"..at the end, it depended on the ‘niat’ (intention) of a person in doing the act that rendered a certain act as forbidden."Said MP Kuala Selangor Dzulkefly Ahmad(Source:FMT news) March 31,2011 by G Vinod
KUALA LUMPUR: PAS’ Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad today called upon Perak Mufti Harrussani Zakaria to get his priorities right and focus on bigger issues plaguing the nation.Referring to the recent Perak Fatwa committee’s decision to declare the ‘poco-poco’ dance as unlawful, Dzulkefly said religious leaders should instead monitor the government to ensure it was steadfast in the path of righteousness.
“I am not defending ‘poco-poco’ but the mufti should instead address issues like good governance, integrity and rule of law. These are very important Islamic values,”said Dzulkefly who is also PAS central committee member.
On Tuesday, Harussani told a Malay daily that the state Fatwa committee decided to ban the dance as it had elements of Christianity and spirit worship.
Calling the dance ban as uncalled for, Dzulkefly said the senior mufti should put things into the right perspective, including objecting to the use of gutter politics by BN politicians, which were un-Islamic.
“This is more important now, not ‘poco-poco’.
“Islam solves the bigger issues. Once you solve the bigger problems, the smaller ones will go away by itself,”he said.
Don’t give Islam bad name
Sharing Dzulkefly’s views, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad said the Perak Fatwa committee must understand the spirit of Islam before declaring certain things as ‘haram’ (forbidden).
In Islam, Khalid said, everything is allowed unless there are specific practises within it which rendered it forbidden.
He added that at the end, it depended on the ‘niat’ (intention) of a person in doing the act that rendered a certain act as forbidden.
“For example, in ancient days kings are treated as gods but it is no longer the case now. Just because they were treated as gods in the past does not mean having kings are un-Islamic now.
“The same applies ‘poco-poco’. If a person dances to the tunes with a religious connotation in his heart, then the act can be questioned but if you dance it just for recreation then there is no problem,”said Khalid.
He called upon the state religious committee to dissect an issue thoroughly before issuing an edict to safeguard the good name of Islam.
“If not, people will have a bad impression over Islam. People may think that we cannot accept certain good things,”he said.
