Inter-Religious Engagement in Malaysia: The Muftis’ Views

Penglibatan Antara Agama: Pandangan Para Mufti

Abstract

Islam has endorsed few ethics in dealing with the non-Muslims that reflect tolerance and compassion instead of prejudice and aversion.  These ethics can be found in few Quranic verses such as verse 125 from surah al-Nahl, verse 34 from surah Fussilat and many more.   These kind of ethics are crucial to be adopted in religiously and culturally diverse country like Malaysia.  Unfortunately, despite these Islamic endorsement, there are still few Muslims who exhibit their antipathy and exclusive attitudes towards the non-Muslim. These discouraging attitudes could repel them from Islam instead of attract them to Islam.  This study attempts to explore few muftis’ views on the issue of inter-religious engagement and their attitudes towards the non-Muslims in Malaysia.  The muftis are chosen because they are the key person in the state-level religious bureaucracy and whose opinions will have a great influence on Muslims in general.  Among the muftis that had been interviewed were the Penang Mufti, Federal Territories Mufti and Melaka Mufti.  The finding suggests that all muftis demonstrate their tolerance and inclusive attitude towards the non-Muslim and they have proposed few methods in inter-religious engagement.  Among the methods are education, akhlaq and inter-religious dialogue.  The recommendations made by the elites especially the muftis are envisaged to influence the Muslims attitude towards inter-religious engagement.  Future research therefore should focus on the reality of inter-religious engagement among the grassroots in general.