More than half of zakat recipients mired in debt

Khai Zem Mat Sani
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

MORE than half of zakat (tithe) recipients are mired in debt, said the acting secretary of Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB).

Hj Abdul Aziz Hj Akop said the majority of about 4,000 zakat recipients applied for financial assistance because they could not pay off their debts.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, he said many of the recipients had taken bank loans to purchase cars, houses and pay for wedding costs.

“Half of what the zakat recipients earn from their wages are used to pay off debts,” he added.

Hj Abdul Aziz said the number of people applying for zakat assistance under the poor and destitute category has been increasing over the years, with many of the applicants struggling to repay their loans.

“Loans have become necessary for many people in Brunei. But it will become a burden to people if they cannot afford to repay the loans,” he said.

The acting secretary added that many people who took large amounts of personal loans did not realise that the debts could affect their finances.

“Bruneians need to be more cautious when using their money. People need to know how to differentiate between needs and wants,” Hj Abd Aziz added.

He went on to say that Bruneians must learn to avoid spending on things that are not important for their daily lives.

However, he said the conditions of poor and destitute people are not as serious as in other countries in this region as majority of the recipients can still afford to spend on their daily needs such as sustenance and shelter.

The acting secretary said many of the zakat applicants under the poor and destitute category were low-income earners and their children were unemployed.

He said more than 3,000 dependents rely on the zakat recipients for financial support.

The monthly zakat is given for a period of two years for every applicant.

After two years, the recipient would usually reapply for zakat if their income or finances have yet to improve, said Hj Abd Aziz.

He added that some families stopped receiving tithes as their children have found jobs.

Hj Abd Aziz said those who apply for zakat because of bank loans are not eligible for zakat under Al-Gharimin (individuals who are deep in debt for valid purposes) category.

“People who have loans with banks have made an agreement earlier, it proves that they have money to repay their loans.

“Those who receive zakat under Al-Gharimin are among individuals who borrow money to build mosques or other buildings that benefit the community,” he said.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Over 400 children born ‘out of wedlock’

Khai Zem Mat Sani

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

FOUR hundred and five children in Brunei were registered as born out of wedlock from 2013 to 2015, based on records under the Syariah Affairs Department Tutong Branch.

Statistics from the department showed an increase of 40 to 50 cases annually or one case weekly during the same period.

In most cases, the child’s status was revealed to the authority when they applied for passport and identification card (IC), said Norlee Rohaini Md Daud, head of the religious enforcement unit in Tutong.

“There are some who came to us directly and some based on reports from members of the public,” she said. The religious enforcement unit will then conduct investigation to confirm the status of the child.

Brunei-Muara has the highest number of children borne out of wedlock with 217 cases, followed by Belait with 141, Tutong with 23 and Temburong with 24 cases.

Norlee Rohaini said children born out of wedlock happen mainly because of unmonitored socialising between the opposite sex.

She said parents play a crucial role in such cases as lack of supervision or monitoring of their children, letting them go out with anyone freely will result to such difficulty. “Socialisation like this is difficult to be tamed or prevented. Sometimes these children didn’t even go home to their parents until they get pregnant,” she said.

According to the department records, the number of khalwat (close proximity) cases remained high with 197 reported in 2013, 188 cases in 2014 and 168 cases in 2015.

Norlee Rohaini said the popular use of internet and social media like Facebook, WhatApp and Instagram also contributed to the problem as the interaction on these sites are unchecked by parents.

“Sometimes within a short time, they proceed from being strangers to illicit behaviour which can lead to pregnancy,” she said, adding that majority of them only get married after the child is born.

She said pregnancy out of marriage does not only happen among young and single individuals, but also to those who are married.

“There are cases where the wife would be carrying the child of another man other than her husband, and also cases where the husband got another woman pregnant. This happened when they are involved in extramarital affairs,” she said.

Sumber - The Brunei Times

China sekat minoriti daripada berpuasa

BEIJING, 6 Jun – China telah menandakan permulaan Ramadan dengan tegahan lazimnya ke atas kakitangan awam, para pelajar dan kanak-kanak di rantau Islam itu daripada ikut serta berpuasa, menurut laman web kerajaan ketika bulan suci bermula hari ini.

Parti pemerintah Komunis China berfahaman ateis dan selama bertahun-tahun telah menegah kakitangan kerajaan dan kanak-kanak daripada berpuasa di Xinjiang, rumah kepada lebih 10 juta puak minoriti Islam Uighur. Ia juga mengarahkan restoran-restoran untuk beroperasi seperti biasa.

Rantau itu sering melihat pertempuran biasa antara puak Uighur dan pasukan keselamatan kerajaan, dan Beijing telah menyalahkan serangan maut di sana dan tempat lain di China ke atas militan yang mencari kebebasan bagi rantau sumber kaya itu.

Kumpulan hak asasi kemanusiaan menyalahkan ketegangan ke atas pengehadan beragama dan budaya yang dikenakan terhadap Uighur dan minoriti Islam lain di kawasan luas terbentang, yang bersempadan dengan Asia Tengah.

Beberapa jabatan kerajaan di Xinjiang menyiarkan makluman dalam laman web mereka pada minggu lalu mengarahkan penyekatan berpuasa semasa Ramadan.

“Anggota parti, kader, kakitangan awam, para pelajar dan kanak-kanak tidak perlu berpuasa pada Ramadan dan tidak mengambil bahagian dalam kegiatan keagamaan,” menurut notis yang disiarkan pada Khamis pada laman web bandar Korla, tengah Xinjiang.

“Semasa bulan Ramadan, perniagaan makanan dan minuman tidak akan ditutup,” tambahnya. – AFP


Sumber - Media Permata

Gov’t to seek other ways in funding mosque construction

The religious affairs minister said the government will seek other funding means to construct new mosques.

Nabilah Haris
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Ministry of Religious Affairs will work towards different means of funding the building of mosques rather than rely on the government budget, said its minister.

Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Hj Awg Badaruddin Pengarah Dato Paduka Hj Awg Othman said his ministry has to accept the reality that his ministry was not allocated a budget to build mosques.

He said the ministry would look into using the money collected through the Mosque Building Fund or funds from the Brunei Islamic Religious Concil (MUIB) as using state coffers is currently not viable.

“Of course in terms of Hukum Syara’ (Islamic law), a government led by a Muslim leader is not exempted from his obligations in building a mosque, especially within Islamic teachings.

“However, the Mosque Building Fund has been set up and is aimed at giving members of the public the opportunity to invest in the Hereafter, but that does not mean the government is let off from carrying out its responsibility,” added the minister

YB Pehin Dato Ustaz Hj Awg Badaruddin went on to note that the first meeting of the 12th LegCo session had been discussed not only by LegCo members but also the public, a sign of healthy public discussions.

“I find this to be an appropriate reaction regarding our current affairs and we should take it as a sign of health in the affairs of the people in shaping positive public thoughts towards the affairs of the country,” he said.

“Our topic discussions were more about frugal and budget-conscious spending. Surely, they need to understand this in its true perspective,” said YB Pehin Dato Hj Awg Badaruddin.

Ending his closing remarks, he called for more confidence in the people and the country given the great history the nation holds while having faith that Allah SWT will bless the good deeds that are done in His name.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Menteri jelas perkiraan bantuan zakat

Oleh Syahmi Hassan & Imelda Groves HA

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 16 Mac – Mengikut perkiraan Jabatan Perancang Kemajuan Ekonomi (JPKE), Haddul Kifayah iaitu had minima perbelanjaan bagi keperluan asasi seseorang adalah sebanyak $253 sebulan bagi seorang.

Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama, Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman (gambar) berkata, had berkenaan masih terpakai sampai sekarang bagi Majlis Ugama Islam Brunei (MUIB).

“Jika pendapatan bulanan seseorang berjumlah $1,000 dengan anggota keluarganya seramai lima orang termasuk dirinya, maka $1,000 itu dibahagi kepada lima, jumlahnya adalah $200, maka ia di bawah daripada $253, orang itu dan keluarganya adalah tergolong dalam kategori miskin.

“Manakala fakir ialah orang yang tidak mempunyai apa-apa kecukupan pada hariannya pada satu hari untuk belanjanya yang tidak mempunyai barang untuk dijualnya bagi mencukupkan keperluannya, ertinya fakir.

“Had minima itu perlu difahamkan, ia digunakan bagi perkiraan menentukan kadar agihan zakat kepada fakir dan miskin. Ia diguna pakai pada masa ini dengan penerima-penerima daripada kalangan asnaf fakir dan miskin berserta tanggungannya menerima pemberian selama 12 bulan, 24, 36, ataupun 60 bulan, setahun, dua tahun, tiga tahun dan lima tahun.

MENTERI Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri, Yang Berhormat, Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka
Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Othman

“Berdasarkan dengan perkiraan ini, maka bermakna penerima-penerima itu sudah cukup untuk perbelanjaan asasinya,” jelas Yang Berhormat Pehin lagi.

Yang Berhormat Pehin menjelaskan demikian sebagai menjawab pertanyaan Yang Berhormat Haji Sulaiman bin Haji Ahad, semasa sesi soal jawab persidangan Majlis Mesyuarat Negara hari ini.

Yang Berhormat Haji Sulaiman yang juga Ketua Kampung Belingus, Mukim Bangar, Daerah Temburong, bertanya mengenai perkembangan pengagihan zakat kepada golongan asnaf fakir dan miskin.

Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama seterusnya menjelaskan bahawa sebahagian mereka yang memerlukan perumahan pun juga telah disewakan rumah yang bayarannya antara $350 hingga $500 sebulan. Hal ini menepati tujuan syarak yang mewajibkan zakat itu dibayar, dikutip, dikumpul dan diagih-agihkan kepada yang berhak supaya mereka yang berhak itu dan kalangan fakir miskin tidak perlu keluar meminta-minta dan mengemis.

Mengenai program-program bantuan kepada golongan miskin, Yang Berhormat Pehin berkata, selama ini memang program-program sedemikian seperti bantuan modal berniaga, bantuan mesin jahit umpamanya untuk mengambil upah menjahit, bantuan peralatan seperti pukat dan perahu bermotor untuk menangkap ikan dan usaha pengangkutan perahu tambang.

Ia bagi memungkinkan para asnaf zakat pada akhirnya tidak lagi bergantung kepada agihan zakat.

