18 - “Deviant” Muslims: The Plight of Shias in Contemporary Malaysia

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In December 2010, Islamic officials in Selangor detained 200 Muslims, said to be members of The Lovers of the Prophet's Household, a Shialeaning group. The arrests were made following a raid on a shop in Sri Gombak (Selangor) by the Selangor Islamic Department (JAIS). This is not only a clear denial of the people's right to practise their faith freely as enshrined in the constitution, but also a manifestation of intolerance of the religious authorities on Islamic beliefs that do not conform to their interpretations. Is Malaysia swerving to an era of the centralization of religion that allows for only one school of thought to prevail? Many would not disagree. Nonetheless, arrests made against Shias are not unprecedented in Malaysia. Alleged followers of Shiism have been placed under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), which before its proposed abolition in 2011, warranted detention without trial. In 1997, seven Shia followers were detained for spreading deviationist teachings (Liow 2009, p. 163). Between October 2000 and January 2001, six Shia followers were also arrested under the ISA (Saeed and Saeed 2004, p. 128).

In contemporary Malaysia, the Shias are deemed as “deviant” from mainstream Islam by the dominant religious authorities, and this is reflected in the religious enactments, fatwa (legal opinion), publications, and sermons. The main purpose of this chapter is to examine what constitutes the label “deviant Shias”. It also seeks to analyze critically the style of thought of the prominent religious elite that triggers such labelling. I argue that the treatment of the religious authorities towards the Shias manifest an “exclusivist” orientation of Islam that emerged out of the greater centralization of the religious bureaucracy. This exclusivist orientation upholds that the official variant of Islam, Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah (ASWJ), must be stringently followed. Exclusivism is also manifested in the attitude that is totally dismissive towards alternative interpretations of what constitute ASWJ. The centralization “exclusivist” Islam, coupled with the emergence of a powerful religious bureaucracy, ensures that the practice of Malaysia's official Islam — in what they define as ASWJ — is safeguarded and adhered to by all Muslim groups through legal and even draconian means such as the use of ISA.