It makes me wonder if the Muslims in this country have become fanatical about almost every and any thing under the sun, with the latest allegation made by the Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) recently accusing a Seremban church of seeking to proselytise to non-Christians by using Bahasa Malaysia for an Easter pageant.

While Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin is on another round of fitnah against Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, Isma alleges that the church concerned is proselytising to Muslims. This is both malicious and without basis.

Both have failed to produce any proof. Zulkifli cannot prove that the ‘actor’ in the controversial video clip was Anwar. Neither can Seremban Isma chief Zamani Ibrahim prove that the church concerned was proselytising to Muslims.

I have personally visited Agape Church in Seremban, but I have yet to meet a convert from Islam who is attending the church. I know of people who would shun the religion as portrayed by people like Zulkifli and Zamani.

Not only in the court of law do they have the obligation to show the judges that there was indeed a case, but in the court of the rakyat, they have not measured up to the level of a true Muslim, measured against Muslims like the former menteri besar of Kelantan, ‘Tok Guru’ Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Firing off their salvos blindly, these false and malicious allegations are not only unhealthy to the political and social-economic climate in this country, but they put Malaysians in a bad light in the eyes of the international community, including the Muslims from around the world.

Who are these Muslim men who frequently provoke the non-Muslims? Zamani is hardly known, hence my opinion is that he is using religion to gain cheap publicity; but Zulkifli, who is full of controversies, reflects badly on the ruling party, Barisan Nasional. He is in fact a liability to the party that he represents.

Both paint a picture of Malaysians with low IQ, who would speak off the cuff without doing their homework.

Onus is on Zulkifli and Zamani

Let’s put it this way. In a court of law, neither Anwar nor his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail need to produce the Omega watch, whether it is still in their safekeeping or not. The onus is for Zulkifli Noordin to produce the Omega watch, and to bring out the girl seen in the video clip with an Anwar lookalike; otherwise, Zulkifli’s own reputation is at stake.

The same with Zamani. He has to prove that the church has the intention to propagate Christianity to the Muslims by merely using Bahasa Malaysia on its banners. In the light of this, more churches should now start to promote the use of the national language when conducting its services so that any form of persecution will affect the entire church and not the individual congregation.

I do not know about Islam, but fitnah by the Old Testament standards is punishable. False witnesses will be subject to the same measure of punishment sought for if the testimony is found to be false. For example, since murder was a capital crime, giving false testimony in a murder case was subject to the death penalty.

A particular Islamic scholar, Ibn ‘Abbaas, related the story of Prophet Muhammad who passed by two graves and said: “The inhabitants of (these graves) are being punished for major sins; one of them used to engage in slandering others...”

Will Zamani and Zulkifli from henceforth fear Allah after reading the words of Ibn ‘Abbaas? I hope so!