Di samping itu ada juga bantuan bayaran yuran sekolah atau bayaran belajar di pusat-pusat pengajian tinggi bagi asnaf yang bukan rakyat iaitu penduduk tetap. Kesemua itu adalah dalam usaha untuk mengupayakan mereka untuk berdikari pada akhirnya.


Sumber - Media Permata

KDYMM: Buat bersungguh-sungguh

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 28 Feb – Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam bertitah mengingatkan bahawa penggubalan Akta Kanun Hukuman Jenayah Syariah (CPC) bukan perkara yang main-main tetapi harus dibuat semata-mata kerana Allah, bukan untuk glamor.

Penggubalannya juga mesti dibuat dengan bersungguh-sungguh untuk mengelak tanggapan Akta Kanun Hukuman Jenayah Syariah sebagai tidak berharga di mata mekanisma undang-undang yang ada.

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia bertitah demikian ketika berkenan berangkat ke Mesyuarat Khas Majlis Ugama Islam Brunei (MUIB) di Bangunan Dewan Majlis, Jalan Dewan Majlis, di sini.

Turut mengiringi keberangkatan Baginda ialah Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Muda Mahkota Pengiran Muda Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, Menteri Kanan di Jabatan Perdana Menteri.

Dalam mesyuarat berkenaan, Baginda ingin mengetahui status semasa CPC Syariah, berapa banyak fasa pembangunan yang ada dan berapa banyak yang telah pun dilaksanakan.

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia ketika berkenan bertitah dalam keberangkatan ke Mesyuarat
Khas Majlis Ugama Islam Brunei (MUIB), di Bangunan Dewan Majlis, Jalan Dewan Majlis.

“Fasa pertama, Akta Kanun Hukuman Jenayah Syariah telah pun dikuatkuasakan pada 1 Mei 2014. Kemudian untuk fasa kedua dapat dilaksanakan, kita mesti pula menunggu 12 bulan lagi dari tarikh CPC atau Perintah Kanun Peraturan Jenayah Syariah diwartakan.

“Sekarang masa sudah pun berlalu dua tahun, namun CPC Syariah belum juga diwartakan. Bahkan setakat itu, drafnya pun belum lagi disemak. Bererti, jika ia siap dan diwartakan pada tahun 2016 ini, maka kita akan menunggu pula setahun lagi, iaitu pada tahun 2017 barulah fasa kedua ini dapat dilaksanakan.

“Sementara bagi fasa ketiga pula akan menunggu lagi sehingga ke tahun 2018. Sudahlah tempoh menunggu bagi setiap masa untuk dapat dilaksanakan terlalu panjang, iaitu selama 12 bulan, ditambah lagi membawa lebih lambat ialah penyemakan draf CPC Syariah tidak dibuat dengan sepatutnya. Jadi sampai bilakah lagi Akta Kanun Hukuman Jenayah Syar’iah itu akan dapat dilaksanakan sepenuhnya,” tegas baginda.

Baginda turut mempersoalkan mengapakah para penyemak draf tidak dapat menyemaknya dengan segera, adakah betul tidak dapat menyemaknya dengan segera atau sengaja tidak mahu menyemaknya.

“Sekali lagi beta bertanya, mana menteri dan mana peguam negara? Tidakkah mereka mahu menyubuk-nyubuk di mana kerja itu dibuat oleh pegawai dan kakitangan mereka,” tegas Baginda.

Baginda bertitah menegaskan bahawa kerja kerana Allah tidak boleh tidak, mestilah dibuat dengan bersungguh-sungguh.

Titah Baginda lagi, pelan strategik Kementerian Hal Ehwal Ugama meliputi objektif misi dan visi kementerian. Semua itu akan memperkasa formaliti dan amalan Islam sebagai satu cara hidup yang lengkap untuk mencapai Negara Zikir; menyokong dan memulihara formaliti Islam serta untuk membangunkan Islam melalui dasar-dasar dan pentadbiran yang berkesan dan dinamik untuk pembangunan dan kemakmuran negara berdasarkan Undang-undang Syariah, perlembagaan negara, undang-undang dan falsafah Melayu Islam Beraja.

“Bercakap tentang undang-undang, di hadapan kita sekarang ialah CPC Syariah,” titah Baginda.

Mesyuarat dimulakan dengan bacaan Surah Al-Fatihah dan doa selamat yang dipimpin oleh Mufti Kerajaan, Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr.) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned diikuti dengan sembah alu-aluan oleh Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama, Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, selaku Yang Di-Pertua MUIB.

Turut hadir ialah Ketua Adat Istiadat Negara, Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Lela Cheteria Sahibun Najabah Pengiran Anak Haji Abdul Aziz; Yang Di-Pertua Majlis Mesyuarat Negara, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Setia Haji Abdul Rahman bin Dato Setia Haji Mohamed Taib; dan Timbalan Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama selaku Timbalan Yang Di-Pertua MUIB, Dato Paduka Haji Abdul Mokti bin Haji Mohd Daud.

Selepas mesyuarat itu, Baginda berkenan berangkat melawat Kementerian Hal Ehwal Ugama, di mana Baginda berkenan melawat Bahagian Kutipan dan Agihan Zakat di bawah Jabatan MUIB, Jabatan Urusan Haji, Dasar, Perancangan dan Bahagian Penyelidikan, Bahagian Kemajuan Syi’ar Islam dan Bahagian Teknologi Maklumat.

Baginda berkenan meneruskan lawatan ke Pusat Dakwah Islamiah di mana Baginda melawat Unit Penerbitan Tafsir Darussalam, Bahagian Pembangunan Dakwah, Bahagian Pembangunan Muallaf dan Dewan Pameran Pusat Dakwah Islamiah.


Sumber - Media Permata



HM questions delay in Syariah law enforcement


Rasidah HAB and Rachel Thien
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

HIS Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, yesterday ordered authorities to explain the two-year delay in the phased enforcement of Syariah Penal Code Order.

The monarch said the Syariah law has remained “stagnant” without any progress after being actively pursued for a brief period following the launch of the Order in 2014.

Delivering his titah during a meeting with the Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB) at the Legislative Council (LegCo) building, His Majesty questioned how many of the Syariah law provisions have been enforced.

“How long has passed since it was launched and gazetted until now? It has already been two years but it is still at the stage where only general offences are dealt with.

“What about the other phases? When will they be implemented? I expect the ministry concerned might respond by saying that the Syariah Penal Code could not be fully enforced at this stage because the CPC (Syariah Courts Criminal Procedure Code) has not been finalised,” the Sultan added.

The CPC outlines the rules for conducting criminal proceedings, from the investigation to prosecution.

His Majesty said authorities might respond by saying they are still waiting for the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to finalise the vetting of the draft documents.

“My next question is when will the draft law be sent to the AGC? Their response might be that it was already sent in 2014,” His Majesty said.

The Sultan went on to say that if this was the case, it is most regrettable because two years have passed and yet the CPC has not been completed.

“How thick is the draft? The AGC might tell us there are many other legal documents that need to be urgently dealt with too. The vetting of the CPC will only be able to be finalised in June 2016, after it has stalled for two years,” the monarch said.

His Majesty said this is an “unacceptable excuse”.

“It is as if people will be under the impression that the Syariah Penal Code is worthless as a law mechanism. Where is the Minister of Religious Affairs? And where is the Attorney General? Why have they not come forward to remedy this unsatisfactory situation?” the Sultan questioned.

The first phase of the Syariah Penal Code was enforced on May 1, 2014. His Majesty added that before the second phase can be implemented, the country has to wait for another 12 months after the CPC can be gazetted.

“Now two years have gone by, but the CPC is not gazetted yet and the vetting process has not even started. This means that after it is gazetted in 2016, we have to wait another year, until 2017 before the second phase can be implemented.”

He said it will be 2018 by the time the third phase of the Syariah law can be enforced.

“So when will the penal code be ready to be fully implemented? Is it true to say that the officers responsible in vetting the draft legislation could not do so as a matter of urgency? Is it just a matter of vetting or did they intentionally refuse to vet?” His Majesty questioned.

The monarch asked why had the religious affairs minister and attorney general failed to keep tabs on how the work was being done by their officers.

“May I remind all that we did not formulate the law out of whims and fancies but we do it solely for the sake of Allah, not in pursuit of glamour. Working for Allah must be done earnestly,” His Majesty said.

Religious education

His Majesty also raised concerns on the direction and future of Arabic education in the country.

Arabic schools are established to bring forth those who are competent in religious knowledge, with the objective of eventually getting Islamic scholars or ulama. With this in mind, Arabic schools must prioritise religious subjects such as Arabic language, fiqh, tauhid, Quran, hadith and tafsir, he said.

He added that this must be done without ignoring the importance of subjects such as Malay language, English language and Mathematics.

Everything went well since the inception, but Arabic schools introduced the science stream from the 1980s, making it compulsory to take Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Additional Mathematics – subjects that are available in mainstream schools under the Ministry of Education, he said.

This meant that students who took the science subjects are required to reduce the number of religious subjects so that it will not be too burdensome, and thus science subjects came to gain more prominence than religious subjects, he continued.

Science stream classes at Arabic Schools currently only offer classes up to O-levels. After completing their O-levels, the students would have to transfer to mainstream schools if they wish to pursue the sciences.

“At that point, they are no longer considered students of Arabic schools and they completely stop studying religious subjects after their O-levels,” he said.

The monarch said there is a need to review the impact of introducing the sciences in Arabic schools when it was implemented in the 1980s.

“Unfortunately, no such research has been done, we do not know the implications whether good and bad of introducing Science stream classes back in the 1980s,” he said.

The Arabic religious education system is experiencing major changes with the implementation of the National Education System for the 21st Century (SPN21).

Under the education system, Arabic school students will be able to master both religious and Science stream subjects. Year 11 students at Arabic secondary schools will have to sit for two major examinations, including the O-levels for their mainstream subjects and the Brunei Islamic Studies Certificate (SPUB) for their religious curriculum.

In Year Nine, the students will be divided into three streams based on their results: 1) fast track Science stream for students who obtained excellent results; 2) normal track Science stream for students who obtained ‘very good’ results; and 3) Arabic stream for students who obtained ‘good’ results and below.

The Sultan said the grading of the three streams reflects that the Arabic stream is of third class level, not on par with the other two categories.

They are also required to study all subjects for their SPUB and O-level examinations simultaneously, possibly doubling the number of subjects that need to be taken in mainstream schools, he added.

