Siddiq Fadzil in memoriam

A learned mind left behind a legacy of Islam, plurality and nation-building through an important book that all Malaysians should read.

IN the country’s 15th General Election (GE15), which will be called within months from now at most, Islam, I predict, will take centre stage with certain political parties looking to preserve and expand their powers.

The narratives that I predict will be “marketed” would be that “plurality threatens the integrity and dignity of Islam”, “non-Muslims must not be trusted with important positions in governance” and that “Islamic leaders must be obeyed and trusted without question”.

If the concerns in 2018’s GE14 was mainly about the country going bankrupt because of the crimes related to the 1MDB financial scandal and the perceived overly wealthy lifestyle of the country’s leader at that time and his family, GE15, though, will be all about the threat of “others” against Islam.

Who are these “others”, you ask? Well, they are all non-Muslim Malaysians and Muslim Malaysians who are “liberal in lifestyle and thinking”, “progressive and critical in their thought analysis”, and those who believe in a democracy rather than a theocracy.

The battle lines have been drawn and are clearly visible on the ground.

This is why I have decided to discuss the thoughts of the late Dr Siddiq Fadzil in his book Pembinaan Bangsa: Kepelbagaian Dalam Bingkai Kesatuan (Building a Nation: Diversity within a Framework of Unity; Institut Darul Ehsan, 2016). I had been hoping that a professor of political science or Islamic philosophy from “Islamic universities” will start this conversation but none seems to be forthcoming (perhaps they prefer to remain in the comfort and safety of lecture halls, talking to unquestioning students).

I think Siddiq’s book is critically important to all citizens but especially so to non-Muslims who need to know that the concept of Islam as a positive nation-building tool exists. Hopefully, this book will convince non-Muslims not to see Islam stereotyped by one narrow-minded and bigoted political party that thinks it has a monopoly on how the religion should be interpreted.

I would like to begin by paying tribute to Siddiq who was awarded the Tokoh Maal Hijrah in 2018 when Pakatan Harapan formed the government; he died in 2021.

Siddiq was once the president of Abim (Angkatan Belia Islam) and was part of the group comprising, among others, Anwar Ibrahim, Hadi Awang and Shaari Sungib (ie current PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar, current PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi and PAS member and Selangor assemblyman Shaari) that was a force for Islamic reformation that swept the country in the 1980s.

Siddiq was born in Bagan Datuk, Perak, in 1947. He was educated at Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and had a degree in Islamic Studies as well as PhDs in Islamic Philosophy and Malay Civilisation. This combination of philosophies would turn out to be extremely crucial for the future of Malaysia as a multifaith nation and as a world player in humanistic politics.

While Siddiq's basic degree was in Islamic Studies, he went on to focus on Malay literature, something common to most Islamic reformists. I loved his speeches and use of Malay language that was always rich in meaning, sindiran (satire) and intellectual depth. Most professors in academia that I know seem only capable of spouting numbers, tonnage, ringgit, temperature readings, etc, and show very little knowledge of the vastness of Malay-Islamic philosophy.

Siddiq’s book is a collection of various papers, I assume from the titles. I heard some of these papers before I discovered the book.

The chapters are “Pembinaan Bangsa Malaysia: Antara Wawasan Nasional dan Aspirasi Islam” (The Formation of a Malaysian Nationality: Between a Nationalistic Vision and the Islamic Aspiration); “Pembinaan Bangsa: Kepelbagaian dalam Bingkai Kesatuan” (The Building of a Nation: Differences within a Unity Framework); “Islam dan Pluraliti” (Islam and Plurality); “Perubahan Politik dan Politik Perubahan” (Change in Politics and Political Change.); “Islam dan Masyarakat Majmuk: Cabaran Aktualisasi Rahmat Sejagat – Rahmatan Li-al-Alamin” (Islam and a Multicultural Society: Challenges in Actualisation within the Universal Blessings); and “Fiqh al-Waqi: Teks dan Konteks dalam Pembinaan Fiqh Malaysia” (Fiqh al-Waqi: Text and Context in the Development of Fiqh Malaysia; fiqh refers to jurisprudence).

As a Malaysian, a Muslim and an academic as well as a former Islamic reformist, for 20 years my writings have been attempting to bridge the gaps of understanding Islam from the perspective of the Sunnah (or way of life of the Prophet Muhammad) and the demands of a modern society as part of human civilisation. Siddiq’s book is the best book I have found that is easily understood by a non-philosophy or non-political scholar such as yours truly.

I think everyone, non-Muslims and Muslim Malaysians, should read this book so we are not trapped by the narrow and destructive narratives and concepts offered by opportunist politicians and their minions. In the next few columns, I will focus on summarising the book’s five chapters and provide my contextualisation of the issues discussed within the present situation in Malaysia.

Malaysians have a right to know what they are up against and they must know who to fight or support, who to trust, and when to speak or when to keep their peace until a strategic time to ensure that this nation does not fall into the hands of those who use religion purely for political gain to feed their own selfish interests and nothing more.

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies at UCSI University. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.