The government must continuously encourage the Muslims to enjoin good and forbid evil and perform five times daily prayers, the males with congregation at the mosques and the females in their houses. Every mosque must have a timetable showing the azan times and the times of the congregational prayers start. By this way, everybody in Malaysia will be able to plan their time properly and will be able to perform their prayers with congregation. The current practice of making lengthy zikir after prayer must be avoided. The encouragements to perform five times daily prayers with congregation and to do the work of enjoining good and forbidding evil can be done through the Internet, electronic media, newspapers and billboards. The promises of Allah upon the observance of these commandments must continuously be conveyed to the Muslims. The importance of these two orders must continuously be reminded to the Muslims through the sermons during the Friday prayers. The Muslims must be made aware that these two orders of Allah are the most fundamental orders of Allah that all Muslims, either males or females, new Muslims or born Muslims, must do. These two orders are the two main pillars in Islam and efforts must be made to make them stand firm and strong in life of all Muslims.
Government must write a book that portray Islam as a complete way of life that does not separating between activities involving relationship between men and Allah and relationship between men and other creations of Allah. Currently, activities that involved the relationship between men and Allah are understood and considered by Muslims as religious activities and those activities that involved the relationship between men and other creations of Allah as non-religious activities. Efforts must be made to correct this misunderstanding and to make the Muslims understand that in Islam, both groups of activities are orders of Allah. When we obey the orders of Allah, we will become successful and when we disobey the orders of Allah, we will become unsuccessful. There are things that Allah orders us to do and there are things that Allah forbids us from doing. When we do what Allah orders us to do and we abstain from what Allah forbids us from doing, then we are religious. A religious person is not what do many Muslims, now understand, which is a person who is devoting wholeheartedly to his or her relationship with Allah alone and leaving all other things that involve the relationships with the other creations of Allah. The intention of obeying the orders of Allah and leaving the activities forbidden by Allah is only to please Allah and we continuously do that until Allah is pleased with us. Malaysia will have a religious and tolerant society when the Muslims in Malaysia do all the activities that involved the relationship between men and Allah and the activities that involved the relationship between men and other creations of Allah according to the orders of Allah by following the ways shown by the Prophet Muhammad SAW. The book that portrays Islam as a complete ways of life must be read once a day in the mosques after one of the five daily prayers for about 15 minutes and shall be read during the Friday sermons. Similarly, the women must be encouraged to read the book to their children at home after performing one of the five daily prayers for about 10 minutes.
Groups of two or three male Muslims shall visits the Muslims and non-Muslims houses in their locality after one of the five daily congregational prayers in the mosques or surau. They shall go and visit every person in the locality of the mosque and no group shall miss any of the houses in the locality. When the groups visit a Muslims house, they shall remind the Muslims about the meaning of the Great Kalimah, advise them to do the work of enjoining good and forbidding evil, invite them to perform the five daily congregational prayers at the mosques, and explain that Islam is a complete way of life. When the groups visit the non-Muslims, they shall convey to them the message that all humans belong to one family, are created by one God, who is Allah and invite them to acknowledge that there is no God except Allah and the Prophet Muhammad SAW is a messenger of Allah. If they agree then ask them to recite the Great Kalimah. The Government must make efforts to ensure that all Muslims are obeying these two fundamental orders of Allah. The government must regard disobeying these two orders of Allah as major offenses and will be punished. The mosques will be the centers of these two activities and the mosques officers who are the government servants will record the attendance and the punctuality to these activities. The Government will provide printed and electronic manuals such as CD’s explaining the work of enjoining good and forbidding evil and the obligation of performing the five daily congregational prayers.