“Wouldn’t such a system make it burdensome for Arabic school students and difficult for teachers to teach and complete the syllabus with that many subjects?”

He added that this can cause students to choose the Science stream over the Arabic stream.

The monarch said it is generally known that religious education subjects are more difficult and taxing compared to the other subjects, a factor that can push students away from Arabic classes in favour of the sciences.

“All these need to be deliberated on as thoroughly as possible to save and popularise religious subjects so that they will be seen as a good choice, more attractive and more appealing than non-religious subjects, not a means to open an opportunity for them to get away or escape from.

“This is a matter of much concern to me – the future direction of Arabic schools. Are their roles fading into irrelevancy or diverting towards another direction. All these call for a thorough reassessment to turn back to its original course. Let it not be changed,” he added.

Islamic propagation

The monarch said da’wah (dissemination of Islamic teachings) in the country is still weak and needs to be strengthened amid uncertain times and social ills affecting the country.

Among the issues raised were the number of propagators at the Islamic Da’wah Centre and whether they were properly trained.

“In addition to having many propagators, we want the da’wah delivered to be effective. Effective da’wah is successful da’wah,” he said.

His Majesty pointed out that one important medium of the da’wah is through the mimbar. The mimbar is a pulpit where the imam delivers the sermon in mosques.

“It is vital to deliver effective messages in the sermons. That is why all aspects must be taken into account, starting from preparation, content, writing, policy guidelines and lastly, the individual who will deliver the sermon,” he said.

His Majesty said it is important to practise discretion in deciding the content of the sermon, adding that the content must be appropriate.

He gave an example of an incident where SEA Games become the topic of a sermon. “The khatib (sermon readers) called upon congregants and Muslims to flock to the stadium to witness the events that would take place. We might say that sports is not something Islamically impermissible, but for a khatib to persuade and herd people to the stadium, in my opinion, is something that needs to be given thorough deliberation.

“Have we exhausted all topics and there is no other more important issue other than the SEA Games? This is what discretion is in the choice of topic along with the need to adhere to policy guidelines on sermons,” he added.

The Sultan said khatibs need guidelines on the correct way of delivering the sermon.

“Some readers are too tense and some were repetitive in their presentation. Is this what is expected of them by the Mosque Affairs Department? Where are the mosque affairs officers? Have they not come across incidents like these,” he asked.

Official visits and functions

His Majesty went on to say that it is not necessary for both the Minister of Religious Affairs and his deputy to make visits together as one should stay at the ministry and attend to pressing matters, such as the need to formulate policies for schools and the Islamic Da’wah Centre.

“The minister and his deputy minister should not simply enjoy making visits upon visits, for instance to schools, mosques and elsewhere. In doing so, both of them pay a visit to the same place and enjoy media coverage,” His Majesty said.

The monarch also said there is no need for all senior government officials to attend official functions that were held either in the day or at night.

“It is alright to make a visit and hold a function, but if the events are becoming too many and frequent, what about office work and worse, if too many attend them – the minister, his deputy minister and a horde of other officers! Is it not more reasonable for one of them to make the visit while the other stays behind?

“Is it not true that there are a lot of more pressing matters that need to be dealt with and given serious thought in the office?

He said other pressing matters include formulating policies for schools, Islamic Da’wah Centre, mosques, zakat (tithes), following up on the development of new converts, maintenance and upkeep of Muslim cemeteries and burial grounds, as well as halal certification.

Following the meeting, His Majesty visited the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which houses several units under the Islamic Religious Council before making a stop at the Islamic Da’wah Centre.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Thai army accused of torture in war-hit south: Report

A study found 54 cases of physical and mental torture or mistreatment between 2014-15, often at military camps.

BANGKOK: Thai security forces have tortured scores of detainees in the country's conflict-strewn south, rights groups said on Tuesday (Feb 9), with beatings, suffocations and death threats among a litany of alleged abuses.

Special security laws govern Thailand's Muslim-majority southernmost provinces, where more than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in a 12-year insurgency against Thai rule.

Under martial law and the emergency decree that smothers the south, suspected rebels can be detained for six weeks without charge.

As a result many young Muslim men have been swept into arbitrary detention where they are vulnerable to torture, according to a report by several well-respected advocacy groups to be released on Wednesday.

The study, rare research in a dangerous zone cloaked by security forces and insurgents, is based on interviews with 54 former detainees between 2014-15 who alleged they were physically or mentally tortured over the last few years.

Alleged beatings of suspects, threats at gunpoint, sensory deprivation and suffocation were all routine during detention, researchers said. Many of the suspects were later released without charge.

"What we have documented is the tip of the iceberg," said Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, of the Cross Cultural Foundation, a rights group. The situation has worsened since Thailand's 2014 coup put the military in power, she added.

"With no accountability or oversight mechanisms since the coup ... interrogation officers have almost a free hand" over detainees, she explained.

The insurgents are seeking greater autonomy from Thailand, which annexed the culturally distinct region more than a century ago.

The rebels employ brutal tactics including shootings, beheadings and bombings often targeting perceived civilian collaborators such as teachers and even Buddhist monks.

'I COULDN'T BREATHE'

One suspect, Weasohok Doloh, told AFP that he was hauled into custody in May 2015 on suspicion of involvement in a bombing - an accusation he denies.

He was taken to Inkayuth military camp, an interrogation centre in Pattani province, where he alleged he was abused over several days. "At first they just slapped me," the 32-year-old builder said, adding he resisted confessing to links with the rebels.

But the abuse worsened and after a few days he alleged he was stripped naked by three interrogators who also tied his hands.

"Suddenly one (interrogator) pushed me onto a chair and forced a plastic bag over my head. I couldn't breathe ... they released the bag when I said I would confess. But I had nothing to confess to, so they did it again," he said.

In total he spent 84 days in custody before prosecutors decided not to press charges.

"Inkayuth military camp is a place where bad things are swept under the carpet," says Anchana Heemmina of Duay Jai, a local rights group which co-authored the report.

"We have heard stories of suffering from there for 12 years," she added, urging the army to allow lawyers access to suspects from the moment of arrest.

A Muslim man died in custody at Inkayuth in December last year. The army says it was from a heart attack.

A separate report released last week by the Muslim Attorney's Centre (MAC), a southern-based advocacy group, collected testimony of 75 people who alleged they were the tortured in custody in 2015.

Army spokesman Pramote Prom-In, dismissed the torture allegations contained in both reports as "imaginary".

"Losing their freedom may be torture for them ... but we need to enforce the law," he told AFP. "Detainees are allowed family visits and arrests are made in front of witnesses," he added.

The military has hailed a record drop in violence in recent months as the result of better intelligence-led operations since it took power.

It is also engaged in contacts with a number of rebel representatives that Bangkok hopes will lead to full peace talks.

But critics cast doubt on the army's sincerity and the ability of their rebel interlocutors to tug the leash of the rebel foot soldiers.


Sumber - Channel NewsAsia

Divorce rate among Bruneian Muslims on the rise

Izzati Jalil
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE rate of divorce among Muslim Bruneians after ten years or more of marriage is on the rise, read the latest statistics from the Syariah Courts.

Statistics released on December 21, 2015, showed that 494 Muslim couples filed for divorce in 2014, an increase from 469 in 2013.

Out of the number of divorce cases in 2014, 155 of them were couples that had been married for ten to 19 years.

The statistics also showed that 81 divorce cases were from couples that had been married for more than 20 years.

These divorce cases were more prevalent among men aged between 30 to 39 and women aged between 25 to 34.

Acting Assistant Director of Islamic Da’wah Centre (PDI) Ustaz Hj Abd Aziz Hj Abd Kahar, also a marriage counselor at the centre, urged married couples to keep their romance alive and to maintain household responsibilities to keep their marriage intact.

He told The Brunei Times that marriage is a relationship in which one’s weaknesses are balanced by their partner’s strengths, in line with the Quran.

Ustaz Hj Abd Aziz noted that the rise in divorce is alarming and attributed this to irreconcilable differences as well as the neglect of responsibilities and provision of nafkah (sustenance).

“Most that seek counseling had poor financial knowledge and had neglected their (marriage) responsibilities,” he said.

He said couples with domestic conflicts that arise from constant disagreements should not just ‘settle’ for a divorce, but should instead put their differences aside, empower each other and seek marriage counseling.

The marriage counselor added that couples must be committed to meeting each other’s needs to build a lasting and happy marriage.

One such need is romance, he explained.

“The problem is that within the first few years after the wedding, the romantic flames that burned so brightly during engagement (burns out). It is important that even after marriage, husbands still do what they did when they first (marry). Same with the women,” said Ustaz Hj Abd Aziz.

“Help your spouse clean the house. Remind each other why you got married in the first place and, most importantly, respect (each other),” he said.

He went on to say that divorce trends have been heavily influenced by changing social norms.

“Women these days are less reliant on men for their financial stability, and there is also far less social stigma today about ending a marriage,” he said.

He urged couples who are looking to get married to attend post-marriage courses as this could help strengthen their marriage and reduce the number of divorces nationwide.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

KDYMM: Teruskan semangat menjulang nama Islam di mata dunia

Assalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil'alameen, Wabihee Nasta'eenu 'Alaa Umuriddunyaa Waddeen, Wassalaatu Wassalaamu 'Alaa Asyrafil Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammadin, Wa'alaa Aalihee Wasahbihee Ajma'een, Waba'du

SEBAGAI hamba Allah yang tahu menghargai nikmat Allah terhadapnya, maka kita sangatlah wajar bersyukur di atas limpah kurnia Allah mengutus Nabi-Nya Yang Mulia, Sayidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam ke alam maya ini.

Dengan kelahiran Nabi Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, dunia ini telah bertukar rupa, dari gelap-gelita kepada terang-benderang. Jiwa buas manusia dapat dijinakkan menjadi lebih tenang dan bertimbang rasa.

Inilah berkat kerasulan Nabi Muhammad selaku pelita dan rahmat. Baginda benar-benar menjadi rahmat kepada seluruh alam (Rahmatan Lil’aalamin). Inilah rahsia Allah mengutus Baginda.

Kita yang menerima rahmat dan nikmat ini, tidak ada sebab untuk tidak memperingati hari keputeraan Baginda, selaku pembawa rahmat tersebut. Inilah namanya kita bersyukur sambil mengenang jasa.

