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Level of Phobia Towards Islam Among Non-Muslim Students of Higher Educational Institution in Malaysia

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Level of Phobia Towards Islam Among Non-Muslim Students of Higher Educational Institution in Malaysia ISSN 2336-2022 International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. II (No. 3) Level of phobia towards Islam among non-muslim Students of Higher Educational Institution in Malaysia Azizah Hussin Nawi Ismail Mohd Zamri Ali Azizah Hussin: Kelantan University of Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Beg Berkunci No 01, Bachok, Kelantan 16300, Malaysia. Email: [email protected] Navwi Ismail: Universiti Malaysia Kelantan,Email: [email protected] Mohd Zamri Ali: SK Lepan Jaya Gua Musang Kelantan, Malaysia. Email: [email protected] Abstract This paper focuses on the level of phobia among non-muslim students of Educational Institution in Malaysia. In this paper, the history of islamophobia is also discussed briefly. Islamofobia is not a new issues in the world. It’s already exist since the emergence of Islam (religion of Allah). Almost all the prophets, during their time faced rebellion and revolt from those who were against Islam. But the resistance towards the prophets were different based on the races, skills (given by Allah) and current situation. Almighty to Allah, all the problems, obstacles and resistance had been handled and settled wisely by the prophets. Anti Islam or islamophobia happened in the past and it is still there even today. Islamophobia increased after the terrific event in “September 11, 2001”. Most of the muslims from western countries were treated badly. Fortunately, in Malaysia non-muslims live comfortabily and in harmony. But then, there are certain cases of islamophobia happen. Nevertheless, it is not serious. This paper analyses islamophobia among non-muslim students in Educational Institution. The purpose of this paper is to find out the level of islamophobhia among them. As for this paper, the level of phobia is categorized into three levels. The first stage is fear, second is hatred and third is threat. The three categories which have been analysed has been defined before by Zafar Iqbal (2010), Ponyting & Mason (2007) and Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005). Malaysia is an Islamic Country and majority are muslims. So, knowing the level of phobia among non-muslim is very important to maintain the harmony and peaceful relationship among all races in Malaysia. The researched has been carried out by 250 set of questionaires to non-muslim students to know their level of phobia towards Islam. The data analysed using SPSS method and the result will be discussed in presentation and full paper. Keywords: Phobia, islamophobia, non-muslim, jihad, hudud, poligami 80 ISSN 2336-2022 International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. II (No. 3) 1 Instroduction Malaysia is a multiracial and multicultural country. Consist of three major races with various of ethnics. The three major races are Malay, Chinese and Indian. The dominant religion in Malaysia is Islam. They are called muslims. The population of muslims are 61 per cent. The government promotes the spread of Islam and declare Malaysia is an Islamic state. The second large of population is Chinese. They practice a mix of beliefs such as Buddhism and Daoism and Christian. The third major population is Indian. They are Hinduism. The relation between different religious groups are generally tolerant. Christmas, Chinese New Year, and Deepavali have been declared national holidays alongside Islamic holidays. The Population and Housing Census, 2010, figures shows approximately these proportions of the population following these religions: Tab. 1: proportions of the population in Malaysia Religion Percent Islam 61.3% Buddhism 19.8% Christianity 9.2% Hinduism 6.3% Confucianism,Taoism 1.3% No religion 0.7% Others 0.5% Source: Population and Housing Census, 2010. Althought Malaysia is a multi-religious, it guarantees freedom of religion. In Malaysian Constitution, Article 11 provides that every person has the right to profess and to practise their religion. In Article 3, it says that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony. Eventhought all races with varoius religion live in peace and harmony, normally the feeling of dislike with each other (different religion) still exist in the deep of their heart. During the history of Malaysia, we can see few controversial issues raised out by non-muslims such as the declaration of Malaysia as Islamic State, implementation of Islamic Law and using the word “Allah” among non-muslims. The researcher has been teaching the Islamic Civilization since ten years. She conducted a survey to get the feedback perseption about one topic under the current issues. The muslims and non- muslims students ticked the topics that they like and dislike. And the result among the non- muslims students shows that the topic of jihad, hudud and poligamy were the most dislike issues. 