Muslim group slams Putrajaya's Islamic council after latest book banning

A Muslim group has slammed federal Islamic authorities over the latest spate of book bans, saying the action has confirmed fears expressed last year over the government's plan to introduce a new law that would grant unprecedented powers to the Federal Territories mufti.

Kuala Lumpur-based Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), which is involved in organising seminars, intellectual study groups and publishing books on Islam, also hit out at the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI), the body behind a number of book bans including about a dozen titles banned by the home ministry recently.

They include two Malay-language books published by IRF, "Islam, Autoritarisnisme, dan Kemunduran Bangsa" and "Golongan Muslim Pertama: Sejarah dan Memori", which are critiques of the concept of Islamic statehood as well as orthodox Muslim scholars.

IRF founder and director Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa said that the move to stop the works from being publicly available was akin to the actions of mediaeval Muslim rulers to supress groups which did not subscribe to their understanding of the religion.

"We are seeing MKI engage in similar suppression," said Farouk. "That was the reason why the IRF has voiced out our strongest objection to the Mufti bill, since we have seen this coming."

Farouk called on Muslims to oppose the MKI's "authoritarian version of Islam".

"Otherwise, we risk being trapped in the same unholy alliance between clergy and state that once led to the intellectual decline of great Muslim civilisations."

"Islam, Autoritarisnisme, dan Kemunduran Bangsa" is the Malay translation of a work by Ahmad Kuru, the US-based Muslim author who got into trouble with authorities in Malaysia during his visit to promote the book in early 2024.

The book, which Kuru described as an academic analysis of the political and socio-economic crises facing Muslim societies, looks at the decline of the Muslim world and links it to the alliance between the state and religious clergy.

Kuru also criticises earlier scholars, including the 11th century Muslim jurist Imam al-Ghazali, whom he blames for the rise of the alliance of ulama and rulers, the reason he said contributed to Muslim backwardness.

"But is that a justifiable reason to ban a book?" asked Farouk.

He said such a view must have angered the MKI, "but they should have countered it with their arguments".

"This idea of book banning is against any spirit of free speech and freedom of expression as embodied in the Federal Constitution of this country. The idea of book banning does not only reflect the attitude of anti intellectualism of MKI, but also inherently unconstitutional."

Meanwhile, the book "Golongan Muslim Pertama: Sejarah dan Memori" was written by Asma Afsaruddin, a US-based professor of Islamic studies.

"Anyone who has read the book by Asma Afsaruddin would realise that the book looks back into the past history of Muslims umma and provides some contentious concept of jihad and Islamic state which are perceived as a legacy of the Prophet," said Farouk.

Farouk said her book analyses both the Islamist and modernist views of the Islamic state and concludes that the concept has no basis in Islamic history.

Farouk said the ban on the book raises the question of whether MKI supports the concept of Islamic state.

"It seems that any idea that seeks Muslims to reassess their understanding and to implore critical thinking should be deemed as heresy and hence be banned. This is what we can deduce from the action of MKI in this case."

This is not the first time that IRF's books have been banned by the home ministry.

In 2017, the government banned a book by US-based Turkish writer Mustafa Akyol, “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Plea for Freedom” and its Malay translation, which argues the need for freedom of expression in the Muslim world.

Akyol's Malaysian lecture tour organised by IRF that year was cut short after he was arrested by local religious authorities.

Meanwhile, two other IRF books by Farouk under a series called “Wacana Pemikiran Reformis” (Discourse on Reformist Thought), which make the case for a radical reform of approaching the Islamic texts, had also been banned, but the decision was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2020 following a suit by IRF to challenge the ban.

Checks show that despite the court decision, the home ministry continues to list the titles under its banned list.