Orang yang bersyukur dan pandai mengenang jasa adalah orang baik, dan malah Allah sangat menyukai mereka. Lagipun apabila kita memperingati detik bersejarah ini, kita bukan mengisinya dengan perkara sia-sia, tetapi dengan perkara-perkara yang disuruh oleh ugama sendiri, seperti berselawat dan berzikir atau mengadakan majlis-majlis ceramah dan kuliah.

Jadi kalau ada pendapat yang tidak bersetuju kita memperingati hari keputeraan Nabi dan lain-lain hari kebesaran Islam, seperti menyambut Awal Tahun Hijrah, adalah itu pendapat yang lemah.

Beta terus mengingatkan, supaya jangan berhenti dari melakukan amalan tradisi memperingati hari-hari kebesaran Islam, biarpun orang lain tidak melakukannya. Kita melakukan ini adalah sebagai usaha untuk memperkaya semangat kita sendiri dalam menjulang Islam di mata dunia, di samping mengambil manfaat daripadanya.

Islam adalah ugama tertinggi yang menghulurkan kebajikan kepada siapa saja. Ia perlu terus dilihat dan dikenali sebagai ugama terbaik. Kerana itu jangan takut mempromosi Islam, sebagaimana Allah sendiri mempromosinya di dalam Surah Ali ‘Imran, ayat 19 tafsirnya: “Sesungguhnya ugama (yang benar dan diredhai) di sisi Allah ialah Islam.”

Ini adalah promosi mutlak daripada Allah mengenai Islam. Ia sudah tidak boleh dipertikaikan lagi, kerana pengakuan ini bukannya dari siapa-siapa melainkan daripada Allah sendiri. Jika ada orang yang mahu menyangkalnya, maka itu adalah satu keceluparan di sisi Maha Pencipta.
Islam selama-lamanya adalah benar, dan Islam selama-lamanya tidak pernah membuat sebarang kesalahan. Adapun yang bersalah itu ialah orang. Jadi yang dicela bukanlah Islam, tetapi patut dicela ialah siapa yang mencela Islam.

Ini mustahak difahami oleh setiap individu, khasnya orang-orang Islam sendiri, supaya tidak berbangkit, akan ada pihak-pihak yang keliru yang memandang serong kepada Islam.

Islam tidak terlibat, atau sama sekali tidak boleh dilibat-libat dengan keburukan. Ia tetap ugama samawi, yang semata-mata hanya menjana kebaikan. Jika terjadi sebarang keburukan, seperti jenayah dan lain-lain, maka itu bukanlah dari ajaran Islam. Ajaran Islam adalah sebaliknya, sangat kuat memelihara darah, nyawa, keturunan, harta benda dan maruah.

Siapa yang mengenalkan semua ini kepada kita? Jawabnya tidak lain ialah Nabi Pesuruh Allah, Sayidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

Oleh itu, sangatlah perlu Baginda itu dikenang selalu, untuk mengilhami kita meneruskan usaha-usaha suci memelihara Islam dan kesejahteraan sejagat.

Semoga dengan berkat niat baik kita ini, Brunei Darussalam akan terus dilimpahi dengan rahmat, berupa keamanan, kesejahteraan dan kemakmuran.

Sekian, Wabillahit Taufeq Walhidayah, Wassalamu 'Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Why is a Hate Campaign being Waged against Muslims?

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

Why is a hate campaign being waged against Muslims? 

Why are Muslims increasingly categorized as terrorists? 

Why is this hate campaign  part of the US  presidential election campaign? 

Why is Donald Trump calling for police state measures directed against American Muslims?  

Why are Muslims the object of ethnic profiling and job discrimination? 

Why has France’s president Francois Hollande suspended civil rights coupled with a hate campaign directed against France’s Muslims, which represent 7.5 percent of the country’s population?

Why is the West waging a war against Muslim countries?  

Why is Islam regarded as evil?

The answer to all these questions is both simple and complex.   

It just so happens that more than 60% of the World’s reserves of crude oil lie in Muslim lands. 

Muslims are the inhabitants of the countries which possess the oil.  And America’s imperial agenda consists in acquiring ownership and control over the World’s oil reserves.

If these lands had been inhabited by Buddhists, Western politicians –with the support of the mainstream media– would be demonizing the Buddhists.

Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Libya, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, possess more than 60 percent of the World’s crude oil reserves.

With regard to conventional crude oil (excluding tar sands in Venezuela and Canada), the percentage of global (conventional crude) oil reserves in Muslim countries is much larger.

Countries which possess large reserves of crude oil are slated for destabilization.

More than 50 percent of the World’s crude oil reserves lies between the tip of the Arabian peninsula and the Caspian Sea basin: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan.

The above region is America’s war theater. That is where the battle for oil under the banner of the “war on terrorism” is being fought. Those are the Muslim lands which have been slated for conquest or regime change. Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf monarchies and emirates are US proxy states, firmly under US control.

The collective demonization of Muslims, including the vilification of the tenets of Islam, applied Worldwide, constitutes at an ideological level, an instrument of conquest of the World’s energy resources. It is part of the broader economic, political mechanisms underlying the New World Order.

This vilification is carried out by actually creating terrorist organizations integrated by Muslims, as part of a longstanding intelligence operation going back to the Soviet-Afghan war.

Al Qaeda and its affiliated organizations are creations of the CIA. They are not the product of Muslim society. Terrorist attacks are undertaken by jihadist entities which are CIA intelligence assets.

The Islamic State (ISIS) is an intelligence construct which is used essentially for two related purposes.

1. They are the foot soldiers of the Western military alliance, the instruments of destabilization, recruited, trained, financed by the Western military alliance. The various al Qaeda entities are the instruments of destabilization in US-NATO sponsored proxy wars (AQIM in Mali, Boko Haram in Nigeria, ISIS in Syria and Iraq). At the same time, they constitute a pretext and a justification to intervene under the banner of a “counter-terrorism” bombing campaign.

2. On the home front, the various Al Qaeda/ ISIS terrorist cells –supported covertly by Western intelligence–  are the  instruments of a diabolical and criminal propaganda operation which consists in killing innocent civilians with a view to providing legitimacy to the instatement of  police state measures allegedly in support of democracy. These false flag attacks allegedly perpetrated by terrorist organization are then used to harness Western public against Muslims.

The underlying objective is to wage a an illegal war of conquest in the Middle East and beyond under the banner of the “global war on terrorism”. According to Western politicians, “we are defending ourselves against the terrorists”. According to our governments, the bombing raids allegedly directed against the terrorists in Syria are “not an act of war”, they are presented to Western public opinion as an “act of self-defense”. “The West is under attack by the ISIS terrorists”, the ISIS is based in Raqqa, Northern Syria, “we must defend ourselves” by bombing ISIS.

We are told that this is not an act of war, it is an act of retribution and self-defense. The only problem with this propaganda op is that “The Terrorists R US”,  our governments and intelligence services have been supporting ISIS from the very outset.

In the eyes of public opinion, possessing a “just cause” for waging war is central. A war is said to be Just if it is waged on moral, religious or ethical grounds. Muslims within Western countries are being vilified as part of an imperial agenda, as a means to justify the destabilization of Muslim countries on humanitarian grounds (e.g. Iraq, Syria, Libya, Nigeria, Yemen).

America is waging a holy crusade against Muslims and Muslim countries.  The “war on terrorism” purports to defend the American Homeland and protect the “civilized world”. It is upheld as a “war of religion”, a “clash of civilizations”, when in fact the main objective of this war is to secure control and corporate ownership over the region’s extensive oil wealth.

Throughout history, vilification of the enemy has been applied time and again. The Crusades of the Middle Age consisted in demonizing the Turks as infidels and heretics, with a view to justifying military action.

Demonization serves geopolitical and economic objectives. Likewise, the campaign against “Islamic terrorism” (which is supported covertly by US intelligence) supports the conquest of oil wealth.

Muslims are equated with terrorists: Islamophobia serves to wage nationwide campaigns against Muslims in Europe and North America.

It is an instrument of war propaganda used to degrade the history, institutions, values and social fabric of Muslim countries, while upholding the tenets of “Western democracy” and the “free market” as the only alternative for these countries.


Sumber - Global Research

Mapim kecam China haram umat Islam puasa Ramadhan

Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (Mapim) mengecam sekeras-kerasnya tindakan kerajaan China yang telah mengisytiharkan pengumuman mengharamkan berpuasa pada bulan Ramadhan bagi kakitangan awam, pelajar dan guru di negeri Xinjiang iaitu negeri bahagiannya yang mempunyai populasi terbesar Muslim Uighur.

Keputusan itu samasekali tidak boleh diterima dan ia adalah suatu penindasan yang mesti dibantah bukan sahaja oleh setiap warga umat Islam, malah juga oleh komuniti dunia seluruhnya atas dasar hak dan kebebasan beragama.

Pengharaman itu dikuatkuasakan oleh kerajaan parti komunis China yang secara rasminya adalah kerajaan ateis yang mengarahkan semua restoran dibuka sepanjang Ramadhan seperti Notis yang dinaikmuat dalam sesawang Administrasi Makanan dan Ubatan China.

Dalam pengumuman yang dikeluarkan di daerah Bole dimaklumkan: "Dalam bulan Ramadhan dilarang berpuasa dan melakukan sebarang upacara agama".

Nampaknya setiap tahun pihak berkuasa China mengharamkan berpuasa dalam kalangan Muslim Uighur.

Akibatnya ketegangan etnik sering tercetus yang menyebabkan ratusan terbunuh dalam beberapa tahun yang lalu.

Meskipun kebebasan agama telah dikembangkan di China sejak dasar terbukanya pada 1979, namun ia sangat terbatas. Perlembagaan negara China memberi kebebasan terhadap kepercayaan agama, namun ia masih menghadkan aktiviti agama dan organisasi agama.

China mengiktiraf 5 agama - Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism dan Protestantism dengan mensyaratkan semua aktiviti agama dilakukan di bawah naungan badan agama yang setia kepada negara (patriotic religious association).

Di kawasan autonomi Xinjiang Uighur, umat Islam telah menghadapi keganasan pada 2008 dan 2009. Pada 2014, kerajaan China mengharamkan semua aktiviti agama pada bulan Ramadhan.

Pihak berkuasa telah menuduh ia kononnya adalah akibat dari "ancaman teroris" dan "ekstrimis agama".

Jelas kerajaan China bermatlamat untuk memaksa Muslim Uighur memisahkan diri dari amalan agama mereka. Polisi ini akan memprovokasi ketengangan antara etnik dan mencetuskan konflik.

