COMMENT | Islam is "deen", which in Arabic means a total way of life. But a total way of life does not mean it must be totalitarian.

This is the fundamental mistake of all Islamic political parties in the world. By seeking totality, they confuse what is indeed holistic and complete with totalitarianism.

The latter, in a sense, is "shirk", which in Arabic means a polytheistic view of Islam.

When one creates a system of government that is totalitarian - even when the actual noble intention is to seek a total way of life that is compatible with every aspect of Islam - the government will be more important than God Himself.

Take certain countries in the Middle East which purport to be Islamic. Their systems are completely rigid, and there is no rule of law except rule by decree or by the state. What the state says is totalitarian and final.

In such a state, where is the concept of mercy, compassion, civility and empathy that a true Islamic government is required to have?

In fact, mercy and compassion are so important that of all the 144 chapters in the Quran, which was revealed to humankind as a mercy to all, the opening chapter is "In the name of Allah Most Merciful and Most Compassionate" which in prayer is rendered as "Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim".

The one chapter that does not begin with "Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim", is a chapter where Muslims were cornered, and were given the permission to go to war as a means of self-defence. Other than this proviso, Allah is mercy embodied and revealed in the Al Quran.

So when political leaders like PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, whose political party has never petitioned the Parliament and the prime minister to show mercy and compassion to the poor, insists time and again to be given a chance to rule with the whip of Islam, one wonders if he knows Islam as a holistic and total way of life, or Islam as a totalitarian system?...