first of all , i want to say thank you to abang syah for writing this outspoken sincere article . i am only 17 and i believe that Rasulullah had never teach us to condemn other religions . As far as what I've learnt in school and daily life , Rasulullah teach us the muslims to be nice to the non – muslims , to treat them as if they are our own brothers and sisters . It's not muslim that im proud of , it's ISLAM . I hope that your words and jihad will never stop to inspire other young muslims like me . insyaAllah .

assalamualaikum .

I read this article.

I went away with admiration for your thoughts and insights.

Allow me to offer my 2 cents on the verses.

The final verse from al-Kafirun as quoted may be inaccurately applicable in the context of Br Syahredzan's article here (which, if I may say too myself, is eloquently written). The entire al-Kafirun verses were actually revealed to Muhammad pbuh in view of the Makkah kaffirs' offer of compromise to Muhammad pbuh and the Muslims that the kaffirs will worship the Muslims' God (i.e. Allah) if the Muslims agree to worship the kaffirs gods. Allah therefore commanded Muhammad pbuh not to accept such offer because the worship of many gods and the worship of a god besides Allah is simply alien to the Islamic faith.

Perhaps the verse more relevant to the theme in Br Syahredzan's article is the oft-misquoted verse 256 of al-Baqarah: "Let there be no compulsion in religion. The Truth has been made clear from error…" This verse was revealed in light of the Ansari (Muslims already living in Madinah during the Hijrah)initial stance to refrain the Jewish children they were raising from moving when the Jewish tribe of Bani Nadir decided to move out of Madinah. Allah revealed this verse to command the Ansars to return the Jewish children to their families and not to forcefully keep them from moving.

The message of this verse is clear that there shall be no element of force in the dakwah of Islam and in the non-Muslims' choice of accepting Islam, including in 21st century Malaysia. Unfortunately, the unscrupulous deeds of some in Malaysia have allowed compulsion of Islam to prevail and the truth of Islam to be overshadowed.

Allah Knows best.

Using religion for their own/few people benefit is really, really disgusting. If those people think by doing that will please their God, think again.

Sebenarnya 'sistem' dlm negara ni dah terlalu jauh menyimpang.Aku sendiri tak suka.Islam diturunkan utk umat manusia dan bukan hak ekslusif satu bangsa. Tapi kat Malaysia ni 'unik', Islam di'khaskan' utk melayu, which is nonsense.Dan warna kulit/keturunan diutamakan, selaras dengan konsep 'race supremacy', which is waaaayyyy far from Islamic teaching.

Aku sendiri pun bukanlah baik sangat atau alim sangat, tapi bila agama Islam disalahgunakan,aku memang tak boleh dok diam

Macam mana nak tunjukkan Islam tu agama yg baik bila umat Islam di negara ini menunjukkan contoh yang memang tak baik?Dok kacau tempat sembahyang orang bukan islam tu ajaran islam ke?Orang2 Islam di Malaysia mungkin lupa atau tak ambik tau bahawa Rasulullah S.AW pernah bersabda: Janganlah kamu menyakiti mereka(zimmi),kerana menyakiti mereka bermakna menyakitiku.

Aku percaya, bilangan bukan Islam yg zimmi adalah majoriti di Malaysia.(zimmi= org bukan Islam yg menjadi rakyat yg baik di negara yg ditadbir oleh Islam).

Adakah kita,sebagai umat Islam, sanggup menyakiti baginda Rasulullah?Sudah tentu tidak!Perlu di ingat, semasa zaman Rasulullah, satu deklarasi telah digubal,dimana telah di ceduk oleh Geneva Convention: dilarang meroboh/merosakkan/mengganggu rumah ibadat.

Tapi di Malaysia……..:-C

Since I was a kid, I never knew the difference between skin colours and race or religion. I do not befriend someone just because they are different than me.

Effortlessly, whenever I witness these events taking place, I discuss about them with my malay(muslim) friends, and they themselves are disgusted too. Many condemn the acts and apologize to me, as though I represent the whole non-muslim population. To me, I see that this events is closely linked to some political agenda in pleasing ‘a group of people’ to gain more votes and interest of polls.

May God bless all of us.

Nice peace. I am obliged to comment to ensure there are MUSLIM's who stand with you and your arguments. I believe we are witnessing idiotic approach to manipulate ISLAM for political mileage. No neutral side. Both side of political segment of the nation are being extremist and fanatics somehow. To make it worst we have Utusan, Riduan Tee (this guy should be gun downed) and Perkasa.

We are like a huge fiesta trying to impress the international media on how low we can be or how dumb our leaders are. No direction or whatsoever. No concern for failing education system, no one give a shit on crashing economy, et al.