Tahun sebelum ini pelajar sekolah termasuk dalam arahan larangan berpuasa dan pelbagai amalan agama. Biro pendidikan kota Tarbaghatay mengarahkan semua sekolah dihubungi dan memberitahu pelajar arahan tersebut bahawa semasa Ramadhan pelajar etnik minoriti Uighur Muslim tidak dibenarkan berpuasa, tidak dibenar memasuki masjid dan tidak dibenarkan mengamalkan aktiviti agama.

Malah pemantauan lebih rapi akan dilakukan sepanjang bulan Ramadhan atas nama menjaga "kestabilan sosial".

Malah sebelum Ramadhan lagi, pengurusan masjid diarah menyiasat kad pengenalan setiap orang yang datang menunaikan ibadat di masjid.

Kami membantah keras penindasan yang nampaknya berterusan dilakukan oleh kerajaan komunis ke atas umat Islam.

Kami menuntut PBB bertindak tegas keatas kerajaan China yang menafikan hak agama kepada mereka yang sudah berpegang kepada agama yang dipilih. Memaksa mereka meninggalkan amalan agama yang mereka pilih adalah suatu kezaliman yang tidak boleh dibiarkan.

Kerajaan Malaysia perlu mengambil inisiatif supaya OIC melakukan sesuatu bagi berunding dengan kerajaan China supaya hak mengamalkan Islam dalam kalangan umat Islam berbangsa Uighur perlu dihormati.

Kami menggesa kerajaan Malaysia menghantar nota bantahan kepada Kedutaan China di Kuala Lumpur supaya pendirian Malaysia sebagai negara umat Islam disampaikan kepada pihak berkuasa China jika hubungan baik dua hala antara dua negara ini hendak diteruskan.


Sumber - Harakahdaily

SURAT TERBUKA KEPADA UMAT ISLAM: “ISU HUDUD YANG DIKELIRUKAN”

Ditulis oleh ABDUL HADI AWANG

Saudara dan saudari yang dihormati,

Dengan rasa rendah diri, surat ini saya tujukan kepada semua umat Islam dengan semangat saling ingat memperingati sesama kita.

Ada dalam kalangan umat Islam yang memberi alasan bagi menolak usul persendirian berkaitan undang-undang jenayah dengan menggunakan beberapa perkataan yang berkaitan hukum Islam. Antaranya menyebut perkataan-perkataan seperti “Siyasah Syari’yyah”, “Maqasid Syari’ah”, “Fiqh Aulawiyyat”, “Maslahah” dan lain-lain.

Ketika membicarakan tajuk yang berat seperti ini, maka tentunya sangatlah tidak manis sekiranya kita menjadi laksana burung kakaktua yang pandai hanya menyebut kalimah yang diajar oleh tuannya, namun tetap berstatus binatang tanpa akal tanpa memahami hakikat atau tasawwur daripada perkataan yang diucap. Maka menjelaskan maknanya dengan ilmu yang bersumberkan al-Quran dan as-Sunnah adalah sangat penting.

“Hudud” adalah cabutan daripada salah satu daripada hukum jenayah yang banyak dan menyeluruh. Mungkin sengaja dijadikan hujah yang difikirkan bagi menolak syari’at. Mereka menganggap Hudud paling sesuai dijadikan sasaran kerana pandangan mereka paling ganas, tanpa mengetahui secara detail dan objektif. Tanpa menyedari pula betapa ganasnya undang-undang ciptaan manusia yang masih dibanggakan, seperti hukuman bunuh secara kuno : menjerut tali ke leher secara menggantung, begitu juga hukuman sebat sehingga menyeksa  tanpa kesan mendidik masyarakat.

Penjelasan ini khusus bagi penganut Islam yang jahil tanpa dimaafkan, kerana beriman tanpa ilmu dan tidak berbudiman terhadap agama sendiri, serta tanpa peduli terhadap batas-batas iman dan kufur yang wajib diketahui dan dipelihara secara fardu ‘ain.

Dr Yusuf al-Qardawi dalam kitabnya  تيسير الفقه للمسلم المعاصر  (Memudahkan kefahaman terhadap agama kepada Muslim Semasa atau terkini) di halaman 102 menjelaskan :

Terdapat tiga madrasah (pandangan) apabila menghadapi masalah semasa :

1- Kalangan yang berpegang kepada nas juzi’i yang zahir secara jumud tanpa menterjemahkannya secara ijtihad melalui ilmu Siyasah Syariyyah, Usul dan Maqasid.

2- Kalangan yang menyalahggunakan Siyasah Syariyyah, Usul dan Maqasid sehingga membelakangi nas yang nyata.

3- Kalangan yang mengambil kira kedua-dua aspek yang penting dalam ilmu Islam.

Nas yang nyata adalah ilmu Allah yang difirmankan atau ucapan Rasul S.A.W. yang bersifat ma’sum. Adapun yang lain dari nas yang nyata adalah keizinan Allah bagi ruang ijtihad di kalangan para ulama bagi melaksanakan syariat Islam dengan bijak dan adil, bukannya meninggal syariat Allah dengan alasan sehingga  boleh digantikan dengan undang-undang ciptaan manusia yang dianggap lebih baik.

1- Siyasah Syari’yyah

Perkataan  “siyasah” daripada bahasa Arab yang bermaksud mentadbir, mengurus dan memandu atau memimpin yang disebut terkini dengan perkataan politik atau pentadbiran atau panduan. Dicampur dengan perkataan Syara’ dengan maksud kaitannya dengan urusan pelaksanaan syariat mengikut jadual, pelaksanaan, dan pengurusan melaksanakan hukum Islam, bukannya meninggalkan hukum Islam untuk diganti dengan yang lain. (Sila lihat huraian secara khsus dalam kitab-kitab Ahkam Sultaniyyah Karangan  al-Mawardi dan Ghiyath al-Umam karangan Imam Haramain daripada Mazhab Syafie; al-Siyar al-Kabir daripada mazhab Hanafi; Siyasah Syariyyah Ibnu Taimiyyah dan Turuq Hukmiyyah Ibnu Qayyim  daripada mazhab Hambali dan Muqaddimah Ibnu Khaldun daripada mazhab Maliki).    

Tegasnya ialah melaksanakan Syariat dengan betul, bukannya meninggalkan Syariat Allah dengan gantian hukum yang lain.

2- Maqasid Syari’ah

“Maqasid” bermakna tujuan-tujuan, maksudnya ialah tujuan pelaksanaan syariat. Objektifnya ialah cara mencapai matlamat membawa maslahat kebaikan kepada manusia secara umum dan khusus secara adil dan istiqamah dan menolak kemudaratan. Di sini pula ada tujuan yang telah ditetapkan oleh syara’  dan ada juga yang tidak disebut di mana Allah memberi keizinan mengikut kemampuan akal dan ilmu manusia.

(Kepada yang mampu berbahasa Arab sila rujuk kepada dua tokoh ilmu Maqasid : Al Syatibi : Al Muwafaqat : J:2, muka surat 391. Ibnu ‘Asyur : muka surat 19)

Contohnya, apabila khalifah Umar R.A. tidak memotong tangan pencuri di tahun melesetnya ekonomi kerana berlakunya kemarau panjang, dan bukannya kerana meninggalkan hudud, tetapi disebabkan melihat keadaan desakan hidup apabila dibayar gaji yang tidak mencukupi, menjadikan seseorang itu melakukan jenayah secara terdesak. Maka kerana itu hukuman potong tangan adalah haram dilaksanakan, kerana Hadis Rasulullah S.A.W. : “Hukuman Hudud ditolak kerana adanya syubhat”.

Ditolak hukuman hudud ini pula bukan bermakna terlepas begitu sahaja. Tetapi hendaklah dipindahkan kepada hukuman takzir yang termasuk dalam ruang Syariat Islam. Hukuman hudud tidak boleh dijatuhkan kerana tidak memenuhi syarat yang mencapai adil dan mendidik masyarakat mengikut kemampuan. Mudarat daripada kemelesetan ekonomi yang menimpa penjenayah adalah lebih besar. Sebaliknya kalau pencuri itu seorang berpendapatan tinggi sudah tentu dihukumkan.    

Maqasid Syari’ah tidak bermakna membatalkan penguatkusaan undang-undang Hudud. Maqasid Syari’ah dalam hal ini bermakna hukuman tidak boleh dijatuhkan kerana menafikan tindakan secara adil yang menjadi matlamat syariat. Kalau dijatuhkan hukuman juga, bermakna kita tidak melaksanakan syariat kerana tidak mencapai matlamatnya. Meninggalkan syariat secara total menghilangkan segala maqasidnya.

Contohnya juga ialah mengenai kalimah Allah dibenarkan penggunaannya pada asalnya oleh penganut bukan Islam walau pun salah mengikut penafsiran kita, tetapi apabila tujuan penggunaannya bagi mengelirukan penganut Islam yang jahil, maka pihak berkuasa berkenaan agama Islam berhak menghalangnya . Mengikut  Qaedah  الأمور بمقاصدها  (Semua perkara dilihat juga kepada tujuannya).

3- Fiqh Aulawiyyat 

Bermaksud melihat keutamaan secara fiqh (faham mengikut panduan Syariat).

Contohnya Islam meletakkan perkara keperluan rukun hidup bagi manusia ialah memelihara (1) Aqidah agama, (2) Nyawa, (3) Akal, (4) Keturunan dan (5) Harta.

Contohnya tidak dijatuhkan hukuman hudud terhadap pencuri kerana lapar adalah kerana keutamaan memelihara nyawa hendaklah didahulukan daripada memelihara harta. Hukuman hudud ditangguh dalam keadaan perang kerana menghalang penjenayah melarikan diri kepada musuh, kerana keselamatan negara diutamakan. Bukan bermakna penjenayah dibebaskan, tetapi diturunkan kepada hukuman takzir.

Orang bukan Islam dikecualikan dahulu kerana berdakwah dalam konsep tiada paksaan dalam agama adalah lebih aulawiyyat.

Contohnya juga seperti pengambilan tanah untuk mendirikan hospital atau jalan raya adalah diizinkan kerana kepentingan umum hendaklah didahulukan daripada kepentingan individu atau segelintir, dan hendaklah diganti tanah itu secara yang adil pula.

“Aulawiyyat” itu pula hendaklah dalam ruang lingkup hukum syariat terlebih dahulu, bukannya bermakna meninggalkan hukum syariat.

