PETALING JAYA: Several prominent moderate Muslims have lambasted their fellow Muslims for their narrow-mindedness in perceiving handshakes between different sexes as an unIslamic gesture.
International Movement for a Just World (JUST) secretary-general Anas Zubedy said yesterday there was nothing wrong if the handshake was done for the betterment of society.
“It’s about your intentions. If your handshake is to build or grow a relationship to make a better world, then it is all good,” he said, adding that it becomes a problem for those who equate the innocent gesture to something sexual.
“But if your mind is constantly thinking about sex, perhaps that is the problem.”
Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin, a member of the G25 Movement of Moderates, said there were judgmental and ignorant Muslims in this country who were trying to impose their own conservative interpretation of the religion on others.
“They focus on petty little issues instead of the big picture. Some people call it the infantalisation of religion,” she said.
Farida, who was expressing her personal views on the issue, said she was puzzled why some were quick to judge others on petty matters but failed to criticise the more serious problems.
“Why don’t they criticise the rampant corruption and abuse of power, which have adverse effects on ordinary Malaysians?” she asked.
“I applaud the Tunku Mahkota of Johor for his very apt response to the unfair and unwarranted criticism against him.”
Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim was criticised for shaking hands with the wife of Johor Darul Ta’zim captain Safiq Rahim recently.
On Monday, he responded by saying his critics were trying to be “ustaz in Facebook”, adding that Islam is about love and respect and not about judging others.
He later mocked his critics by posting a video of him being approached by a woman offering to shake his hand. Instead of taking her hand immediately, he dons a large glove resembling the hand of Hulk, and only then proceeds with the handshake.
Tawfik Ismail, son of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, said a handshake was a universally recognised gesture that should not be related to one’s faith.
“I do not think it is wrong for a man to shake a woman’s hand or even a Muslim shaking a non-Muslim’s hand.
“I don’t understand how good manners is related to one’s faith,” he said.
Former Law Minister Datuk Zahid Ibrahim described the emergence of such thinking among Muslims as a new phenomenon.
“This sort of petty thing did not happen before. We have become very intolerant.
“I applaud the Tunku Mahkota. He should continue to speak out as we are short of people like that,” he added.-thestar
