk memberi panduan menuju ke jalan yang lurus, tetapi lebih kepada satu alat untuk mengkorah masyarakat Melayu ke dalam kehidupan yang terkurung dan tertutup seperti kaum Badawi Arab semasa zaman Nabi.

Seterusnya: Pendidikan Agama Di Malaysia

 

Less Ulama, More Mindless Regurgitators

 Less Ulama, More Mindless Regurgitators

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt #31 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

Dec 7, 2025

 

Despite the overwhelming presence of regressive Islam in Malaysia, there are a few brave souls and entities ready to challenge the prevailing socio-religious order. One non-governmental organization is Sisters In Islam (SIS) led by Zainah Anwar. It is concerned with women’s issues and firm in their beliefs that the faith is a force for emancipating women. 

 

         In the current orthodox interpretation of Islam in Malaysia (as elsewhere), SIS has its work cut out. It is less concerned with arcane interpretations of the scripture, more with saving battered women, abandoned wives, and rescuing young girls forced into marriages with old men. May Allah reward those ladies in SIS for their good work, and may they continue doing it.

 

         The other is Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF). This organization is instrumental in bringing such speakers as Tariq Ramadan (Oxford Islamic scholar), Mu’nim Sirry (Scriptural Polemics: The Qur’an And Other Religions), and the Turkish journalist Mustafa Akyol (Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty) to Malaysia. Akyol was detained after giving a lecture. Only an intervention at the highest diplomatic level was his release secured. Akyol later related his adverse personal experiences in Malaysia to audiences worldwide, including at such places as Harvard. 

 

         IRF’s many excellent public forums are conducted in hotel conference rooms as no mosque committee or university academic department would welcome them on their premises. IRF’s forums are a refreshing departure from the usual religious discourses in that the speakers are in casual attires rather than embellished robes and thick turbans. Of even greater significance, the organizers devote enough time for robust question-and-discussion sessions, a marked contrast to the usual one-way street that is the hallmark of public “discussions” in Malaysia.

 

         One IRF forum featured Mun’im Sirry and Mohammad Asri Zainal Abdin, a Youtube celebrity ulama and Mufti of Perlis. He is more known by his acronym Dr. Maza, aping the great scholar Za’aba. At that session, Maza walked out of the discussions as he was not used to being asked penetrating questions, or his pontifications challenged.

 

         Both SIS and IRF are tarred with the derogative “Islam liberal” label. When you cannot beat them, you tag them with silly terms. In Indonesia, the term liberal Islam is also derogative (at least among the establishment) but that brand of Islam is flourishing there. It has its own television channel (LiberTV) and a stable of highly qualified leaders and preachers. Of even greater significance they are reaching the younger set in ever-increasing numbers.

 

         When one of its earlier leaders, Harun Nasution, returned from McGill in 1969, he knew that his modern neo-Mutazilite views would not get a favorable reception from the establishment and the masses. He sidestepped that and avoided direct confrontation by setting up his own institution, Institute Agama Islam Negri (IAIN). In English that would translate as State Institute of Islam, making it sound as if it was a public institution. Later eminent scholars like Nurcholish Madjid were products of IAIN. 

 

         These efforts by IRF and SIS in Malaysia as well as IAIN in Indonesia notwithstanding, the prevailing belief among Nusantara Muslims is that akal (reason or intellect) has no place in Islam if not outright anti-Islamic. Like oil and water, they should remain separate and distinct, never

to be mixed. 

 

         No surprise that Islam among Malays today is less a guide to and along the straight path, more an instrument to lead Malays into the cloistered life of an Arab Bedouin of the Prophet’s era. 

 

Next:  Religious Education In Malaysia

 

Defenders Of Reason In Islam

  

Defenders of Reason in Islam

M. Bakri Musa

Nov 23, 2025

 

Excerpt #31 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

 

If taqlid (blind, strict obedience) is not onerous enough of a burden upon the ummah, then there is another far bigger issue–the unfortunate assumption that reason, and with that critical thinking, has no place in Islam. Just follow the dictates of our ulama! God has given us all the answers in the Qur’an. No additional editorial commentaries needed. Suspend one’s critical faculties in matters of faith. This misguided notion is adhered to not just by simple villagers but also many exalted contemporary Malay Muslim scholars.

