I have been thinking about the question of influential people in Islam and who has the right to speak on behalf of Islam. This led me to an article in the American Muslim today. There is a legal battle in Malaysia where authorities are attempting to silence some self-proclaimed cleric:
The Sharia authorities in the Malaysian state of Selangor have charged the former Mufti of Perlis, Dr. Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, of preaching Islam without a permit to do so. For Malaysian-watchers worldwide, this case will be seen as a litmus test for Malaysia, the Najib administration, the government and Sharia authorities of Selangor (now under the control of the Pakatan Rakyat), and the state of Islamic praxis in Malaysia in general. The outcome of the case will tell us where Islam is heading in a country that has for some time now been seen and cast as an exemplary model of normative Islam at work. But is it really?
Former Mufti Asri’s ‘crime’, if one could even call it that, was to preach Islam without an official permit. But in the course of the past few weeks the man himself has been vilified by his critics and accused of being – among other things – a Wahabi Muslim as well.
It is an interesting debate. I can see how some who are drawn to anarchy would also be drawn to Islam. It has a very decentralized nature with only a Transcendent God and an anti-iconic Holy Prophet to hold it together. Islam is ….whatever they say it is. Politics. Activism. Terrorism. Mysticism. Etc.
