All that is bad is from us

For the last week, I was down with flu and bad cough. Thus my blog is not updated.

During the week, the Palestinians and Iraqis continued to suffer. Why?

The Quran says that all that is bad is from us and all that is good is from Allah. So we must conclude that the present miserable fate which we suffer, our oppression by others and the denigration of our religion is due to us.

I recalled what former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in September 2003 and I quote:

"We must find out what we have done which is wrong, which is not in accordance with the teachings of Islam, and has brought misfortune upon us. We have to know this and knowing we have to correct ourselves and return to the true Islam so we may once again be blessed by Allah."

He went on to say that we cannot change the fundamentals of Islam or we will be changing the message and the teachings of Islam as brough by the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him). We will in fact be changing the religion of Islam.

The Muslims and his community most certainly need religious guidance so there will be no straying from the prescribed path. The role of the Islamic scholars and teachers is essential but so are the role of food, clothing, shelter, health and security providers. Since all are performing their duties and contributing to the Islamic way of life, all must gain merit.

If the fundamentals of Islam are adhered to, there should not be conflicts and wars between Muslims. The fundamentals cannot differ. Muslims are brothers. This is fundamental to Islam.

"But we are hardly brothers to each other. We are ready to accuse each other of being apostates and we are ready to kill each other," Dr Mahathir once said.

Islam means peace. We wish peace upon each other. This is also fundamental to Islam.

The fundamentals of Islam are still relevant. We must go back to the fundamentals, to reading in order to acquire knowledge, to the brotherhood of the Muslims, to the way of life as prescribed by Islam, to the substance of the teachings of Islam in the Quran and the verified Hadith and not to the forms of Islam or the weak unverified hadtih.

There is only one Islam. It is still the perfect religion. The Holy Prophet brought to us only one religion of Islam. The Prophet was not quoted in any hadith as saying that it is Islam Hadhari. We have no need to reinvent Islam when facing new challenges of today.