Letter to the Editor, The Sun

Dear Editor,

May I refer to your editorial of 10th March, 2006 (Friday).

On behalf of Pertubuhan Muafakat Kesejahteraan Masyarakat Malaysia (MUAFAKAT), I strongly object to the way you have framed your moral stand on the wearing of tudung. You maintain that “according to various Islamic jurists, wearing the tudung or covering up certain parts of the body is not a religious imperative.” In making this statement without any further qualification or explanation you have distorted the real fact. In the specific context in which your editorial has been written that particular statement could be read as telling Muslim females “you can throw away or forget the tudung since it has no religious significance whatsoever.” You claimed many Islamic jurists, the experts on Islamic law, support this position.

What is the real fact? If you know well the history of Muslim interpretations of the Qur’an from the beginning of the history of Islam until now, and still persist in maintaining your statement, then you have been dishonest, biased, and motivated by certain sectarian interests. The fact is that the vast majority of authoritative Muslim religious scholars and interpreters of the Qur’an in all schools of thought throughout Islamic history have always considered the wearing of hijab (head cover that meets certain requirements) a Qur’anic imperative.

The view you quoted and seem to have adopted is endorsed by only a very small minority of Muslim scholars. Moreover, it is entirely a modern view that gained adherents following the impact of various strands of modern Western thought on Muslim societies, including its philosophy of dress. You have therefore committed yourself to supporting a moral position that puts you at odds with the overwhelming traditional view of Muslim religious scholars on a matter that is of great concern to the Muslim community. It is your right to adopt whichever view you want. But your failure to state the majority view among Islamic jurists, which favours tudung, is not helpful to the pursuit of an “informed public discussion” that you yourself have pleaded for.

MUAFAKAT would not have objected to your editorial if it had limited itself to criticizing schools or other government institutions zealously enforcing tudung wearing. Although we strongly believe the Qur’an prescribes the wearing of tudung for Muslim females, we also do not agree they should be compelled to observe this Qur’anic teaching. Rather their observance of the religious obligation should be a result of wise counseling, encouragement, and inculcation of religious knowledge.

Having said this we still need to acknowledge the following. In Islam it is the right of parents or lawful guardians to enforce the Qur’anic injunction on their female children. However, if there are parents who do not want their girls to wear tudung whatever the reason is then schools should respect their individual choice. It is also the right of religious schools established to promote an Islamic identity and other Islamic goals to enforce dress codes and other rules and regulations on its students that conform to their desired identity and goals.

MUAFAKAT feels the present Ministry of Education tudung policy, namely one of encouragement rather than compulsion, is good enough. Excesses by certain teachers or schools in observing the policy could and ought to be corrected. But your editorial conveys a different message. Through a religious fatwa you want to discourage tudung wearing. Given the dominant Islamic beliefs and practices in this country your failure to clarify the majority as opposed to the minority view on the issue in question may cause people to accuse you of deliberately using your influential position to wage a “fatwa war” against the Muslim majority view. Coming at a time when the caricature assault on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) , including by some newspapers in this country, is still fresh in the Muslim minds your framing of the tudung issue would only increase unnecessary inter-cultural tension in our society.

Datuk Dr Osman Bakar
President MUAFAKAT