Should we be fundamentalists if we are Muslims? What is wrong being a fundamentalist? After all it is not a dirty word. It just means I believe in the fundamentals of Islam.

Nowadays, we can read a lot of articles about Islamic fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism through Western controlled press like Reuters, New York Times, Time, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek and so forth.

But do these people, or for that matter we as Muslims, really know what all these "..ism" words mean or most essential of all, do they know what Islam is all about?

Even we as Muslims seem to have been influenced by the Western press' stereotyping of the Muslims "fundamentalist". Firstly, they tell us that fundamentalism equals extremism, which in turn equals terrorism.

In other words, they are one and the same and all Muslims fundamentalists are extremists and potential terrorists capable of blowing up the world and killing people.

This "fundamentalist" character is always caricatured in cartoons as an Arab, though the Arabs actually form a minority of the 1.2 billion Muslim population.

The caricature is dressed in traditional Arab gear complete with turban and a curved knife tucked in his waist plus wearing Aladdin-type curved slippers. He is normally given a very devious look, with a big ugly nose, dirty, broken teeth and a sneer on his face.

Sometimes he is shown standing beside a barrel of oil with a greedy look on his face and clenching the neck of a defenseless Caucasian-looking "consumer". This is how they caricature a "typical Muslim" and we Muslims have come to accept this as an accurate portrayal.

In short, the West is trying to say that all Muslims are violent, extreme, and greedy and we use our oil (though not all Muslim countries are rich or have oil) to squeeze the poor Western consumer who have become victims of Muslim greed and violence.

Why is it, of late, Islam seems to have become the new target of Western attacks? This is because communism is now dead and the Cold War has ended. Hence, the West needs a new "enemy". If not, who will they sell their weapons to and how can they continue to justify their large defence budgets?

In fact, the West sells their weapons to everybody, friends as well as enemies. In the event of a conflict between two countries the West will sell weapons to both sides and if they cannot do it openly because one may "officially" be an enemy, then they will do it through a third party and deny any knowledge of the transaction if it ever becomes known.

I can understand the West regarding Islam as an enemy but why are we Muslims so ignorant about our own religion that we are easily influenced by this Western propaganda? The problem is, most of us are born Muslims, not converts.

This results in us taking Islam for granted. We don't study our religion deep enough. Therefore we don't know what is expected of us and what makes us a true Muslim.

Most times we confuse culture with religion and we practice certain traditions (e.g. bersanding) thinking that it is Islamic whereas it may actually be contradictory to Islam.

Surprisingly, in this aspect, the converts seem to have a better grasp of the religion though the born Muslims tend to label then as "mualaf", which is meant to be, in a way, degrading.

Maybe the converts are more knowledgeable about Islam because they have studied the religion before they converted, rather than we born Muslims who had to study the religion much later in life and even then, did so because we were forced to by our parents.

These converts voluntarily studied the religion and after understanding Islam and finding it suitable and complete, they converted. That is probably why the converts make better preachers or 'pendakwah' (e.g. Yusof Islam who was known as Cat Stevens before).

This 'misunderstanding' of Islam has become so bad that even Muslims themselves are branding other Muslims as fundamentalists, though they have a very shallow understanding of the word.

When one or two of these so-called 'fundamentalists' or 'extremists' defends the ideals of Islam he is upgraded to a status of a 'terrorist'. This is why the followers of PAS are "extremist and a danger to the multi-racial and multi-religious peace and harmony of this nation", or at least this is what the local press are trying to make us believe.

But what is a "fundamentalist" as opposed to a "normal" or liberal Muslim? He is nothing more (or nothing less) than a Muslim who abides by the fundamentals of Islam. "Fundamentals" here mean basics.

If a Muslim does not abide by the basics of Islam then what kind of a Muslim is he/she? Basics are the foundation of the whole religion. If the basics are missing then everything else doesn't work. If the foundation weakens then the whole structure collapses.

