Berita

By Ariani Mohd Nor

GOMBAK, 28 March 2019: An intellectual discourse on a much discussed topic surrounding Malaysia’s Islamic current affairs was held on Tuesday night (March 27), here in campus.

Organised by Secretariat of the Islamic Da’wah Foundation (YADIM) of IIUM, the forum discussed several current issues brought by the new government under the theme ‘Islam and the Federal Constitution’.

On the panel were Dato Dr. Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, ex-Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department of Islamic Affairs and UMNO’s youth wing; Ustaz Zolkharnain Abidin, Deputy Yang-di Pertua YADIM and Director of the Syariah Welfare, Parti Amanah Negara (AMANAH); and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamrahayu Abd Aziz, a lecturer from AIKOL. The forum was moderated by Student Representative Council (SRC) member Idayu Mumtaz.

In the session, Ustaz Zolkharnain Abidin highlighted that Muslims today need to focus on practising the values of Islam, instead of only practising them as an obligation without understanding the meaning. “It is the essence of harmony within the Muslim ummah,” he added. “Without it, Muslims would be prone to doing the things that the Qur’an and the Sunnah doesn’t condone.”

Other issues such as the compatibility of “New Malaysia” with Islamic teachings, the sovereignty of Islam as the official religion in the Constitution, as well as the roles of Malay Muslims being the majority in maintaining harmony were also discussed during the forum.

Conducted in Bahasa Malaysia, the forum was also attended by students from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

The discussion ended with a Question and Answer session with the panellists which garnered a lot of attention among the audience. ***