Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ismail Yurdakok
ismailyurdakok@gmail.com
I had written an e-mail letter to Mohammad Hashim Kamali about his article on ‘not
to apply heavy Islamic criminal law (hudud) (in practice: abolish Islamic criminal
law)’ on May 2009. But no any answer came in last six months. That’s why, I now
wanted to upload the letter to www.scribd.com that no any better position was
not seen in Malaysia criminal reports in last months that some recent not-good
examples were also added after the letter.
Assalamu Alaikum,
Dear Professor,
When I saw a news in New Strait Times last thursday (May 21, 2009) “Mother, child
and maid murdered by robbers, one fleeing suspect caught...victims Wah Ya Matzi,
42, Ermin Denish, five , and Indonesian maid only known as Dani, 18...” and I
entered that website a few hours later, it was written “...ex-convict held over
murder of 3, including mother and 5-year-old son..” after reading this news, I
remembered your article about hudud in New Strait Times April 25, 2009 that your
sentence: “...probation orders, remand centres, community service, open prison,
police attendance, suspended sentence and the like that are absent (in classical
Islamic law)..”
It must be studied that how much successful these applications on a murderer? And
it is possible to look at the judicial statistics that how many ex-convicts return
to their jobs ! in how many coming months? In your article your emphasizing on
repentance (tawba) is absolutely useful (and we find statements like your
sentences in classical (especially Shafii) Islamic law texts) but from an another
side, Islamic jurists like you also must think the victims. WHO WILL PROTECT THE
MAZLUMS (who has been wronged) In my visits to Malaysia in last five years, I
observed Malaysian elites sit in high security houses, apartment blocks circled
security precautions..security guards..but who will protect millions of (poor)
peoples from ex-convicts, murderers, experinced (or amateur) burglars. And the
most important question: Is not Malaysia in need of a deterrent judicial system?
Only in last week; these news, I saw (only) in NST website:
“Snatch theft suspect charged with killing pregnant woman” May 21, 2009
“Waitress raped at cemetery” May 22; “Girls allege stepmum beat, made them drink
her urine” May 22; “Taxi driver claims trial to raping passenger” May 22; “Three
police constables detained over rape of Indonesian girl” May 22; “Forced into sex
with uncle: Seremban: A 14-year-old school dropout from Nilai has accused her
mother of making her a sex slave to her uncle for four years.” May 23; “National
badminton head coach Rexy Mainak’y’s wife suffered injuries when dragged by two
snatch thieves in Ampang, last night” May 23; “Lecturer, sister held over death of
Maid: Petaling Jaya: A part-time lecturer at Universiti Malaya and his sister were
detained by police yesterday to facilitate investigations into the death of an
Indonesian maid” May 24; “Cops kill man who held family hostage: Armed with a
single-barrell shotgun and a parang, an Indonesian man entered at 1 am and held a
couple and their three children hostage more than 13 hours, demanding a RM 3,000
ransom” May 24; “Robbers offered loot in return for family’s safety: Kulala
Lumpur: The woman, in her late 50s, offered the five men, believed to be
Indonesians, cash, jewellery, laptops and mobile phones, estimated to be worth RM
30,000, in return for the safety of her three children and a grandchild. The woman
was awakened by a scream from her 15-year-old son about 4 am. She realised there
were robbers in her house and locked herself in a room..” May 24; A citizen’s
letter (Varughere from Batu Gajah) in NST: “Rape: Precautions to be taken. It is
indeed very sad and disgusting that a 17-year-old girl’s short trip turned into a
nightmare when she was assaulted and raped by a taxi driver...” May 15;
Should not we ask after these examples: Are tazirs (different precautions)
sufficient for the above scenes? Forgive me but if your wife/daughter/grandchild
would be raped and killed by a convict what would be your reaction against him?
“...You must not behave in any position of pity (mercy) for them in the
application/execution of Allah’s (God’s) religion(’s these laws), if you believe
in Allah and the last day. And let a party of believers witness their punishment”
(Chapter of Nur, verse 2)
And your sentence: “...Western media and human rights activists that have taken
the hudud as a centre-piece of their anti-Islam propaganda.” You are right but why
we do not criticize Western punishment system? Is ‘Prison system’ for example a
fair (and successful) system that they put the men in a building like hut/cot of
chickens? Even in dictionary we can see: “coop: cage, esp for hens with small
chickens, and coop up: put in a coop: confine (imprisınmenment) a person): How
long are we going to stay cooped up in here?” (Oxford) Even it is heard some
convicts rape the other convicts. Some fresh convicts learn more detailed
knowledges about his jobs! in prisons from ex-convicts.
And we know that Western media’s demands for years always go on that for examle
the reason of “Carton crisis” was not from hudud.. A minority group in Western
media always find a reason to attack Islam. If we accept their demands they want
even to move some verses from Quran and some rules from our creed.
Another topic in this point is “Islamic law is universal or not?” Abdulqadir Udah
and Joseph Schacht (although his book An Introduction to Islamic Law has got a lot
of mistakes about Islamic law) put this section in their books. As a result we
also can find verses in Quran that Islamic law has not got a claim that it is
universal but on the contrary it gives freedom to non-muslims (of Islamic State)
to go on to Islamic courts or not. Islamic courts are not interested in the
judicial problems of non-muslims (at least in all of the classical texts) that’s
why we as muslims have got a right to ask that why non-muslims question/criticize
our (Islamic) law with heavy (and mistake) judgements like Western media does
today.
Your sentence “..Islam stands on its five pillars, and hudud is not of them” is
also controversial. After mentioned this sentence a man can say: “Drinkink wine is
not important because it is not from the pillars of Islam. To take interest/usury
or to spend the properties of orphan are not a sin because it is not from the
pillars of Islam; (not) to do adultery or (not) to kill a man are not a sin/crime
because they are not from the pillars of Islam. And your mention of Islam’s
compassion is also argueable. Because in this topic and especially in criminal law
“justice/adalat” is more important than compassion that mazlums wait from the
court their rights. The duty of court is to apply the law and judge is like a
surgeon that he must fulfill the necessary surgical operations; if judge shows
compassion to the ill and leaves the surgical operation the (all of the
/community/nation) will die.
Dear Professor,
Pekan, Mon: A 38-year-old teacher in Pekan, Pahang, was sentenced to three months'
jail and fined RM13,000 after he was found guilty for molesting two primary pupils
in 2005.