Welcome to a study tour on Hudud‧歡迎參加伊刑法觀摩團

The following is a translation of an article by Mr  鄭丁賢,  Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sin Chew, published on Sunday, 11 May 2014: 

Malaysian government and political parties are generally very enthusiastic about study tours to investigate, and/or observe whatever…. For example, a study tour to Antarctica to visit penguins. Ooops, I mean to study climate change. Thus, there has been a constant stream of visits to Europe, the U.S., China, Japan, and Australia. Such investigation is almost a routine, must go on…..

Curiously, we rarely hear of such visits to certain Middle East and North African countries. If we want to implement Islamic criminal law, how can we not visit these countries? Somalia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia , or Indonesia's Aceh, each and everyone should be worth a study tour.

Hadi Awang is so passionate and confident about Islamic criminal law, keeps urging people to believe and to accept it. For real action, why not organize tours to learn about Islamic criminal law in Islamic States? Lead us to the Middle East and North Africa to see how the implementation of Islamic criminal law has brought about a peaceful society, developed economy, and purity of minds.

Are there readers interested to participate? It will certainly be very exciting.

For example, going to Aceh in Indonesia, one can examine woman- caning. Recently, a local woman accused of having an affair was raped by eight men as a punishment for violation of her religion. Later, she will also have to face the punishment of caning.

Going to Pakistan, one can visit the women's prison, where one thousand women accused of adultery are imprisoned. Curiously, only two men were accused of adultery. Could it be that only two men committed adultery with a thousand women?

Similarly, in the Taliban -controlled areas in Pakistan where women are prohibited to pursue education, a disobedient girl like Malala was even shot! Today, fundamentalists are still threatening her.

In Nigeria, the militant Islamic group "Boko Haram" kidnapped 200 female students, barred them from schools, and threatened to sell them into slavery. But their leaders claimed possession of two girls, a 9 -year-old and a 12- year-old, all these are done in the name of religion.

If you go to Somalia, be sure to visit the "Somali Youth Party" controlled central and southern regions, where you can witness the implementation of Islamic criminal law, including the amputation of hands and stoning. From terrorist attacks in Uganda to explosion in the malls, all these are worth “observing”.

If the Islamic criminal law can solve our many problems in Malaysia as claimed -- such as putting an end to the crime of corruption -- then go to these countries mentioned above to see if they have indeed become a paradise, or hell on earth .

Someone said that if hudud law doesn’t work, we can always go back to the civil law.  

In the 1970s, during the era of Iran's Pahlavi Dynasty, this country promoted modernization based on Western model, adopting capitalism. However, its relatively closed political system and government resisted democratic reforms. Wealth was under the control and monopoly of capitalism, resulting in huge growing gap between the rich and poor.

Iranian people’s discontent rose, they were bent on overthrowing the Pahlavi regime. However, they did not use the means of modifying capitalism and promoting democracy and freedom, but chose to align themselves with radical religious forces, with the elders of Ayatollah Khomeini as co- leaders.

Finally, under a series of demonstrations and protests, the Iranian government was paralysed, the King became a common enemy, and ultimately the Pahlavi regime was overthrown. Led by Ayatollah Khomeini, theocratic politics came into power, and the world's first Islamic republic was founded.

Soon, Iran's economy began to decline, and political freedom was further curtailed. Even though Iran has one of the largest oil reserves on earth, and despite the good foundation laid down by the economic modernization policy during the Pahlavi era, Iran degenerated into an even more impoverished and corrupt country, all within a very short time.

A theocratic utopia thus built, was based on mere ideal that was never verified. Nor was there ever any successful precedent of such a system. It lacked effectiveness in terms of actual operation.

For decades, many Iranians wanted to change, to revert, and wrest back power from the hands of the theocratic government. Through election, they managed to elect a relatively liberal president. However, from Rafsanjani to Khatami, they have failed to change the system of theocratic supremacy. The most powerful in Iran is not the elected president, but the supreme religious leader of the country. The supreme leader controls the executive, legislative, judicial and military sectors, including tight control over all civilians in Iranian society. There is no turning back again in today’s Iran.

Many naïve people gamble with luck when they think that temporarily accepting theocratic rule is a way of using its power to change the status of their discontent. Once their purpose is achieved, they think election can be deployed to oust theocratic power. This article hopes to provide a history lesson for them.