81 ISSN 2336-2022 International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. II (No. 3) Therefore, the researcher tries to explore the feeling of phobia among non-muslims towards those terms. The feeling is categorised into three levels that we call ‘level of phobia’. The first stage is fear, second is hatred and third is threat. The three categories which has been analysed by Zafar Iqbal (2010), Ponyting & Mason (2007) and Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005). 2. Literature review. In Islamic field, there are many articles, journals, thesis and books discussing about phobia towards Islam, muslims and Arabs. There are also many reference about jihad, hudud and poligamy. But the level of phobia did not measured especially among non-muslims. So this research will presents the result of the level of phobia towards jihad, hudud and poligamy. Besides that, we also discuss the topic that related in this resaearch. 2.1 Jihad Jihad is an Arabic word as well as an Islamic term. The word jihad translates as a noun meaning “struggle”. Jihad means "to struggle or striving in the way of Allah". (al-jihad fi sabilAllah)". This meaning covers inner spiritual and outer physical struggler. Jihad does not means “attacking” or “killing”(Fikri, 2007). Both are very different from “struggling”. The controversy of the usage the term jihad has arisen without further explanation. The real concept of Jihad has not conveyed precisely. So that, non-muslims always misunderstood with Jihad. They believe Jihad as war and has a military meaning in the large majority of cases ( firestone, 1999). The wars in the history of Islam were merely done for the sake of Islam. But the attacking which done by certain muslims were in the sake of personal or groups not for Islam. The research done by Amin Saikal (2004) entitle “Islam and the west: challenges and opportunities” discussed about the Jihad during the period of Prophet Muhammad (peace upon Him). All the meccans population (muslims and non-muslims) accepted the concept of Jihad nicely just because they very clear about this concept. But then, the perception was totally canged during the crusade. The enemy of Islam distorted the meaning and the real concept of jihad. 2.2 Hudud Hudud is an Arabic word and Islamic term. Literally it means "limit", or "restriction". In Islamic law or Syari’a hudud refers to the class of punishments that are fixed by Allah in the Quran and explained in detail by Hadith. Hudud is one of the four categories in Islamic Law besides Qisas, Ta’zir and Diyah. The crime that must be punished using hudud law is a serious crimes. The offences that include under hudud are theft (Sariqa), highway robbery (Qat' al-Tariq), illegal sexual intercourse (Zina'), false accusation of zina (Qadhf) and drinking alcohol (Shurb al- Khamr). Abd al-Qadir Awdah. (1991). Hudud is the best practised that introduced by Allah to all nations. It is practicle, complete and global. Unfortunately some of the muslims themselves reject, not accept and hate of this term. 82 ISSN 2336-2022 International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. II (No. 3) According to John L. Esposito (2002), he observes that Muslim reformers have argued that "these punishment were appropriate within the historical and social contexts in which they originated but are inappropriate today and that the underlying religious principles and values need to find new expression in modernizing societies”. Actually this thought is coming from uneducated person and blind of the islamic history. The Malay book written by M. Hanipa (2003), entitle “Hudud: One comparison, the answers of accusation towards hudud”. He questioned in his book why some muslims themselves deny hudud and some of them put hudud aside. They afraid to implement this law eventhough the declaration as an Islamic State has been done. Hudud is the Creator law that symbolize the power of law and power of belief (aqidah). So, implementation of hudud means show the power of Allah. The rejection of hudud happen among muslims and morever among non-muslims. Dr. Ridhuan Tee Abdullah (2014), a lecturer from Malaysia National Defence University, suggested to implement islamic law (hudud) is ‘by force’. For him it is the best way because the people always have million of reasons to avoid from hudud Anyway, one of the state member of religious affairs (Kelantan), Nik Mohd Ammar (2014), using another approach by changing of mindset from viewing Islam as a ritual to reviewing Islam as the way of life. Gradually, the people will be educated and accept islamic law. From his experience, he believes that non-muslims are very receptive to the explainations about hudud and Islam . The researcher tries to campare his statement with the problem statement in this research. It is slightly different because through the survey, majority of non-muslims dislike the topic of jihad, hudud and poligamy. Therefore, we are discussing the level of phobia among non-muslims towards those terms. 2.3 Poligamy Marriage is a legal arrangement in Islam, lays rights and corresponding responsibilities on each spouse.
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