Sheikh Imran Hosein

Sheikh Imran didn't speak of anything as fact (except when he quoted the Quran and Sunnah). He spoke on the basis of pure personal opinion with support from his understanding of the Quran and Sunnah. I can respect that, and i found the first part of his speech, while depressing (to be told that we are so very near the end of existence on Earth), to be very informative. What i found very disturbing in his lecture came at the end as he made his conclusions through an advocation of specific actions:

• The Sheikh says that Muslims all over the world should send their able bodied men to the Holy Land to fight against the Jews, to experience the "5 seconds" where death stares them in the face. He argues that Jews from all over (he cites the example of South Africa) send their young men to serve for 2 years in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) to kill Muslims. Muslims should do the same. Muslims should make it a point in their lives to kill Jews, or at least try to.
• Globalization is most evident in the cities. Muslims should leave the corruption of the city, go to the countryside where "food, water and clean air is plentiful", and set up "kampungs" or villages where Muslim men can be brought up and prepared for the "Final War" against the "Jewish imposters".
• Muslim women (and there was a substantial female presence last night) should choose husbands who are willing to bring up sons who will go to the Holy Land and fight against Jews. Muslim men should marry and give Islam sons that will bring the battle to the Jews in the Holy Land (he was very explicit by the meaning of "war" - he wants Muslims to actually face the Jews in the streets of Palestine and kill them).
• It is only through "battlefield experience" will Muslims today be prepared for the Final War as prophesised by the Prophet Mohamed 14 centuries ago.

To say the least, i was rattled to the core of my soul when i heard these things. It rattled me even more that the people seating around me were saying "amen" to what the Sheikh was prescribing. I wanted to stand up and scream that this was madness, but my courage deserted me.

There are many ways to serve the cause of Islam. The "battlefield experience" the Sheikh prescribes is NOT the only way. Killing Jews in the Holy Land will probably only lead to masses of Muslims being exterminated themselves. The rocks of the Palestinian teen has proven to be suicide against the military technology of the Israeli soldier. There is value in sacrificing one's life for the religion, a syahid death is a death of a martyr. But there is no value in throwing it away. There is no value in establishing Muslims "kampungs" whose sole purpose is to breed warriors away from the "corruption" of the cities. That will simply lead to pre-emptive anti-terrorist destruction from our own Government, or from the Governments of the West.

Label me a coward if you must, or worse, a defeated coward. But i must believe that violence is not the only way. Being a Muslim is not about this. Its can't be.

As a final note, i think the university has made a tremendous error to allow Sheikh Imran to speak in such unbalanced circumstances, though i pay him the due respect he deserves for his opinions. A room full of mature adults last night listened to his lecture. I can't be sure how many were convinced. Today, after Friday prayers, he will present the same lecture to the IIUM student body. Such opinions as his need to be balanced against a more moderate view, presented by an equally distinguished Islamic scholar. Without this counter on stage with him, I fear that young, impressionable minds may find his oratory much more difficult to resist.