It’s a nightmare to think where are we heading with all this mess.

ISA tidak merujuk hukum2 Al-Quran & Al-Sunnah

Arah tuju Islam di Malaysia kabur

sy protes modern Islamic yang di terapkan di Malaysia

Ia amat2 jauh menyimpang dr ajaran Islam yg sebenarnya

Tegakkan kembali Daulah Khilafah

Allahuakbar!!!!!

maybe he try to point out the gist of the Surah whereby in Islam, "FOR YOU YOUR RELIGION, AND FOR ME MY RELIGION", simply mean that everyone have the right to profess their own religion.

the question is how do we make this happen? we shud not leave this to shah only but be a broad network of of all young muslim's and people of other faiths.

nothing to do with "dakwah" at all. they simply play the religious card to achieve personal ambition.

"Adakah ini cara kita berdakwah pada abad ke-21? Kita tolak orang bukan Muslim sejauh-jauhnya daripada Islam, kita berlaku zalim ke atas mereka dan kita rampas hak mereka untuk mengamalkan agama mereka. Adakah kita beranggapan bahawa dengan tingkahlaku kita ini, mereka akan lebih dekat dengan Islam?"

Terutama sekali, adakah sesetengah golongan orang Islam di negara ini masih berfikiran terbuka untuk 'berdakwah'? Ataupun orang-orang bukan Islam telah lama diklasifikasikan sebagai orang kafir sejak dulu lagi!

don't forget to fight for a better nation too..

the world is coming to an end..soon!! everybody will get their pay when the time comes. wake up leaders. look at your life. look at your wives and kids. are they living the muslim way or the jews??

believe it or not, here in malaysia, as we malays claim that we are muslim and yet we see that we are the one throwing babies, we make 90% of those frequently visiting the discos(don't belive me? look again!!) and look who raped their own flesh and blood!! masyaallah!!!

in a nutshell, fight for the religion not the race.

"The truth is from your Lord; so whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve." (al-Kahf 18:29)

“Do not contend (dispute) with people of the Book except in the fairest way …”

(The Holy Qur’an, al-Ankabut, 29:46)

Ini adalah bukti bahawa Islam tidak mengajar umatnya bertelagah dengan bukan Islam (terutamanya ahli Kitab) inikan pula dgn saudara seIslam sendiri, lalu mengapakah hal-hal ini boleh terjadi?

Firstly I would like to salute you for your daring outspoken words. Its shows both anger and frustration but yet very eloquent.

What readers should also understand is, coming out from a Muslim person as you are, just imagine the frustration and tension among the Non Muslims. We non Muslims are pushed to the corner on everyday basis. Even a cat will fight back when pushed to the corner and has no way out.

What you had mentioned here is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more issues like forcefully converts of the Non Muslims, Unequal education policies and the list goes on and on.

My friend, eventhough Muslims claim Islam is very tolerable religion, what we see on daily basis is only the tolerance of the Non Muslims. The question is "How long can we hold back"?.

Everytime we say things against their political will, they will challange us back and say "Don't provoke the Malays or the May 13 incident will return". From what I had heard the May 13 was properly planned by the then UMNO leaders dont cheat their Perikatan counter-parts to gain more control on political powers.

Indonesian and Bangladeshis are having better lives in Malaysia and our own Indians just because of the religion. They can get citizenship in one application and they can business loans from the government. Where as many of the Indians born in this country couldn't even get a birth certificate. How could they get proper education and a job? So who do we have to blame if they turn out to be gangsters, robbers or murderers?

I hope you can get more voices just as yours and make some changes in our politics. I pray to GOD that he blesses you with all his blessings. Let us all unite and fight this injustices in the name of religion.

Thank you.

@amin

I am aware of the Surah Al-Kaafiruun. Please explain how is it relevant in the context of my article? Thank you!

Your piece is realy touching that I shared it on Fb for many more people to read and understand that all the negative perceptions derived from the act of certain quarters are not preached by your religion. I hope the fear and doubt amongst many non-muslim will be cleared and let there be harmony and trust and expecially respects towards each other..I salute you!

As a Chinese Malaysian,I've been thru'the events of the past 53 years of our country's independence. Never have we been more divided, first by the abuse of the NEP, racial politics and now more dangerously, religious issues. We all know that these are the schemes of desparately evil and ungodly men.

I grew up on the banks of the Pahang River and my best friends in school 40+ years ago were Malay boys.I remember we used to fish and swim in the river and eat with my friends in their humble kampung houses. My Malay brothers and sisters are the most gentle, warm and generous people. Even today when I return to my "Kampung" the folks there will not accept my payment for the rambutan and mangosteen from their trees !

