Nasharudin: I'm very much an Islamist

Beh Lih Yi Jun 9, 07 4:29pm

PAS’ young turks have not shied away from issues on Islam amidst its increasing attempts to gain electoral support from non-Muslims, newly re-elected deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa said. “I am still very much an Islamist,” Nasharudin, who lead the group of young turks, said in a 60-minute interview with malaysiakini at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Since the 2004 general election in which PAS suffered a severe setback, the Islamic opposition party has introduced a series of changes under its ‘engaging and repackaging’ approach by the young turks who swept into power at the party polls two years ago. This includes giving priority to programmes of reaching out to the non-Muslim community and re-branding the party's image, which was dominated by hardliners at one time. However, this has led to concerns among some conservative PAS supporters who criticised the young turks of not being vocal enough on the party’s pet issue, Islam, especially with a series of heated public debates over apostasy and religious freedom since last year. Nasharudin, a 44-year-old former law lecturer, disagreed: “As far as matters related to the Islamic faith, beliefs and teaching of Islam are concerned, we have a very clear stand.” “It shouldn’t be treated in such a way (as) freedom of religion, expression, rights to profess religion and so on. Matters related to Islam and syariah (Islamic law) shouldn’t be disturbed in a way that tension is going to develop in the country,” he said. Conversion, apostasy But the young turks are obviously caught in a dilemma on how to draw a balance between being vocal on religion and political survival. Taking an example, Nasharudin said its election manifesto for the forthcoming general election will not stress on the Islamic state, which it has vowed to establish if it comes into power and a major reason why many non-Muslims are not supportive of the party. “As far as the Islamic state issue is concerned, everybody realise that the ‘what’ part of that Islamic state document is no longer being discussed. We are now concentrating on the ‘how’, the content, the substance of it,” the deputy president explained. Even Nasharudin himself - who donned a modern attire most of the time as opposed to those who wear the jubah (long robe)- could not escape from such a dilemma as he revealed there “has been talks within the party on the way I dress”. “I said the Quranic teaching is that in Islam you should cover your aurat (body parts not allowed to be exposed under Islam), and there is no single verse in the Quran which says how you should dress,” he noted. Meanwhile, on issues of conversion and apostasy, he reiterated that there is no compulsion in Islam to force a person to accept the faith but once the person converted, they will be subject to the rules and regulations in Islam including the law of conversion. Similarly, Nasharudin said pressures should not be asserted upon a Muslim, who after having gone through the process of rehabilitation but still refuses to renounce a new religion to accept Islam. “If you have already given the opportunity to him or her to repent, and he or she still cannot accept, doesn’t want to change, the discussion among the scholars is that if he really doesn’t want to come back to the religion, to me, you cannot force, you shouldn’t force, whether the law should be applied to him or her,” he pointed out. To a suggestion whether the process of conversion should be made stricter - such as making it necessary for family members to become witness in order to help prevent religious disputes, Nasharudin said it would be “quite technical to answer” and cannot be done easily. “Most of the cases where conversion are kept secret is the fear of threats, sometime coming even from within the family circle. So, they just keep the matter to themselves. It is when nature takes its course, then problems arise. It is a sad thing,” he said.