Apabila segala syarat tidak ada bagi hukum Hudud dan Qisas maka hendaklah dipilih dalam ruang hukum takzir yang sangat luas.

Bukannya melarikan diri kepada hukum ciptaan Barat yang banyak kelemahannya. Perlu disedari bahawa di sana ada juga tidak yang sama dengan undang – undang yang sedia ada, perbezaannya tidak ada roh seperti syariat Islam.

(Sila lihat Dr Yusuf Al Qardhawi dalam Siyasah Syariayyah halaman 284-297)

4- Maslahah

“Maslahah” dengan maksud tujuan membawa kebaikan. Sama ada mendapat faedah atau menolak kemudaratan.

Para ulama membahagikan maslahat itu kepada tiga kedudukan :


1- Maslahah Mu’atabarah 

Ialah dalam perkara yang telah ditetap oleh Allah Yang Maha Mengetahui dan Rahmat terhadap makhluknya. Maka ada yang diwajibkan dan ada pula yang diharamkan. Maka percayalah bahawa semua yang diwajibkan tetap membawa kebaikan dunia dan akhirat. Perkara yang diharamkan tetap mendatang mudarat kepada diri atau masyarakat. Contohnya ialah seperti wajibnya berpuasa kepada yang mampu dan haramnya arak dan judi. Ianya adalah ketetapan Allah SWT.

2- Maslahah Mulghah

Dalam perkara yang diharamkan kerana mudaratnya lebih besar atau manfaatnya tidak ada .Contohnya seorang yang mencuri atau merompak atau mengedar dadah dengan maslahat mengumpul duit untuk kebajikan atau nafkah keluarga. Maslahat ini dibatalkan kerana mudaratnya sangat besar sehingga menimbus segala kebaikannya.

3- Maslahah mursalah atau Masoleh mursalah 

Dalam perkara yang didiamkan oleh al-Quran dan Hadis maka ruangnya adalah terlalu luas kepada manusia di sepanjang zaman.

Melaksanakan Syariat adalah maslahah yang telah ditetapkan oleh Allah Yang Maha Mengetahui dan Penyayang kepada makhluknya.


Isu Enakmen Kanun Jenayah Syariat (KJS) Negeri Kelantan 

Isu undang-undang  jenayah Syariat menjadi hangat sejak kedatangan penjajah apabila mereka menghapuskannya. Seterusnya menjadi hangat di kalangan umat Islam sendiri kerana kejahilan agama dan pendekatan, sehingga berlakunya isu kafir mengafir dalam masyarakat sendiri kerana kejahilan hukum dan kejahilan  cara pendekatan berdakwah.

Apabila keadaan dapat diredakan, maka PAS mengambil langkah ke depan melalui kemenangannya di Kelantan, kemudiannya di Terengganu secara ilmu dan demokratik.

Langkah pertama ialah menubuhkan pasukan daripada Parti dan kerajaan. Pasukan ini melibatkan Ketua Dewan Ulama dan kalangan ahli majlis Syura Ulama, Tun Salleh Abas (Mantan Ketua Hakim Negara), al-Marhum Prof Ahmad Ibrahim salah seorang pengasas UIA (mantan Ahli Jawatankuasa PAS Pusat tahun lima puluhan daripada Singapura dan mantan Peguam Negara Singapura yang pertama), al-Marhum Dr Mahmud Saedon Awang Othman dari UIA dan Pakar Syariah Negara Brunei Darussalam, al-marhum Datuk Abdul Halim Muhammad mantan Penasihat undang-undang negeri Kelantan dan Exco kerajaan negeri, dan Datuk Daud Mohamad Kadi Besar negeri Kelantan.

Sebelum enakmen ini dibawa kepada DUN Negeri Kelantan, ianya terlebih dahulu dibentangkan kepada umum di berbagai forum – seminar dan dialog. Akhirnya enakmen berkenaan dibawa ke Dewan Undangan Negeri Kelantan pada tahun 1993 dan DUN Terengganu pada tahun 2000. Manakala Kelantan pula memperkukuhkannya secara mengadakan seminar dan sambutan mengenainya secara tahunan.

Kini setelah lebih dari 20 tahun (dua puluh tahun) PAS memperkenalkan enakmen ini, di samping melaksanakan proses pendidikan mengenai KJS dalam masyarakat, dialog dan sebagainya, maka PAS ingin bergerak setapak lagi dalam proses mendidik masyarakat untuk mengenali hukum-hakam syariat Islam yang menyeluruh. Hasilnya kini suara yang mengeji hukum Islam ini semakin hari menjadi terpencil.

Maka dengan sedikit ruang yang ada ini, Enakmen KJS ini mengalami beberapa pindaan- pindaan memperkemaskannya dengan mengambil kira cabaran dalam perlembagaan dan masyarakat majmuk, tanpa paksaan, dan bagi orang Islam sahaja setelah mengambil kira pandangan para ulama daripada semua mazhab dan sejarah pelaksanaan yang berjaya di sepanjang zaman.

Dalam masa yang sama, apa yang ingin dicadang dan akan dibawa oleh PAS menerusi Private Members Bill nanti pula bukanlah rang undang-undang hudud, tetapi pindaan dalam akta Mahkamah Syariah untuk membuka sedikit ruang bagi membolehkan satu-dua aspek syariah itu dilaksanakan terhadap penganut Islam sahaja.

Kita adalah makhluk yang berilmu, bertamadun dan matang. Maka dengarlah dahulu apa yang ingin dikemukakan. Jangan terus melompat dan bertempik gegak gempita memberikan kritikan tanpa mengetahui hujung pangkalnya.

Firman Allah:

(Dan hendaklah kamu melaksanakan kalangan mereka hukum yang telah diturunkan oleh Allah, dan jangan sekali-kali engkau mengikut hawa nafsu mereka (meninggalkan hukum Allah) sehingga engkau meninggalkan sebahagian daripada apa yang telah diturunkan oleh Allah kepadamu. Maka jika sekiranya mereka berpaling (enggan) maka ketahuilah bahawa sesungguhnya Allah hendak mengenakan mereka dengan sebab sebahagian daripada dosa-dosa mereka. Dan sesungguhnya sebahagian daripada manusia itu adalah orang-orang yang jahat. Adakah mereka mahukan hukum jahiliyyah, padahal siapakah lagi yang paling baik hukumnya daripada Allah kepada orang-orang yang percaya dengan yakin).

Semoga semua kita mendapat manfaatnya dan mencapai keredhaan Allah SWT.


Saudaramu dalam Islam,

ABDUL HADI AWANG

PRESIDEN PAS


Sumber - Laman Web Rasmi PAS Pusat

The Vilification of Muslims

Alliance of Christian, Jewish and Hindu Fundamentalists

by DEEPAK TRIPATHI

The recent attacks at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine’s office and a Jewish store near Paris have sparked another round of explosive debate about Islam and Muslims. The actions of Cherif and Said Kouachi were condemned. How the two brothers born and raised in France became radicalised was discussed in newspapers and on airwaves. Their existence on the fringes of French society and previous encounters with the law, already on record, were highlighted. Belgian police subsequently carried out operations in Verviers and other parts of the country.

Competition among Western leaders to rush to Paris to mark the tragic events was intense. The British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu appeared particularly exercised. Stakes are high for Cameron and Netanyahu in coming elections in Britain and Israel respectively. The French presidency was not keen on Netanyahu visiting the country, but he turned up anyway.

Reminding the world of his Christian faith, David Cameron condemned the “fanatical death cult of Islamist extremism” and insisted: “You cannot appease them; they hate our democracy, our freedom, our freedom of expression, our way of life.” Netanyahu was not going to be left behind. Describing the attacks as brutal acts of savagery, he insisted that radical Islam knew “no boundaries” and the response had to be international.

Reminding his audience yet again that Israel had experienced similar attacks and that he knew the pain, Netanyahu said: “The terrorists want to destroy our freedoms and our civilization … we can defeat this tyranny that seeks to extinguish all our freedoms.”

Some commentators have pointed out the inherent bigotry and duplicity of this rhetoric. Chris Hedges, in a piece on Truthdig.com, said that the Charlie Hebdo shootings were neither about free speech nor radical Islam. Rather, the killings represented the fury of those hopeless, brutally controlled and mocked by the privileged.

The latest vilification of Muslims and their faith is the result of an old alliance of fundamentalist Christians and Jews for at least a century, certainly since the beginning of the Anglo-French project to create what became Israel in 1948. In the post-9/11 era, the trend to caricature Muslims has become more sweeping and venomous. Muslims all over the world are facing a sustained attack.

Had the Palestinian scholar Edward Said, author of the acclaimed book Orientalism been alive, he would have described it as a new form of Orientalism which imagines, emphasises, exaggerates and distorts, and is solely directed against Muslims everywhere. The rise of the Hindu nationalist BJP to power in India, a secular country of more than a billion people and nearly 150 million Muslims, represents the entry of a new player in this alarming reality. Not even a year in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has already started to fiddle with the Indian constitution.

The terms “secular” and “socialist” are being removed from the preamble in government publications, without the required legislative approval for which the BJP government does not have sufficient strength. Leading government ministers and party allies have begun to openly suggest that the plan is to do away with the term “secular” from the constitution altogether, some claiming that India was never a secular country. Paranoia and religious zealotry are on the ascendancy.

The leader of the self-styled World Hindu Organisation, Pravin Togadia, absurdly laments that the population of Hindus in India is only 82 per cent. Togadia says he would not let this number decline to 42 in a few years, because “then their property and women will not remain safe”. He is determined to push the Hindu population up to 100 per cent.

Hindu women married to Prominent Muslims are accused of committing “love jihad” and demands are being made that their husbands convert to Hinduism. Walking in the corridors of power, if not occupying seats, are people who would make India a monolithic Hindu theocracy, a distorted mirror image of Saudi Arabia.

India’s vice president Hamid Ansari, a career diplomat before taking up his current post in 2007, was recently hounded by right-wing supporters and sympathisers of Modi’s government. As President Pranab Mukherjee took the salute during India’s Republic Day parade on 26 January, Ansari and several ministers in Modi’s government stood at attention, as the protocol requires.

Only the vice president was singled out for “insulting the national flag” and attacked by chauvinist Hindus in vehemently abusive terms. This against someone who had served as India’s ambassador in countries including Australia, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and at the United Nations and, from 1980 to 1985, was Chief of Protocol in the Indian foreign ministry.