So there's no big mystery in fundamentalism. Every Muslim, if he or she is a true Muslim, must be a fundamentalist. If not, he/she is not a true Muslim.

But what are the fundamentals of Islam? The five pillars - there's only one God, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, pray five times a day, pay zakat, fast during the month of Ramadhan and perform the Haj if we can afford to. These are the most basic fundamentals of Islam.

You miss any one of them and you're not a complete Muslim. If you purposely refuse to perform these basics, though you accept they should be performed, then you are a "fasik".

However if you reject them, saying that they are not practical or do not believe in them then you are "murtad". This causes you to become non-Muslim and you now have to re-enter Islam.

You get up at 3am to do your sunat or "encouraged" prayers while others are snugged up in their beds fast asleep, you fast (sunat) every Monday and Thursday although it's not the month of Ramadhan, you go around preaching that Malaysia must have an Islamic government, and many more.

All these 'extras' you do will make people suspect you of being a radical or extremist. That you go to extremes in practicing Islam.

But these are not extreme practices! Prophet Muhammad in fact did more than this. Prophet Muhammad has already said that we must follow Qur'an to its fullest. As for what to do, all we have to do is abide by the Qur'an.

If certain things are not mentioned in the Qur'an then we must look for it in the "Hadis".

Now that is Islam and a person who does this is a true Muslim, a fundamentalist maybe, but not an extremist or radical, and far from being a terrorist. He is, nothing more and nothing less, a follower of Muhammad.

However, if this makes him an extremist then Prophet Muhammad was equally an extremist. If a true Muslim can be considered a radical because he is abiding by Prophet Muhammad's teachings, then Prophet Muhammad was no less a radical.

Now, if we can accept the fact that we are fundamentalists and if we can accept that being a fundamentalist is not a crime (unlike what Western press are trying to make us believe) and if we can erase the feeling that an Islamic fundamentalist is like a Muslim "pariah", then we can get on to the next business, that is, what is it that makes us a true Muslim?

A true Muslim is one who can feel 'syukur' or gratitude. We are contented with what we have and do not long for more. We can accept that everything belongs to Allah.

Even our property and riches belong to Allah and Allah has entrusted them to us, temporarily, to look after them and spend them in the cause of Islam. After we're gone (as in death), the wealth matters no more.

Everything has come from Allah, so it must return to Allah. The same applies in our life. So we accept death in a positive manner and death does not frighten us. In fact, a true Muslim will look forward to death as the real world ahead of us lies in death; the hereafter.

Everything we do, say, touch, feel, think and so on is for Allah. We go to sleep at night for Allah. We wake up in the morning for Allah. We leave the house for Allah. We eat and drink for Allah. We meet old friends and make new friends for Allah.

We work and earn our living for Allah. We clothe our family and put a roof over their head for Allah. This is fundamental. But that does not make us a true Muslim yet. There's more.

We vote for Allah so we vote for the person who will serve Allah and rule according to Allah's laws - never mind which political party he may be from. We politicise for Allah and support a political party which follows the path of Allah.

We judge according to Allah's laws so we fight for an Islamic legal system to be set up. We administer and rule the country according to Allah's system of administration using Allah's economic system, legal system, education system, medical system, banking system and so on. Now, if we do not accept this part of Islam then we're not a real Muslim. We can't be something in between.

In reality there are no fundamentalist Muslims or liberal Muslims. There are only true Muslims and "murtad" Muslims. There are only Muslims who accept Allah's law fully, without hesitation and without question, and there are the Muslims who reject Allah's law and the Qur'an and who therefore only pretend at being a Muslim but are not really Muslims.

The laws are very clear. Allah, through the Prophet Muhammad has made them clear. There is no confusion as to what is required of us. It is up to us to accept or reject them.

We cannot blame the modern times or the multi-racial/multi-religious composition of the population of this country as an excuse for not accepting and implementing Allah's laws. It is us and only us who have rejected Allah's laws and only we are to be blamed and we will pay the price for this rejection.