PAS consistency on Islamic agenda appreciated...

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In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Reflection

The Declining Day (Al-'Asr)
1. By the declining day,
2. Lo! Man is in a state of loss,
3. Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort 
one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance.
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ALHAMDULILLAH (all praise and thanks be to Allah) last Tuesday; September 29th I was visited by a former high ranking government official and his friend; we took the opportunity to change news and ideas about the latest development of the country and one aspect I put in mind was the friend's appreciation of PAS consistency in its struggle for the Islamic agenda.

In analyzing political parties of the country, the official who had left the government service 10 years ago, said one main factor political parties survived and had support from members was that they have goals; for the 'old' parties of Umno. MCA and MIC their target was for the independence of Malaya...but nowadays the goals of these parties were not clear thus they were in the brink to collapse.

He said, after independence and especially after the May Thirteenth Tragedy, Umno goals were publicity made known; Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the second prime minister after Tunku Abdul Rahman had aggresive policies and he himself worked very hard towards the improvements of the people especially the Malays. His name was synonym to Felda settlements and he also championed for education of the Malays.

But nowadays Umno has no big and clear goals, claimed the former government top brass. It was now controlled by 'war lords' who he claimed used money to gain support. He asked what achievement could be tag with this 'new Umno'..."perhaps nothing, they were good at pointing to a few successful individuals for example 'this and this billionaire' who sadly were their own cronies and 'this and this top students'!"

"The truth is that our whole system is 'destroying' the Malays...for example in the business world...you told the Malays to do business yet until until today almost all transaction up from retailing jobs were controlled by non Malays...you name it; the wholesale market, the manufacturing side,the distribution network, the warehouses, transportation, import-export...yes almost all of them were not in the hands of the Malays...if this is the case, how is the Malay traders for example the Malay 'pekedai runcit' (grocer owner) could survive?" he asked.

Umno is fast moving towards its downfall; the same could be said about MCA and MIC - they are becoming less relevant by each day; they could not cope to needs of the new generations who are more vocal, aggresive and exposed to new ideas and technologies.

"But for PAS, I respected the party because it was consistent in its struggle; PAS, when I was in the government service was still the same 'old' PAS till this day. Perhaps this could explain why certain leaders in PAS especially among professionals and its supporters were fed up with 'the old way'; they pulled out and set up a new party that they think could suit the fast changing scenarios of the country.

"Yes, PAS is consistent in its Islamic agenda. It is its goal...to achieve success in this world and in the Hereafter. After more than 50 years, the goal is the same...for this consistency I have full respect for PAS," said the senior citizen who admitted that he has yet to become a PAS member.

Even it was registered as a political party, PAS is also a 'da'wah' movement, it opens its arms in various activities to upgrade the life of people such as involving in education and recently it have added a political wing for non-Muslims that is PAS Supporters Club and this help in introducing the fine aspects of Islam to non-Muslims.

Nowadays more and more people are interested in knowing more about Islam. Not long time ago, PAS had launched a very good and forward thinking campaign namely 'PAS for all' which actually derived from the fact that the great religion of Islam is for all.

The concept of 'Islam is for all' could be felt if we look at the book of Islam (Qur'an) with open hearts. The 'kitab' (book) gives guidelines to Muslims and to all human races. In the Qur'an, there are ayahs (verses of the Holy Qur'an) which begin with ‘ya ayyuhannas’ which means ‘Oh people’ and ayahs begin with ‘ya ayyuhal lazina amanu’ yang means ‘Oh people who believe’. 

There are a little over 90 ayahs in the Qur’an that begin with ‘ya ayyuhal lazina amanu’. Allah sent the Qur’an for all of mankind, not just for the people during the time of the Prophet peace be upon him (pbuh, s.a.w.) and only for Muslims. 

The phrase ‘ya ayyuhannas which occurs 20 times in the holy Qur’an, has a general and collective meaning that envelops all human beings of any race, tribe, or colour. Example of an ayah beginning with ‘ya ayyuhannas’ is Ayah 21 of Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow) with the meaning: “O’ mankind! Worship your Lord Who created you, and those before you, so that you may guard yourselves (against evil).”

And example of an ayah beginning with ‘ya ayyuhal lazina amanu’ is Ayah 183 of Surah Al-Baqarah with the meaning: “O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you that ye may ward off (evil).” 

Islam guides all mankind; and this fact was admitted by some non Muslims leaders; a good example was Chairman of PAS Supporters Club, N Balasubramanian who gave his support to 'hukum hudud' (Shariah laws).

He believes that the Islamic penal code could serve as a preventive law in reducing the crime rate in the country. He was quoted saying: "I believe that the hudud law is effective for the people. It is already enshrined in the holy book, there must be a reason why it is there."

The former government servant who visited me said he had high hopes for PAS's inspirational tagline 'Istiqamah Hingga Kemenangan' (Consistency Till Success) for there is a 'hadith' narrated by 'Aisha; Allah's Messenger s.a.w said, "Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise, and that the most beloved deed to Allah's is the most regular and constant even though it were little." (Iman Al-Bukhari)