 

         We forget or refuse to acknowledge that the defenders of reason have a long and rich history in Islam. Those rationalists took to heart the Qur’anic command, as with the ending of Surah 2:44: “Will you not think?” Meaning, blind faith is no faith. It is unfortunate that the fate of those who dare question is a very different story.

 

         Among the earliest rationalists were the Mutazilites, a movement that began within a few decades of the prophet’s death. The story attributed to and used by those earlier rationalists to demonstrate their point was simple and clear.

 

         A young boy died. As he was free of sin, he was admitted directly to Heaven. Being the ever-innocent and inquisitive, he wondered about the alternative–Hell. So the angels took him there for a preview. He saw men and women being punished through blazing fires because of their earlier presumed earthly misdeeds. Seeing the young boy’s horrified reaction, the angel assured him that he was spared those gruesome punishments as he was taken by Allah early before he (the boy) had the chance to commit any sin. 

 

         On hearing that, one of the condemned below cried out, “Oh Allah! You knew I would commit those evil deeds. Why didn’t you take me in earlier and thus spare me this damnation, as you did with that boy?”

 

         Valid question! The brightest Muslim minds have yet to come to grips with that elemental query, predestination, or what has been presumably deeded to us in our Book of Life, versus free will, acts of our own volition.

 

         There are other significant doctrinal issues mainstream Muslims have with the Mutazilites, the original as well as the many neo varieties. Nonetheless their (Mutazilites) commitment to and abiding belief in the power and supremacy of reason over blind belief would remain a vibrant force in Islam to this day.

 

         The Malay world is today blessed with a few neo-Mutazilites, as they are called. Among them Harun Nasution (1919-98), Nurcholish Madjid (1939-2005), together with Ulil Abshar Abdulla, Mun’im Sirry, and Imam Shamsul Ali; all Indonesians. Beyond their respect for akal (rational thinking) is their shared belief in and commitment to interfaith harmony. While they all had their

early learning in the traditional way, through pondoks or pesantran (village schools) and then in traditional Muslim institutions in countries like Pakistan and Egypt, their defining graduate works were undertaken in the West at such stellar institutions as McGill (Nasution), Chicago (Madjid and

Mun’im Sirry), and Harvard (Abdalla). Malaysia is noted by the glaring absence of such scholars.

 

         Like Indonesia, Malaysia too has her share of scholars trained at elite Western universities. However, because of the nexus of government and Islam in the country, and with their being on the public payroll, those Western-educated Malaysian Muslim scholars, unlike their counterparts in Indonesia, have not led to their championing independent critical thinking among Malays. Instead, they have been seduced and reduced to be the handmaidens of the state.

 

         Consider one Afifi Al Akiti (b.1976), the current darling of Malays being that he was the first Malay to be made a Fellow at one of Oxford’s colleges. He too attended pondok school in his early years but later switched to the secular stream. He pursued his undergraduate degree at Queen’s University Belfast and doctoral at Oxford. Adulated by Malays, he is highly decorated with various state honors. 

 

         Being at Oxford and thus protected from the Malaysian ulama-ruler-state complex, he should

be free and fearless in expressing his views.  Alas he is a major disappointment. At a 2012 public forum entitled “Future Global Challenges Facing Islam” organized by the Kelantan Islamic Council, he was asked whether the level of corruption and mismanagement seen among Malay leaders was “Islamic.” He deftly deflected the question, using the excuse that he had been away from the country for the past twenty years. A “cop out,” plain and simple.

 

         The man is capable of expressing his views–strong and eloquent. His earlier condemnation of Islamist terrorists responsible for 9-11, and the later London bombings received widespread praise (Defending the Transgressed By Censuring the Reckless Against The Killing of Civilians). Alas, back in his native Malaysia, he is but a mouse. Akiti is no Tariq Ramadan, his colleague at Oxford. In a visit to Malaysia, Ramadan was unequivocal in his condemnation of rampant corruption in Muslim countries, Malaysia included.

 

Next:  Less Ulama, More Blind Imitators