Reading about the recent issue of the Jawi raid , I observed that many fundamental questions were left unanswered. Questions such as - is it Islamic to debase those individuals who were caught just because they were in a place where they shouldn't have been?

Was the raid correct according to the philosophy of Amr Ma'ruf (commanding good) and Nahy Munkar (forbidding vices)? Should there be a more conciliatory approach? What do the other Muslim thinkers say about this issue?

Where are the answers to these questions? Can't we have an open discussion about Islam like scholars in the West? In fact, when the Muslim scholars in the West discuss Islam, they probably do a much better job than most of us here.

Why is everyone frightened to tackle the issue head on? The thinkers or the so-called scholars of Islam just have to justify any of their actions rationally and it will be accepted by the majority of people. They should not adopt a 'ask-no-questions' approach.

Throughout the flourishing days of Islamic civilisation, the Caliph encouraged public debates regarding theological issues as well as inter-religious debates. Mind you, those are much bigger issues than our Jawi raid.

Some seem to believe that is the best way forward is by throwing those 100 individuals caught into jail. This is worrying are we heading towards becoming a 'Talibanasia' as Farish A Noor so eloquently puts it.

We need a revival in our sense of thinking and have to be able to discuss philosophical and ethical foundations of actions associated with Islam openly amongst Muslim intellectuals.

Start teaching scholars logic, philosophy and allow them the freedom to be creative in their thinking. Don't limit them only to texts on Islamic law. Make them be creative enough to dig deeper into the wells of Islamic civilisation and 'Hikmah' (wisdom).

Only then will issues such as the Jawi raid stop recurring in the future.