Raja Petra: A Prisoner-in-Waiting

I read with sadness and pride of the words of Raja Petra Kamarudin on his impending arrest and indictment. This is what he had to say to his readers:

[quote]
I received a phone call early this morning saying that the police have contacted YB William Leong to inform him they will be taking me in today. It was not made clear whether it would be to take my statement, which they failed to get from me last Friday, or whether I am to be detained or charged. Nevertheless, I am on standby, waiting for them to phone me to ‘surrender’ myself to Bukit Aman, or for them to come to my house to arrest me. Either way I am waiting and am quite prepared for the prospect that this may be my last article for quite some time to come.

Whatever it may be, one thing is very clear in my mind. This is God’s will and if I am to suffer a fate of long detention then this is what God has willed for me. And I will submit to God’s will for does not Islam mean submission?

Yes, Islam is not about rituals. Islam is not about ‘showing’ you are a true Muslim by performing rituals. Islam is about submission and there can be no submission unless you are able to and prepared to submit to God’s will. Not doing so would mean that you have no submission in your heart and therefore would not be a Muslim at heart.

Thus far I have only mentioned fardu ain, the rituals that a Muslim needs to perform. But Islam is more than just fardu ain. There is another fardu called fardu kifayah. And fardu kifayah is mandatory upon all Muslims. But fardu kifayah is not about rituals. It is about doing your duty to the community. And one of the most important tasks a Muslim must perform for his community is to oppose all forms of evil or kemunkaran.

And that is what I perform under the mandatory fardu kifayah. I oppose evil. But the government calls it sedition. And for my ‘crime’ of sedition they would like to send me to jail. I would not like to go to jail for grabbing the backside of a cigar girl. I would not like to go to jail for raping an underage girl. I would not like to go to jail for murdering a Mongolian woman. I would not like to go to jail for robbing the nation. But I would enjoy going to jail for fulfilling my duty as a true Muslim under the mandatory fardu kifayah. So I await jail with glee in my heart.

So I await the arrival of the police or for the phone call for me to come surrender myself to Bukit Aman. And when that happens I will do what is required of me and not question God’s wisdom. For I am not a Muslim by way of mere rituals but a Muslim at heart. It is from God we came and to God we shall return. And everything that happens in-between is part of God’s grand plan.

Yes, performing rituals is easy. A ‘show’ Muslim is not hard to emulate. But a true Muslim at heart is what Islam is all about. And I would like to be that type of Muslim who surrenders to God’s will with gratitude in my heart and faith in that whatever befalls me is always for a reason and part of God’s plan that has been determined long before I came into the world midnight of 27 September 1950 in the Year of the Tiger. [unquote]

You can read his full article here: What is Islam?

With due respect to all my friends, I would say that I learn more about Islam from PRK than from the few Ulamak friends. Truly, Islam is such a beautiful religion and how I wish all of us understands this religion and its virtue. How I wish Umno and those bigots also understands.

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