COMMENT The debate on the implementation of hudud law in Kelantan continues to rage and the police have warned that those who question the nature of the Islamic penal code and its prescribed punishments, which Muslims believe to be divine in origin, will find themselves behind bars.

 

However, the inspector-general of police said discussions pertaining to the legal aspects, such as the federal constitution and Islamic jurisprudence are permissible.

 

That polemic is better left to experts in the field of jurisprudence.

           

Expecting PAS to ditch its theocratic ambition is unreasonable since the establishment of an Islamic state and the implementation of hudud are its raison d'être.

 

But where the PAS president had erred is to push for the hudud bill without consultation with his allies, resulting in him being branded as a man who failed to keep his word.

 

Abdul Hadi Awang’s stand is also puzzling in his appeal to all Muslim lawmakers, including the 88 from Umno, to vote in favour of his private member’s bill should it be tabled in Parliament.

 

PAS is considered Umno’s arch nemesis and its late spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat even warned Muslims of roasting in inferno should they cast their ballots for Umno candidates.          

 

PAS leaders have for decades accused Umno of corruption and abuse of power as well as indulging in sin and hedonism.

 

To them, Umno represents all that is antithetical to Islam in terms of conduct, piety and justice.

 

Addressing the PAS muktamar or general assembly in 2011, Hadi himself had denounced Umno for betraying the trust of the people and “sacrificing Islamic principles”.

 

He stressed that PAS had an obligation to cleanse the nation’s politics of “disgusting acts like corruption, slander, lies and racism”.

 

Umno, he argued, would not be able to do this for it is their leaders who are responsible for the rot in the first place.

 

Prior to this, Hadi once urged Muslims to replace Umno with PAS, claiming that the former’s rule is steeped in Western secularism and sidelined the authority of Islam.

 

Last but not least, in 1982, the PAS president in his famous ‘amanat’ or religious edict declared Umno as infidel.

Hadi’s convoluted stand

 

And now, Hadi implores Umno for its assistance in pushing through the hudud bill on the grounds that it is a religious obligation.

 

It is indeed a case of perverted logic. The PAS president has argued that the divine law should be passed at whatever cost even if it means joining hands with Muslims whom he admonished as criminals and having turned their backs on Islamic principles.

 

Would this not be an insult to the sanctity of the religion itself?

 

Such a mindset is similar to terrorists who believe that murdering innocent people in the name of God is a sacrosanct act while killing yourself in the process ensures martyrdom.

 

However, Hadi’s convoluted stand would make sense if the motivation is more political than ecclesiastic in nature.

 

Perhaps the learned Islamic scholar no longer believes what he had said about Umno in the past.

 

Then again, this is politics, which in the words of the late US president Ronald Reagan, is said to be the second oldest profession but bears a striking resemblance to the first.

 

And while observers have predicted that PAS would lose votes among non-Muslims in the next general election, the hudud bill political realignment might even anger its Muslim supporters, who for decades have been fed with the propaganda that Umno equates the devil.

           

 

RK ANAND is a member of the Malaysiakini team.