My childhood friends are now top excecutives in banks and Petronas after they deservedly received scholarships to study in the US.I could not get a scholarship even though I was the top MCE student in Pahang.I eventually went to UK and partly work parttime and gained a First Class Honours Degree. I supported the NEP because it helped my poor Malay friends.

Nasir Razak aptly put it that the NEP was "bastardised".It really hurts when my poor nephew who scored 12As( 11A1 & 1A2 )in the 2008 SPM was denied a scholarship !

Bro Syahredzan Johan,

The perpetrators of these injustices and those you mentioned above are the " so called Muslims "you so correctly pointed out who have hijacked Islam for their own political gain.Everyone knows the extend of corruption and how filthy rich some present and past politicians/cronies are.Sons of such people frequently drives Ferraris and Porshes.

When I read your writings,I remember my friends Azhar, Zakaria,Jabar and Suhaimi…..I pray for more young men like you, bro.Syahredzan Johan, to emerge and speak out fearlessly before these evil, ungodly men destroy our beautiful country.

"Say (Muhammad)," O disbelievers! I do not worship what you worship, and you do not worship what I worship, and I never worship what you worship, and you do not have (also) a worship what I worship.FOR YOU YOUR RELIGION, AND FOR ME MY RELIGION." [QS Al-Kaafiruun: 109:1-6]

And @Mike, there are actually a lot of Muslim voices that condemn and vilify the actions of these few. Maybe these voices do not reach the mainstream because they are deemed contrary to the powers that be.

I am glad you wrote this piece. Most of us non-Muslims know that Islam is a loving religion – and it is only a small portion of individuals that misinterpret them for their own twisted gains.

In every religion there are ppl who would take advantage of it and prostitute it for the sake of power and monetary gains. Dont worry, im a non Muslim and i believe i speak for a lot of them when i say that religion itself is beautiful and so is Islam.. It is the self centered bigots that takes advantage of it.. And we know for sure that the enemy of religious tolerance is not Islam, it is the politicians..

I pray that more faithful Muslims will come forward with the courage to voice their opposition just like you.

Is it too much to hope for someone in the government to also do the same?

Malaysians are mature enough to reach out to one another to solve the problems and issues that plague everyone.

What we don't need are these self appointed pseudo religious nitwits who are going around violating the intellect and dignity of Muslims, if not the religion itself; making Islam a pedestal for their political goals.

Good on you man for having a mature and insightful view on this. Beautiful piece of writing as well.

Keep it up!

A very beautiful piece of work. I have to say, these while I have full respect for Islam & its peaceful teachings. Someone once said "I have no problems with ISLAM, its some of the MUSLIMS I can't stand." and I have to agree with him. But no need to despair so much on it, you'd find nutcases in all religions, even in Buddhism (I'm buddhist so I know ;))

"…Maka dari situ timbul retorik bahawa sensitiviti Muslim harus dijaga kerana Islam dianuti oleh majoriti rakyat Malaysia…"

Angappan ini sudah salah. Kalau anda baca blog ridhuan tee itu, melayu/muslim di Malaysia sekarang dianggap DIANCAM oleh golongan bukan melayu/islam.

Sedih kan? Entah macam mana majority boleh diancam oleh minority. Kuasa politik, kuasa tentera, kuasa polis, kuasa hakamah, kuasa ekonomi (minimum 30% ekuiti bumiputra untuk bskl listing, apa yg mereka merepek pasal pegangan ekuiti kaum melayu hanya 19%?) semua di tangan umnoputra.

Tapi tidak, sekarang telah dijadikan kaum bukan melayu/islam "terlalu berani mencabar" status islam & perlembagaan 153. Entah macam mana kita yg bukan melayu/islam mencabar aku tak tau, tapi tiap2 hari kata kita mencabar melayu/islam. Macam mana aku mencabar melayu/islam? No explanation, tapi aku memang mencabar. Masuk akal tak hujah macam ini?

When I was in USA, it was common for our local masjid to receive non Muslims to the masjid for a tour and to understand us better. They were really interested to know about Islam especially after 911.

The Malays should stop thinking they are the guardians of Islam. It does not belong to them, it is for all humanity!

Islam bukan untuk melayu sahaja, Islam diturunkan dan diamanahkan oleh Prophet Muhammad untuk seluruh isi alam. Kerana itu zaman Prophet Muhammad dan companions after his wafat, Islam spread all over the world.

Hope those Muslim scholars whom hold 'Office' in Malaysia remind those 'grey sighted and short sighted' malays.