Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction: Islamism in a Mottled Nation: The Story of PAS
- 1 1951-1969: The Orphan of the Cold War: An Islamic Party Steps on the Stage of Malaysian Politics
- 2 From Internationalism to Communitarianism: PAS as the Defender of Malay Rights: 1970-1982
- 3 PAS in the Global Islamist Wave: 1982-1999
- 4 The Jihad of the Ballot Box: PAS’s Democratic Experiment: 2000-2013
- 5 Religion, Politics, Islam, Islamism: What PAS Is, and What It Is Not
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Religion, Politics, Islam, Islamism: What PAS Is, and What It Is Not
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction: Islamism in a Mottled Nation: The Story of PAS
- 1 1951-1969: The Orphan of the Cold War: An Islamic Party Steps on the Stage of Malaysian Politics
- 2 From Internationalism to Communitarianism: PAS as the Defender of Malay Rights: 1970-1982
- 3 PAS in the Global Islamist Wave: 1982-1999
- 4 The Jihad of the Ballot Box: PAS’s Democratic Experiment: 2000-2013
- 5 Religion, Politics, Islam, Islamism: What PAS Is, and What It Is Not
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
There are those who would build the Temple,
And those who prefer the Temple should not be built.
In the days of Nehemiah the Prophet,
There was no exception to the general rule.
In Shushan the palace, in the month of Nisan,
He served the wine to the king Artaxerxes,
And he grieved for the broken city, Jerusalem;
And the king gave him leave to depart
That he might be able to rebuild the city.
T. S. Eliot,Choruses from the Rock, IV (1934)PAS and the Lure of All-Devouring Politics
No civilisation, whether Islamic or un-Islamic, that views life from a universal standpoint and possesses a comprehensive system of administering the worldly affairs, can resist the urge for power in order that it may change the social life of all its subjects after its own pattern. Without the power to enforce, it is meaningless to believe in or present a doctrine as a way of life.
Ab’ul Al’aa Maudoodi, Tajdid-o Ihya-i DinToday the ulama have become convinced that through missionary activity alone we will never be able to bring about political change. We need power. In fact we have known for a long time now that we need power.
Ustaz Badrul Amin Bahrom,Tradisi Diktator Menakutkan Rakyat (1999) (Italics mine)It is, and has been, the contention of this author that the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party has always been a political party. And if we are to look at PAS as a political party then so must our analysis and understanding of the party be configured by the terms and concepts of political science, rather than other disciplines such as theology or philosophy. This does not entail an all-out blanket denial of the validity of political history, political sociology or political anthropology – indeed such approaches have also been incorporated in this study – but it does mean giving priority to the fundamentally political nature of PAS and its behaviour.
It was from that viewpoint – political science – that my study of PAS has been conducted, and I have tried to account for how and why thousands of Malaysian Muslims have chosen to create, develop and join a political party that seeks to capture the state in the name of Islam. This, I contend, has more to do with other ambitions and wants that exceed the economy of personal piety and Godliness.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Malaysian Islamic Party 1951-2013Islamism in a Mottled Nation, pp. 223 - 240Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2014