Show 'sweeter side of Islam'

By Faridah Begum
Monday, July 30, 2001

KUALA LUMPUR: An Islamic scholar has urged Muslim leaders to look into better ways of endearing youths of the faith to stop them from veering to devil worship.
Islamic Supreme Council of America chairman Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani said propagating Islam through spiritual values was more effective than emphasising the physical aspects of the religion.
He said many Muslim youths worldwide had abandoned their Islamic beliefs "not voluntarily but out of frustration."
"In the United States, parents often ask what they had to do to bring their children back to the right path."

Shaykh Hisham said the action was not so much the thrill of worshipping satan but rebellion against the radical approaches that had been ingrained in learning Islam.
"Most of us will only remember that Islam was taught to us with harsh words, whips and canes. Where is the sweeter side of Islam that has been neglected over the years?"
He said the "strict and unbending trends" had frustrated youths leading them to abandon what was right to join satanic cults and groups which gave them an identity.
The council, in a bid to help the "lost lambs", had in the last 10 years set up 23 retreats across the United States. The retreats see hundreds of people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, filtering in every weekend to relax and hold discussions with the ulamaks.
The retreats, first set up in December 1990, have since seen thousands returning to the fold with about 40,000 new converts.
The emphasis at the retreats is on promoting the spiritual values of Islam and not the physical elements (such as praying five times a day, paying zakat or observing the Ramadan fast). 

"Doesn't it sound better to tell people that they will go to heaven if they pray rather than they will perish in hell's fire if they don't?" he asked.
Shaykh Hisham also commended Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad for two decades of leadership. "Muslims in America hold him in high esteem because of his forthright and honest manner. He is a model leader to Muslim countries and besides upholding the religion in a multi-racial country, he has shown the world that being Muslim does not stop the country from progressing and acquiring new technology."


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