Posted on 01/17/2008 12:31:55 PM PST by camerakid400
KAMPUNG PULAU MELAKA (Malaysia) - MALAYSIA'S Islamist opposition party called on non-Muslims on Thursday to back its election campaign to apply strict sharia law, including amputations and stonings, for the country's Muslims. Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) is trying to broaden its appeal beyond the predominantly Muslim heartland at the next election, which is expected by political experts to be called by end-March and to be fought partly on the issue of rising street crime.
'The people want the best and there is nothing better than Islam,' Nik Aziz Nik Mat, 77, told Reuters after morning prayers at his home in the largely rural northeast state of Kelantan, ruled by PAS since 1990.
An Egyptian-educated scholar, Nik Aziz said non-Muslims had nothing to fear from strict sharia punishments, known as hudud, and a lot to gain from them, especially Malaysia's large and wealthy ethnic Chinese minority.
'It is more important for the Chinese to accept hudud laws because those who steal do not steal from the poor,' said Mr Nik Aziz, who wore a skullcap, white shirt and sarong. 'Who steals from the poor?'
Hudud laws would not apply to non-Muslims if the Pas campaign succeeds in the end.
Mr Nik Aziz's spartan, single-storey home of green brick and wood sits next to a mosque and a religious school in a traditional Malay village. Malays constitute virtually the entire Muslim population and are defined as Muslim under the constitution.
'Thieves steal from the rich and the Chinese are more well-off than the Malays. If a thief's hand is amputated and he goes to the football field or he goes to the market, people can see that he is a thief,' he said. 'Everyone will be afraid and won't steal.'
Racial tensions 'It's not impossible for hudud to be implemented,' said a Muslim watch-seller who gave his name as Nor, as he sipped coffee near his stall at a street market in Kelantan.
'It's a good deterrent, but it's not easy to be implemented because there are so many races.'
Malaysia has been run since independence in 1957 by a multi-racial coalition of Malay, Chinese and Indian parties, which is considered the only political structure that can govern and keep a lid on Malaysia's religious tensions.
But Malaysia's opposition factions have been unable to come together. The main opposition Democratic Action Party, which is backed by mainly Chinese voters, says it could never go into a coalition with PAS while it retains its Islamist platform.
'It appears they still have a political death wish,' said Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party, when he was told of Mr Nik Aziz's latest comments.
'That is why we cannot cooperate with PAS... We believe that a theocratic (federal) state is not appropriate for Malaysia. Even the Muslims themselves don't agree with a theocratic state.'
Malaysia's current Islamic legal system deals mainly with issues such as apostasy and family matters, such as divorce.
It cannot mete out out severe punishments such as stoning for adultery. Even in Kelantan, the PAS state government says federal law prevents it from instituting these punishments.
In 2004, PAS fared poorly in general elections, just clinging onto Kelantan and losing power in neighbouring Terengganu state.
Since then, some younger and more pragmatic leaders have moved up the ranks, trying to move the party beyond its Muslim heartland. But the party platform remains unchanged. -- REUTERS
"Chinese" = Malay for "Joooos".
Well, I got to agree that the muslims do know something about keeping down street crime. Now if they could just do something about terror, they could work their way up to just being another false religion.
If the penalty for being Muslim in Christian societies was stoning, Muslims would be against it. /sarc
If Satan founded a religion on earth, how would it differ from Islam?
I’d be OK with stoning every imam in Malaysia to death. Other than that, no thanks.
It would have more class.
Moderation in all things, except Islam.
Sharia , Sharia, Its Legal Diarrhea
No Stare Decisis
No Due Process,
No presumption of Innocence,
No trial by a jury of your peers,
Just Allah, shortening your years!
And we have em right here in America, working for the same.
DoD, Hesham Islam, Barack Hussein Obama, Congressman Ellison.Networking over to Kenya.
Why don't we do the same in Indonesia folks?
Are Ellison and Obama doing the same number in Indonesia they pulled in Kenya? Time will tell.
Obama neocolonialism at its best.
Yes, you 3rd world Muslims, we will teach you plitics, American style.
Watch the blood flow.
I agree with you.
What is the matter with these people? Why do they have to be barbarians?
Chill dude, it’s a small party, most Muslims there don’t vote for them.
Yet.
They are ignorant of true feedom, and free will, in the sense that we know it.
The difference between "them" and "us" is that they will go to war, kill themselves and do just about anything to force their way onto anyone who will not submit.
Islam means "submit."
Their world is a whole other world.
So we must be willing to fight Islam and its fascism. Liberals think there is some glorius in between. I am sorry to report, that there is not.
'It is more important for the Chinese to accept hudud laws because those who steal do not steal from the poor,' said Mr Nik Aziz, who wore a skullcap, white shirt and sarong. 'Who steals from the poor?'
The Taqiyya is working overtime. The assumption is that Sharia law would be applied to punish Muslims who commit offenses against non-Muslims
Hadith Volume 1, Book 3, Number 111:Narrated Ash-Sha'bi:Abu Juhaifa said, "I asked Ali, 'Have you got any book (which has been revealed to the Prophet apart from the Qur'an)?' 'Ali replied, 'No, except Allah's Book or the power of understanding which has been bestowed (by Allah) upon a Muslim or what is (written) in this sheet of paper (with me).' Abu Juhaifa said, "I asked, 'What is (written) in this sheet of paper?' Ali replied, it deals with The Diyya (compensation (blood money) paid by the killer to the relatives of the victim), the ransom for the releasing of the captives from the hands of the enemies, and the law that no Muslim should be killed in Qisas (equality in punishment) for the killing of (a disbeliever).
I’ve been posting that question for two years now; you’ve given the best answer.
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