As part of the concerted drive against Muslims, a number of myths are being perpetuated by chauvinists and should be critically examined. Two myths stand out in particular. One that only Muslims (the world over) are violent – all others are doves of peace. Second that India’s 82 per cent Hindus face a demographic threat from Muslims.

Now, let us look at some of the facts. Traders from what is Damascus today started visiting India in the eight century. Sufi pacifism came to India much before. Muslim invasions began in the early eleventh century. Muslims and Christians of modern India have descended from those who adopted other religions for a variety of reasons – love, allurements, coercion or oppression, no less under the brutal Hindu caste system for centuries.

First Christians were believed to have landed on the coast of southern India in the year 52 AD when St Thomas is said to arrived in Kerala. It has taken almost fifteen centuries for the Muslim population of India to reach 14 per cent. Any talk of Hindus declining by 20 per cent, and Muslims rising, is therefore disingenuous and anti-intellectual.

Let us also examine the claim that only Islam and its followers are violent; others are fountains of peace. The history of wars between Christians and Muslims from the late eleventh to the thirteenth century took numerous lives. Legend has it that Pope Urban II told his followers it was right to kill non-Christians in defence of Christianity and those who die for their faith would occupy a chosen place in heaven.

Christian crusades were extraordinarily brutal and led to Muslim wars. In his war against the United States, Osama bin Laden’s rhetoric was strikingly similar, as is the rhetoric on the extremes of other religions in modern times. Conflicts in the Balkans and the Greater Middle East are as much local as led by Western military powers. One only has to look at those extremes with sincerity.

Let us see examples of some more fallacies, perpetuated by the appeal to popular opinion, ignorance or blind religious chauvinism. One is that Hinduism is a religion of peace. Not always. Those who killed thousands of Sikhs in India after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by two Sikh bodyguards in 1984 were not Muslims, but Hindus. And at the time of partition of British India in 1947, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs committed unspeakable atrocities on each other, killing more than a million and displacing many more.

Wars in Indo-China and elsewhere in southeast Asia involved Buddhists and Christian colonial powers – French, British and Dutch. Let us ask ourselves who continues to persecute Rohingya Muslims in Burma (Myanmar) which is 80 per cent Buddhist? And where does the responsibility lie for the civil war in Sri Lanka following decades of discrimination of Hindu and Muslim Tamils by the Buddhist Sinhala majority that led to the Tamil rebellion and the rise of Tamil militant groups after the 1983 anti-Tamil riots?

When the fog of hatred is thick and the lust to have it all becomes uncontrollable, it is difficult to recognize that humans throughout history have shown extraordinary capacity to harm fellow humans. No one comes out better in this.


Sumber - CounterPunch

KDYMM: Gandakan penerangan dan dakwah

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 2 Jan – Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam bertitah menyeru pihak-pihak berkenaan dalam kerajaan supaya menggandakan lagi penerangan dan dakwah dalam perkara-perkara yang berkaitan dengan amal soleh ini, khasnya dalam kalangan guru-guru ugama.

“Ambillah peluang bagi menghidupkan semangat suka beramal kepada kanak-kanak kerana di peringkat ini naluri mendengar dan menerima itu adalah cukup terbuka. Sekali dua sahaja menyebutnya akan terus rakat atau melekat.

“Inilah di antara tujuan besar sistem wajib ugama diadakan. Kita mahu biar anak-anak kita itu benar-benar kenal serta memahami apa itu dosa dan pahala. Nanti apabila mereka sudah cukup kenal dan faham, maka InsyAllah inilah masanya anak-anak itu akan jadi anak-anak yang soleh yang suka kepada amal soleh dan ibadat,” titah Baginda dalam perutusan sempena Sambutan Maulud Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

Menurut Baginda, mereka ini akan jadi generasi penerus yang baik. Jika kita tidak menyiapkan mereka dari sekarang, masa depan Brunei akan mengalami kesukaran berdasarkan zaman adalah semakin rosak, akan lebih pantas untuk membawa kita ke jurang kerosakan.

“Menyebut tentang zaman rosak ini, menjadikan kita amat diperlukan untuk berhati-hati kerana virus kerosakan itu bukanlah mudah untuk dikawal. Ia boleh menjangkiti apa sahaja, ia boleh mencemari pegangan beragama, mencemari pendidikan, mencemari budaya dan lain-lain.

“Hari ini kita masih senang tanpa gangguan tetapi esok-esok siapa tahu, gangguan itu datang dari anasir-anasir yang tidak diundang. Anasir-anasir yang tidak diundang itu boleh sahaja terdiri daripada makhluk bernyawa dan malah boleh juga berupa ledakan-ledakan pemikiran atau ideologi atau aliran yang tidak sema ada dengan Brunei.

“Ini semua mustahak diperincikan daripada sekarang dan apa-apa persediaan yang perlu untuk menghadapinya. Pada hemat beta, persediaan satu-satunya yang paling mustahak ialah dengan memastikan dasar dan isi pendidikan kita tidak menyimpang walau sedikit dari konsep Melayu Islam Beraja.”

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia dalam titah turut melahirkan rasa bersyukur ke hadrat Allah SWT kerana kita di negara ini dapat pula bersama-sama menyambut Maulidur Rasul Sayyidina Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam yang sudah barang tentunya akan membawa kepada keberkatan bagi kita bernegara.

“Menyambut Maulidur Rasul adalah merupakan tradisi yang terus-menerus berkembang di sepanjang zaman. Ia dilakukan sebagai mengenang siapa Baginda itu, seorang nabi dan rasul dan penyelamat kepada dunia dan umat manusia.

“Allah Subhanahu Wataala telah menyifatkan Baginda sebagai rahmat bagi seluruh alam, sama ada alam itu terdiri daripada manusia atau haiwan atau flora dan bunga atau makhluk yang tidak kelihatan atau tumbuh-tumbuhan. Semuanya itu sama-sama mendapat rahmat dengan kelahiran Baginda ke alam maya ini.

“Sebagai tanda kita bersyukur kepada Allah di atas kurnia-Nya mendatangkan rahmat maka sewajarnyalah rahmat itu kita tantang, kita hormati dan cintai dengan sepenuh jiwa dan raga kita.

“Caranya bukanlah dengan mendewa-dewakannya atau mendirikan lambang-lambang kenangan untuknya tetapi tanda bersyukur sejati adalah dengan mengikut segala Sunnah yang diajarkan oleh pembawa rahmat ini.”

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia seterusnya bertitah, kita juga dituntut untuk mencintai Baginda dan salah satu tanda mudah mencintai itu ialah dengan membanyakkan selawat ke atas Baginda. Selawat ini sungguhpun mudah tetapi ganjarannya adalah lumayan. Sekali sahaja berselawat, Allah akan membalas dengan sepuluh rahmat.

Namun dalam zaman serba sibuk ini, walaupun sesuatu amal soleh itu mudah sahaja untuk dibuat seperti berselawat, tetapi sangat senang pula ia dicicirkan disebabkan oleh kesibukan yang membungkus manusia.

Tegasnya, manusia hari ini sudah kurang tertarik dengan pahala berbanding dengan keseronokan dunia. Apa-apa yang berkilauan di mata itulah yang diutamakan, sedang janji akhirat yang belum nampak tidak dapat mengusik hati mereka.

“Beta berharap di saat-saat penuh berkat memperingati Maulidur Rasul ini kesedaran umat Islam akan lebih kuat dan bertambah untuk mengamalkan suruhan-suruhan agama dari yang wajib sampai kepada yang sunat.

“Hanya dengan cara ini sahaja kita akan dapat mengumpul bekalan untuk akhirat kita, lagi banyak kita beramal lagi besar harapan untuk kita dapat menjawat ganjaranNya di akhirat kelak.

“Agama telah pun memberitahu bahawa pahala bagi amal soleh itu adalah hebat-hebat belaka, bukan sahaja amalan wajib malah amalan sunat juga tidak kurang hebatnya. Misalnya, cuma kerana dua rakaat sembahyang sunat Subuh sahaja pun pahalanya adalah lebih baik dari dunia dan segala isi di dalamnya.”


Sumber - Media Permata

State Mufti tells why Brunei enforce Syariah Law

Nadzri Zailani
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE State Mufti emphasised on the importance of implementing Syariah Law in Brunei and the benefits from it, during a Seminar on Syariah Penal Code in Selangor, Malaysia yesterday.

Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Hj Awg Abd Aziz Juned gave the keynote speech during the opening ceremony of the Multaqa Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah at the Dewan Jubli Perak of the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah building, Shah Alam Selan-gor Darul Ehsan, which was organised by the Mufti Department of Selangor.

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah launched the Multaqa Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah and Syariah Penal Code Seminar yesterday.

He explained that Brunei had adopted the laws of Islam for more than 400 years now which was known as “Hukum Kanun Brunei”, which were the first written laws in the Sultanate.

This was evident, according to the State Mufti, when the British Consulate General William Hood Treacher came to Brunei for the first time with the British Navy and mentioned in his records that the laws of Brunei during that time had originated from the Al-Quran.

When YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Ustaz Hj Awg Juned was questioned on why Brunei was eager to implement the Islamic law, he explained that the main reason for the implementation was because the Bruneian people, and specifically the Sultan, want to be the most loyal of servants to Allah SWT and release themselves from Allah’s SWT punishment in the hereafter.

He added that, for Brunei, the implementation of the laws is nothing to be worried about, as the people know and are confident that the laws of Allah SWT are wonderful and captivating, and is respected by all, even though not everyone accepts it.

As there are still those who claim that the laws of Islam are ancient, cruel, inhuman and oppose the principals of humanity, the State Mufti explained that there were three types of reaction to Syariah Law.

First reaction, are those who accept the laws whole-heartedly without any doubts, which are those who truly exist in themselves the essence of faith.

Secondly are those who reject it completely, which are usually those who are outside the Islamic ring and even up to the point that they claim that Brunei is regressing, ancient and insensitive with the efforts of protecting basic human rights.

To those, the State Mufti explained that Brunei is not devastated from those comments and still take a ‘friendly approach’ by thanking them for their concerns and ask them to first wait and observe the journey that Brunei has embarked on without making hasty comments.

The last reaction is from those who half accept it and half reject it, which are usually Muslims who have doubts and justify their stance by stirring up controversies such as saying that in the Quran there is no such punishment as stoning.

