SETTING RECORD STRAIGHT: Several Pas ulama have abandoned party for teachings gone astray
KUALA LUMPUR: SEVERAL ulama who had given their life to Pas' struggles have distanced themselves from the party, saying that it had gone too far astray.
The religious scholars yesterday spoke openly about the misguided teachings of Pas in the hope that those who strongly believed that "Pas is Islam and Islam is Pas" were objective enough to see beyond Pas' carefully stage-managed Islamic image.
These ustaz, who have been pulling strong crowds to their ceramah sessions all over Kelantan, also claimed that they had been receiving death threats.
One of them, ustaz Shaidi Husin said he left Pas two years ago when it was clear to him that Pas spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat had failed to practise what he had been preaching.
"The end came for me when Nik Aziz insulted the religion and the Prophet when he said there was no point celebrating Maulidur Rasul and that the money collected would be put to better use by doing up the toilet of a surau."
Shaidi said prior to that, he and a few other ulama had also brought an assemblyman before Nik Aziz after the former was caught with somebody's wife and admitted to adultery.
"It surprised us when Nik Aziz told us that he had a message from Allah that the serving assemblyman had been forgiven," he said, adding that he was forced to divorce his wife when he abandoned Pas' struggles as he had made the Bai'ah pledge against doing so.
Shaidi claimed that uztaz Rujhan Abdul Rahman and ustaz Zainal Abidin Awang, who focused their ceramah in Kelantan to dispel the belief of many Kelantanese that embracing Pas was their ticket to heaven, had a bounty on their heads.
Zainal said although Pas insiders told him that his blood was "halal" by virtue of him being declared murtad by Pas (for going against the party's beliefs), he would not be stifled by the threats as he was duty-bound to set the path straight for those who had been misguided by the party.
However, he admitted that it would be an uphill task as the party's consistent indoctrination of its ideologies to the people was hard to break.
"It was during a state meeting in 1990, when Pas was returned to power in Kelantan, that Nik Aziz "decreed" that he should be called 'Tok Guru'.
"One of the exco members argued that he shouldn't use the title as he was a teacher and not an ulama.
"His response then was he would just be a political ulama and that it had to be done so that Pas would not lose Kelantan to Barisan Nasional again. He then issued a state government circular on his 'new title'.
"The stage was set from the start and many Kelantanese are taksub (obsessed) with Nik Aziz and thought that he could do no wrong. It borders on absurdity as many would go to the extent of drinking the water Nik Aziz uses to wash his hands."
The Islamic scholars, some of whom are still Pas members, gathered at a hotel here to talk to the press yesterday.
They were unison in their stand that they could never accept Pas being in cahoots with DAP.
Shaidi and former Pas life member Zainon Ismail, whose pen name is CN Afghani and who was also present yesterday, revealed a plot to kill former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Shaidi and Zainon said they were trained in southern Thailand and Afghanistan respectively and were ready to use their skills to end Dr Mahathir's life as he was seen as the party's biggest threat then.
Shaidi said he was all set to lay 15 self-made bombs on a stage where Dr Mahathir was scheduled to give a speech during the Semerak by-election campaign in the late 1997. However, he failed to get access to the area as the then prime minister's security detail was impenetrable.
Both are scheduled to meet Dr Mahathir today for a tell-all and seek forgiveness.
Meanwhile, Zainon and another ustaz, Syamsul Mohd Yusoff Al-Hafiz, said there was no disputing that voting for Pas was haram as the party's teachings were against those of Islam.
"Pas' kind of Islam is one that could be shaped according to their political needs and mileage... even if it means compromising the religion and embracing non-Islamic teachings, they will do it as they have proven.
"It is, therefore, a sin for Muslims to choose Pas," Syamsul said.
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