By Haris Ibrahim
The following is reported to be the first sermon of the First Caliph, Saidina Abu Bakar, after the death of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) :
“I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me, and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God will; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God will. Obey me so long as I obey God and His Messenger (Muhammad, pbuh). But if I disobey God and His Messenger, ye owe me no obedience. Arise for your prayer, God have mercy upon you.”
In writing what I write below, I am guided by these words of wisdom.
I was born in the town of Batu Gajah, in the state of Perak.
It does not matter that I now live in Pahang.
Perak is still my home state, and Sultan Azlan Shah is still my Sultan.
I have read today, in Malaysiakini, a report that His Royal Highness had said that questioning the special rights of the Malays in this country conflicted with the Federal Constitution.
His Royal Highness is also reported to have said that the “Malay Rulers who sit on their thrones today are not just inheriting the power to rule but also the responsibilities towards Islam and the Malay race, ensuring that the legacy continues” and that “It would be most unfortunate for the race and religion if real history is erased and the facts altered. If this is allowed to go on, it would be pointless to regret if one day the Malays find themselves marginalised and Islam relegated to the periphery” .
I am saddened by these words that have been attributed to my monarch.
I am saddened because my monarch, who rose to the highest judicial office in the land, must surely know that there are no special rights guaranteed to anyone in the constitution based on ethnicity.
Were it otherwise, it would offend the religion of Islam and my monarch, as the head of Islam in Perak, would be obliged, as a Muslim to condemn such a provision as such.
I am saddened because the words attributed to my monarch suggest that His Royal Highness might have overlooked that he is monarch to all in his state, and not merely the Malays.
I am saddened that His Royal Highness has not noticed that so many of his subjects, Malays and non-Malays, have long been marginalised by the political leaders in UMNO who, in the guise of trying to uplift the lot of the Malays, have in fact robbed the rakyat blind.
Finally, it saddens me that His Royal Highness does not see that Islam, as a way of life of peace, attained through the surrender of the self to the Will of the Almighty, and manifested through the extension of friendship, goodwill, love and kindness towards all men and women, created equal in the sight of Allah SWT, and founded on the precepts of justice and equality, has long been pushed to the periphery in this nation.
I pray that Allah SWT will guide His Royal Highness to the truth.
The following is reported to be the first sermon of the First Caliph, Saidina Abu Bakar, after the death of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) :
“I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me, and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God will; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God will. Obey me so long as I obey God and His Messenger (Muhammad, pbuh). But if I disobey God and His Messenger, ye owe me no obedience. Arise for your prayer, God have mercy upon you.”
In writing what I write below, I am guided by these words of wisdom.
I was born in the town of Batu Gajah, in the state of Perak.
It does not matter that I now live in Pahang.
Perak is still my home state, and Sultan Azlan Shah is still my Sultan.
I have read today, in Malaysiakini, a report that His Royal Highness had said that questioning the special rights of the Malays in this country conflicted with the Federal Constitution.
His Royal Highness is also reported to have said that the “Malay Rulers who sit on their thrones today are not just inheriting the power to rule but also the responsibilities towards Islam and the Malay race, ensuring that the legacy continues” and that “It would be most unfortunate for the race and religion if real history is erased and the facts altered. If this is allowed to go on, it would be pointless to regret if one day the Malays find themselves marginalised and Islam relegated to the periphery” .
I am saddened by these words that have been attributed to my monarch.
I am saddened because my monarch, who rose to the highest judicial office in the land, must surely know that there are no special rights guaranteed to anyone in the constitution based on ethnicity.
Were it otherwise, it would offend the religion of Islam and my monarch, as the head of Islam in Perak, would be obliged, as a Muslim to condemn such a provision as such.
I am saddened because the words attributed to my monarch suggest that His Royal Highness might have overlooked that he is monarch to all in his state, and not merely the Malays.
I am saddened that His Royal Highness has not noticed that so many of his subjects, Malays and non-Malays, have long been marginalised by the political leaders in UMNO who, in the guise of trying to uplift the lot of the Malays, have in fact robbed the rakyat blind.
Finally, it saddens me that His Royal Highness does not see that Islam, as a way of life of peace, attained through the surrender of the self to the Will of the Almighty, and manifested through the extension of friendship, goodwill, love and kindness towards all men and women, created equal in the sight of Allah SWT, and founded on the precepts of justice and equality, has long been pushed to the periphery in this nation.
I pray that Allah SWT will guide His Royal Highness to the truth.
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