He reminded that not everything mentioned in the Quran is detailed fully and that there are hadiths that function to explain them.

He used praying as an example, with the Quran only mentioning that Muslims must pray and the Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) hadith was what taught Muslims the steps to perform the prayer.

“This is the role of hadith. Even if the Al-Quran doesn’t mention stoning, however the hadith mentions it, therefore the punishment of stoning is feasible,” said the State Mufti.

He added that Brunei will survive with the model of faith and piety that continues to build fairness, peace, welfare and prosperity.

“With these laws, with faith and devotion as its axis, InsyaAllah Brunei will be more prosperous. Because Allah SWT had promised to bless those who believe and who are devoted.”


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Contohi dan ikutilah Brunei

RIDHUAN TEE ABDULLAH

MINGGU lalu saya berada di Brunei, mengisi Majlis Ilmu 2014, undangan Jabatan Perdana Menteri Brunei, membentangkan kertas kerja bertajuk 'Manfaatkan Sains Martabatkan Islam'.

Majlis tersebut dirasmikan oleh Sultan Brunei, bertemakan sains dan teknologi pemangkin pembangunan dan meningkatkan kualiti hidup ummah.

Ucapan baginda sultan penuh dengan penegasan dalam melaksanakan Islam tanpa menolak kepentingan sains dan teknologi. Sains dan teknologi akan terus diperkasa menjadikan Brunei negara maju 2035.

Selepas perasmian, Mufti Brunei memberi ucaptama dan sultan turut berada sama dan begitu khusyuk mendengar. Saya tersangat ingin perkara itu berlaku di Malaysia.

Ucapan mufti begitu bernas dan tegas di hadapan pemimpin tertinggi negara itu. Sains dan teknologi mesti berpandukan iman dan takwa.

Secara tegas dan berani ucapan itu dituju kepada pemimpin negara. Soal syurga, neraka dan balasan akhirat dibangkitkan jika pemimpin tidak melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya.

Walaupun fokus utama mengenai kepentingan institusi sedekah, tetapi isinya tidak lari daripada mengingatkan pemimpin negara, secara terang dan berani.

Apakah kita di sini ada keberanian seperti itu? Setakat yang saya lihat, tidak ramai kalangan kita yang berani menegur pemerintah, meskipun secara berhikmah. Yang banyak adalah ucapan memuji dan membodek pemimpin untuk kekal kuasa, dapat kuasa dan habuan yang lain.

Bilakah negara kita ingin mencontohi Brunei? Semua pemimpinnya mahukan Islam, dan yakin dengan hukum ALLAH yang mesti ditegakkan.

Saya akur, negara kita bukan Brunei. Bukan Islam hampir separuh. Tetapi, sekurang-kurangnya mulakanlah dengan melaksanakan cara hidup beragama, kalaupun tidak mahu nama Islam itu ditonjolkan.

Misalnya, budaya dan tatacara berada di dalam pesawat. Berada di dalam Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA), seolah-olah begitu yakin berada di udara, ALLAH bersama kita. Dimulakan dengan bacaan doa dan ucapan salam yang begitu indah.

Anak-anak kapal begitu bersopan dan manis sekali. Pakaiannya menutup aurat. Makanannya semua halal. Tidak ada arak dan benda haram yang lain.

RBA tetap penuh dengan penumpang tempatan dan asing. Brunei terus menjadi tumpuan pelancong. Tidak timbul soal laksanakan Islam, pelancong lari dari Brunei. Semakin ramai ada.

Inilah rahmat ALLAH yang mesti kita yakini. Apakah benar kata-kata jika arak tidak dihidangkan di dalam pesawat, pelancong akan lari.

Bukankah pelancong sudah bermandikan arak di negara mereka sendiri? Paling saya bimbang, yang suka arak bukan pelancong, tetapi kita.

Lagi pula, arak kita tidaklah sebaik arak mereka. Arak yang dihidangkan itu pun jenama negara mereka juga.

Kenapa kita takut untuk melaksanakan nilai-nilai murni dan adab sopan beragama di dalam sebuah negara yang kita isytihar sebagai negara Islam? Benar, negara Brunei adalah hampir seratus peratus Islam. Maka mudahlah bagi mereka melaksanakan hukum Islam.

Paling tidak pun mulakanlah dengan melaksanakan nilai-nilai agama. Saya amat yakin, semua nilai baik Islam sesuai dan akan diterima oleh agama lain. Pokoknya kita mesti ada keberanian.

Malangnya dalam perkara sekecil adab-adab di dalam pesawat pun kita tidak pernah berasa untuk melaksanakannya. Apakah pengajaran MH17 dan MH370 masih belum cukup lagi?

Ini belum termasuk isu-isu besar lain seperti zina, judi, hubungan sejenis, seks bebas, rasuah dan sebagainya. Saya tidak nafikan, hukuman itu telah ada.

Tetapi perlaksanaan masih tidak mencukupi. Kita terlalu takut kepada gerakan hak asasi manusia. Kenapa hak ALLAH tidak mahu dijaga? Bukankah orang bukan Islam juga mahu berkongsi ALLAH? Jadi, apa masalah melaksanakan hak ALLAH?

Contoh kecil lain, adab berpakaian sopan. Pergilah ke jabatan kerajaan yang selalu menjadi tumpuan, seperti Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara, imigresen, polis dan sebagainya.

Mesti ada notis ditampal mengatakan adab berpakaian bila berurusan. Peliknya, kita masih melayan pelanggan yang memakai seluar sejengkal panjangnya, sehingga sudah nampak....

Justeru, nasihat saya, sebelum bala ALLAH menimpa, mulakanlah dengan melaksanakan nilai-nilai murni agama. Usah pedulikan mereka yang tidak mahu masuk syurga. Mereka ini tajaan barat untuk menghancurkan umat Islam di negara kita.

Lakukanlah seperti apa yang Brunei lakukan. Baginda sultan tidak pernah ambil kisah apa masyarakat antarabangsa atau hak asasi manusia akan kata. Paling penting bagi baginda adalah mencari reda ALLAH dan mengelakkan azab-Nya yang amat pedih. Berhijrahlah sebelum terlambat.


Sumber - Sinar Harian

Over 5,000 divorce cases in a decade

Nadzri Zailani
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

MOST domestic conflicts arise from constant disagreements among Muslim couples in Brunei, said a Syariah Affairs Department official.

A total of 5,098 divorces were filed at the Syariah Courts from 2002 to 2012, said Ustaz Hj Saharuddin Hj Patra (pictured), head of Family Advice Services Division yesterday.

During the first post-marriage course held in Tutong, he said the most common reason of domestic conflicts was couples not understanding each other and constantly in disagreement.

Delivering his working paper, ‘Resolving Marital Conflicts According to the Way of Islam’, he said husbands ignoring their responsibilities was also common.

Other common reasons stated were infidelity, domestic abuse, problems arising from polygamy and foreign spouses returning to their homeland.

He said not all of the domestic conflicts led to divorce, as some couples managed to reconcile.

“Domestic conflicts or crisis can be found in two situations, one in which they are clear and obvious, for example when a husband and wife constantly quarrel, blame each other, insult each other and have short tempers. The second situation is when it is unclear, can’t be seen and not obvious,” said Ustaz Hj Saharuddin.

“Islam has a comprehensive approach in dealing with family conflicts. Its implemented in stages starting with advice, isolating the spouse or separating where you sleep, and have a tahkim or appoint a mediator such as someone from the Family Advice Service Division,” he said.

He added that if all the steps do not work, then the final step to deal with domestic conflict would be to file for divorce at the courts.

Ustaz Hj Saharuddin further gave practical ways to resolve domestic conflicts, such as to ensure trust between the husband and wife by having a “husband knows, wife knows” situation.

“This means the husband knows everything about the wife, while the wife knows everything about the husband. There shouldn’t be any secrets held between a husband and wife.”

Another advice was to apply management theories into the household by thinking creatively, critically and analytically or using SWOT analysis to help find and solve the source of the conflict.

“Tolerance and understanding must exist between husband and wife to maintain a harmonious and happy household,” he added.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Information on conversion

DEAR Editor,

This is in response to the letter ‘Murut student’s need for information on conversion’ published in The Brunei Times dated Sept 6, 2014.

The student asked whether he needs any witness or proper process to become a Muslim in Brunei? What needs to be done? Where to go and when to go? Is it possible to just go to the website called Islamicreligion.com as mentioned in the newspaper to declare himself as a Muslim? Or should he approach the relevant authority regarding this matter.

Registration of converts to Islam in Brunei
1. Any individual who has reached 14 years and seven months of age can be registered as a Muslim convert independently; 2. Any individual who is below the age required shall be registered in accordance with his/her parents’ or guardian’s identification; 3. Any individual whose identification depends on his/her guardian shall bring along certification letters of parents/close family if they are still alive; 4. Any individual who gets registered according to item 1 and 3 shall be registered as an independent convert when he/she reaches the age of 14 years and seven months onwards.

Where to register?
Registration can be made at the Islamic Da’wah Centre’s Conversion and Guidance Section, Kampung Pulaie on Jalan Pusat Da’wah, or Da’wah Unit in Belait, Tutong and Temburong districts respectivley during office hours; Monday to Thursday and Saturday at 7.45am to 12.15pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

Important requirements/documents
1. You are required to bring along your identity card, police or military cards for personnel; 2. Foreigners must provide passport beside identity card; 3. 12 copies of passport/identity card-sized photographs (non-instant). Ladies must wear scarf/tudung; 4. Must be accompanied by two (2) male Muslims as witness if possible.

Place of conversion
1. At the Islamic Da’wah Centre or Da’wah Unit in Belait, Tutong and Temburong districts; 2. Individual residences, mosques, prayer hall, schools, community hall etc, upon prior arrangement with Islamic Da’wah Centre officers;

Officers conducting the conversion
1. Authorised officers of Islamic Da’wah Centre, or Da’wah Unit Belait, Tutong and Temburong districts; 2. Muslim individuals are also allowed to conduct the conversion solemnisation provided prior permission from the director of Islamic Da’wah Centre.

For further enquiries, please contact Islamic Da’wah Centre at:

Islamic Da’wah Centre (main branch) : 2383996, Belait: 3341578, Tutong : 4222425

Temburong : 5221406

Head of Conversion and Guidance Section, Islamic Da’wah Centre, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Brunei Darussalam


Sumber - The Brunei Times