News

The Minister in the Prime Minister Department of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, has recently announced the formation of a special unit task force with the help of Department of Islamic Development, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission as well as the respective State's Department in Islamic Affairs to address and combat the increasing trend of horrendous slander, defamation and humiliating act directed towards Islam. [Source: Berita Harian, 20th November 2014].

Comment

For the last few months, a series of unrelated cases have been reported where individuals or groups have launched campaigns to promote hate towards Islam; an attempt which either gains support or instigates anger from the mass public. The Minister has reported that in 2013 alone, 39 separate websites have been identified and apprehended by the Commission for insulting Islam. Answering to questions by Members of Parliament in Dewan Rakyat, Datuk Seri Jamil said that the team formation is responsible to monitor new media channels for these types of attack against Islam in order to stop those horrible actions from spreading further.

Since the beginning of Islam, it has withstood numerous attempt of slander, defamation, false claim and other unthinkable campaigns by those with pure hatred in their heart. This attack continues today as the growing public is reverting towards Islam to solve their problems.

However, our attempt to defend Islam may not be as effective as how those in the past. Islam, if implemented as intended by Allah (swt) and shown by the Beloved Prophet (saw), does not need to be defended as it will withstand the test of time in solving human problems and deliver true justice to humankind. The beauty of Islam in giving solutions to every aspect of our life can be seen by those who lived and ruled under the Islamic Shariah. But with the absence of Islam in governing current society, Muslims are defenseless and confused in trying to defend and uphold the sanctity of Islam.

The advance of the enemy of Islam in destroying our thought with dangerous ideas can be clearly seen mounting each day. We see the same label being used to attack Islam is being recycled again and again but in different situations and contexts just to ensure Muslim themselves become confused and in disarray. Backward, unscientific, irrational, unprogressive and other name-calling has been thrown at Islam and its ideas and it will continue unhindered unless Muslims start to systematically address this issue with its real counter mechanism; Islam itself.

Unless Islam is being brought back to our life in full, we will never be silent of these attacks having an effective defense and continued firefighting our way out of the issue. With the implementation of Islam, the world will see what real justice means and how repressive their current way of life compared to what Islam has to offer. But until then, our attempt will continue to be futile like patching a small hole on a flood gate ready to crumble.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Yusuf Idris