Other than these two most important orders of Allah, Muslims should also be encouraged to perform three other pillars of Islam, which is fasting in the month of Ramadan, paying the zakat and performing the hajj in Mecca. Muslims in Malaysia should regard the month of Ramadan as a month of training that train them to follow the way of Prophet Muhammad SAW in matters related to eating and drinking. Prophet Muhammad SAW only ate when he was hungry and he stopped eating before he was full and he drank only plain water. Muslims must be taught to fast the way that Prophet Muhammad SAW used to fast during the month of Ramadan and to remind of the rewards that Allah has promised them when they fast the way that Allah pleases. The government shall educate the Muslims to understand that the practice of fasting is not just to abstain from eating or drinking but to train them to eat and drink as well as to stop eating and drinking only to obey the orders of Allah. Allah orders us to eat when we are hungry and to stop eating before we are full. When the Muslims in Malaysia follow the way of eating and drinking shown by the Prophet Muhammad SAW, they will become healthy and religious. During the month of Ramadan no one is allowed to eat and drink in public and it becomes an offense to do so even to the non-Muslims. Gambling and drinking alcohol are not allowed in public even in the months outside Ramadan. All activities prohibited by the Almighty Allah cannot be done by the non-Muslims in public. All of these activities must be done indoors for non-Muslims only. Alcohol cannot be sold publicly and can only be bought by non-Muslims. Prostitution is not allowed and it becomes an offense even to non-Muslims. Those who practice prostitution either males or females or earning livelihood through prostitution will be severely punished by the government. Licenses on gambling activities are no longer issued by the government. Malaysians who are habituated with gambling and other bad habits are treated using the self-talk therapy. Banks would be encouraged to do business instead of giving loans with interest to private party and the profit or lost are borne by both parties. Loans for houses and cars are provided only to those who can pay by using Islamic loans system only. Government will gives loans without interest to buy the first house and the first car only over a long period. Taxes collected by the government for non Islamic activities such as manufacturing cigarettes and alcoholic drinks are not to be used for paying the salary of government workers. The money will only be used for building roads, drainage systems and public toilets.
Management of the mosques and surau will be under the Government and there will be a ministry in charge of the affairs in managing mosques and surau. The mosque or surau in a locality will also function as a government administrative centre. The local mosque or surau will collect statistical data of everybody in that locality and it will function as the local distribution centre for zakat, local welfare, and to handle matters related to marriages and divorces. Housing area with more than one thousand houses will have a mosque. A housing area with less than one thousand houses will only have a surau. The mosque must cater for both women and men and car park is made to cater for one thousands cars. All lectures given to the public in the mosques and surau must be in line with the correct teaching of Islam that regard Islam as a complete way of life that includes both relationship between men and Allah and relationship between men and other creations of Allah. Islam means the orders of Allah and a person who has complete adherence to the orders of Allah has complete submission to Allah and is the true slave of Allah. Ignoring other activities and concentrating completely to activities related to relationship with Allah only is need to be avoided by all Muslims and all lectures driving Muslims toward these wrong understanding are not allowed to be given in the mosques. Muslims are allowed to leaves their homes and family for the purpose of enjoining good and forbidding evil and are not allowed to leaves their homes and family for the purpose of rectifying oneself by engaging solely to prayers, reading of Quran, zikir, fasting or self denial of food and comfort. When Muslims obey all the orders of Allah, particularly the first order, the order of enjoining good forbidding evil Allah will be pleased with the Muslims and Allah will rectify the Muslims. Once Allah is pleased with the Muslims, Allah will make the Muslims supreme and Allah will makes all the orders of Allah to be alive in this world. All Islamic books that drive the Muslims to understand that Islam is only related with the relationship with Allah are to be avoided by Muslims.
Students who have tendency to religious study can proceed after lower secondary school to a religious school. The religious schools which takes about two years of theory and one year of internship. The students will be trained either to become imam, muazzin or general workers of the mosques that will handle marriages, divorces, birth and burial ceremony. Students that have the tendency to become scholars of Islam will proceed to higher secondary education and then to the Universities to do three years of basic degrees and one year of internship. During the internship period these Islamic religious graduates are to be posted to various locality in Malaysia to do and to established the work of enjoining good and forbidding evil, to established five times daily prayers with congregation, and to conduct Islamic teaching to the communities. After having basic degrees in Islamic studies, these scholars can proceed to do their postgraduate study in various Islamic research Institutions and universities.
Once Malaysians become religious society, good qualities will become the trademark of the communities. One of the good qualities is highly tolerance to other communities of different races, cultures and religions. A religious community is highly tolerance society where everyone is respecting and honoring other people differences in opinions and beliefs. Everyone has the right to have his or her own opinions and beliefs even though it may be different from the rest of the communities. Tolerance does not mean we cannot enjoin other people to good and forbid them from evil because all of us belong to one family. However, no one can force others to do either good or evil deeds. Everyone is responsible for his or her own actions and no one is to be forced to do something that they do not believe. We have to deliver or convey the truth to others but we cannot force people to go against their will. Allah only accepts the deeds that are done sincerely to wins His pleasure. Enmity, hatred and fond of arguments are not the trademark of a religious society but love, sympathy and tolerance are the tenet of a religious community.
Prof. Dr. Nasoha Saabin
February 2012
Dean of Faculty of Optometry
International University College of Technology Twintech
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Source : http://mthago.wordpress.com
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