Malaysia and the Club of Doom

I was at MPH the other day and I was reading this book entitled "Malaysia and the Club of Doom" by Syed Akbar Ali. It wasn't good as in good but in some ways, the reading was made more interesting when sensitive issues were touched in a way that realization was presented in layman's terms. It wasn't written in a way to crucify anyone, but it sounded more like a reality check or a wake up call. After checking on the internet, there were some reviews. Here's one of them:

"........

Syed Akbar Ali The Anti-Hadith Rebel

Syed Akbar Ali, a Malaysian author has come up with a book Malaysia And The Club Of Doom, which has been denounced by the ruling United Malay National Organisation (Umno), especially by its conservative and Wahhabi members.

The book is going to be banned by Umno, because it questions the very foundations of Islam and implicitly states that what is Islam today, is esentially a farce, created by the "misguided disciples" of Muhammad.

...... He says the Muslim Ummah is doomed because it follows the Quran through the guidance of the Hadith, a set of "forgeries" masquerading as sayings of Muhammad, which were invented by his "disciples" to make the world stupid and backward forever.

.......While the blogger agrees with Syed's sentiments in general, he strongly disagrees with several pertinent points. Islam is not a farce. Islam is real *TRUE*

.....The spread of Wahhabi ideas became easier and easier over the centuries, because the Ottoman caliphate arrogantly told Muslims to stop learning because they had become "the strongest and most progressive people on Earth", in other words, the Middle Kingdom.They made the same idiotic mistake as the Manchu emperors of China.Thank goodness, China had a great, socialist revolutionary named Dr Sun Yat-Sen, who overthrew the Manchu emperors, and came up with a vision to make China a great, progressive nation.Even though the Chinese of the world do not follow the great Dr Sun 100 per cent, they have learnt a lot from his vision, and made themselves a great people once again.The Muslim Ummah almost had a Dr Sun in the form of Turkey's first president Mustapha Kamal Attaturk. *TRUE*

......He told them never to go astray and turn themselves into monsters, lest God would punish the whole human race.He told them to always cleanse their hearts daily, by doing good works, living humbly like himself, meditating modestly, caring for women, children and the less fortunate, living their lives with moderation, and treating all living creatures with loving kindness.Muhammad always said that Love or Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim should never, never be absent from Islam. Love is always the beginning and end of the Quran.The blogger fully agrees that Muslims should be re-converted to Islam, but the true, progressive Muslims are still very small in numbers.There are more Wahhabi pigs than true progressives. *TRUE*

....."

It is somewhat a book for good reading... not a good book for reading. Banning it is denial - the Malaysian way. Everyone has a way of interpreting it. Non- progressive people are nonchalant and to me, they are only trapping themselves in a cocoon bound for extinction with their solid riches in nothing.