It is Our Sorrow as Muslims in Making Lina Joy's Life Very Difficult

by

Dr. Azly Rahman
(DR AZLY RAHMAN is born in Singapore, raised in Johor Baru. Dr. Azly holds a Doctorate in International Education Development from Columbia University, New York City, and Masters degrees in four areas: International Affairs, Education, Communication, and Peace Studies. He is a member of The International Honor Society in Education. He has taught in Malaysia and the United States in a multitude of settings and in diverse fields such as Politics/International Relations, Education, American Studies, Philosophy/ Humanities/Cultural Studies, and History/Foundations of Civilizations.)

Quote:

"... In the history of Islam, its beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) had an uncle Abu Talib who NEVER converted to Islam.

All the same the Prophet of peace loved him and prayed that he would be blessed and given the righteous place in Paradise.

Why did we do (as we did, and ) as such to Lina Joy? Why criminalise her and make her path to wisdom difficult?

Has not Islam evolved to become a religion that tolerates the understanding of other people's beliefs and be able to learn from the different levels of understanding about the Universal Creator?

To Lina Joy, removing the word ‘Islam’ from her Mykad is meaningful and something deeply personal. That's her name, that's her identity card.

She does not believe that a Malay must necessarily be associated with a Muslim.
-Azly Rahman

Excerpts of Dr. Azly Rahman's essay. Read here for more

"Where I live - 30 minutes’ drive from New York City - a local newspaper has a story on the individual formerly known as Azalina Jailani. This paper normally would not carry stories of people wishing to delete designations/words they find meaningless in an identity card. But because international news picks up ‘anomalies of culture and/or religion’ as creative elements and sensational items to help sell, Lina Joy is a newsworthy item.

To me, those following the case and affected by the decision of the Federal court are not reading about Lina Joy the person, but actually reading about themselves as ‘scripts of a social text’.

What ails us as a nation and what then must we do? Is Lina Joy a mirror of our sorrow?

Lina Joys' challenging the conventions of her culture is indeed an example of radical form of creativity.

.... Lina Joy did not wish to see her condition as hopeless. Lina Joy is inviting us to "reconstruct and re-invent reality" as how we want it to be.

There is the notion of the human condition ..on the relationship between the individual and the society.

This is what Lina Joy is demonstrating to us - a human being or a human agency that HAS A CHOICE through her own realisation of existential selfhood.

We produced Lina Joy out of our own shortcomings in our education system.

Had our (education) system taught our children how to explore the beauty of each religious tradition and find universal themes of peace and justice in each, we would NOT have denied Lina Joy her fundamental rights to carry her religious designation as how she would prefer.

Names are a powerful signs and symbols of ones own existence, as any scholar in biosemiotics would agree.

If I no longer wish to carry a Mykad with the designation ‘pagan’ as my religion, it is my fundamental rights to change it, as I will be carrying ‘paganism’ as my religion.

If I do not wish to sign the fascistic Surat Akujanji of Universiti Utara Malaysia and pledge loyalty to something I do not believe in, it is my fundamental right to not sign it, since I will be carrying something throughout my career that will tell me that I will be discriminated against by those who has abused power.

In the history of Islam, its beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) had an uncle Abu Talib who never converted to Islam. All the same the Prophet of peace loved him and prayed that he would be blessed and given the righteous place in Paradise.

Why did we do as such to Lina Joy?

Why criminalise her and make her path to wisdom difficult?

Has not Islam evolved to become a religion that tolerates the understanding of other people's believe and be able to learn from the different levels of understanding about the Universal Creator?

To Lina Joy, removing the word ‘Islam’ from her Mykad is meaningful and something deeply personal.

That's her name, that's her identity card.

She does NOT believe that a Malay must necessarily be associated with a Muslim.

There will always be non-Muslims - Jews, Christians, Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, etc. - who wish to learn about Islam. This is the American attitude towards knowledge, always eager to expand the horizon of learning. The challenge for me is to present the teachings of the Prophet of Islam as objectively and passionately as possible without alienating those new to the religion and WITHOUT having Muslim students devalue the opinion of others.

There is no room for criticism of any religion, I remind my students at each introductory lecture. I would begin by saying that "Like other religion, Islam believes in the …universal message of peace, social justice, and salvation. … Each one of us evolve differently according to the level of consciousness we possess as evolutionary beings".

Let us advocate a peaceful resolution to this issue, fundamentally through education for peace. The way to lift the veil of ignorance is through knowledge and the deep engagement and exploration of it.

Religion must be approached from a philosophical standpoint in order to draw out the best of what it can offer to help humanity understand multiple ways of knowing the Creator - the Universal God that reveals itself in the consciousness of Humanity by many names.

For, unto God we shall return. "
-Dr. Azly Rahman