Professor Ibrahim Mohamed Zain |
Dean, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed
Knowledge & Human Sciences, IIUM
“The greatest breakthrough in achievement brought by the Quran was the hierarchy of values - how values can be
realised independently of the realisation
of other values. I give you just one example. If somebody wanted me to be
obedient (because the Quran always tell
us to be obedient to authority) but there
is injustice, I would not need to obey.
Thus, justice as a value ranks higher than
obedience - we have the right to resist
if there is oppression. So the Quran laid
down the hierarchy of values. In the issue
of rape, as Tun Mahathir rightly pointed
out, it is a mistake to lump rape together
with zina. The definition of zina is two
consenting adults. Obviously in rape,
there is no consent so the procedure of
proving or disproving rape should not
require four witnesses. That would be
a mockery of the whole system. As Tun
pointed out, the most important thing
is the quality of justice. Islam is about realising justice in the lives of Muslims and
the rest of humanity. Whatever leads to
this, as our scholars would say, would be
Islam. Whatever would be counter to
this shouldn’t be considered as Islam.”
“As Tun pointed out, the most important thing is the quality of justice.
Islam is about realising justice in the lives of Muslims and the rest of humanity.”
Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir |
Social Activist
of beatings, rape, and even death…As
the Quran says, we have to act on our
faith. If we do not believe that it is right
to kill another Muslim, why it is that we
say nothing when there are threats by
Muslims against other Muslims?”
“Prof Hashim mentioned that one of
the things that the Quran said is that
a Muslim should be the person from
whom others are saved; which means
that Muslims should never be a threat
and danger to others. Surely the people
nearest to us should be safest. Therefore, why should wives be afraid of their
husbands and why should children be
afraid of their parents? Is this Islamic?
And yet we hear very little condemnation of this…I believe that violence
against women and children epitomises
the state of health of any society. The
more violent it is, the worse it is. If many
people regard violence towards women
as normal, then violence will soon be
regarded as a right. People beating up
their mothers will not be considered
aberrations. Yet we call this an Islamic
society. How is it possible? If someone
expresses an opinion, especially if they
are female, they are faced with threats
P e r d a n a M a g a z in e 2 0 1 5 | 25