BATU PAHAT: PAS ulama (Muslim scholars) are a source of strength, identity and direction for the party as it seeks to establish its Islamist mission but recent events could prove otherwise.

As shown in the Selangor menteri besar (MB) impasse and the Kelantan hudud bill before that, the ulama are proving to be an obstacle just as they claim that they are its moral compass.

As they prepared to yet again chart the party’s direction at the main assembly, there are huge questions as to whether the ulama are up to the complex task of preparing PAS for federal power as part of a multi-religious coalition.

“The ulama were there from the very beginning,” said Dewan Ulama information chief Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali. The council is like the final seal of approval for PAS, said ulama and central committee member Nasruddin Hassan. It decides and approves everything from how PAS cooperates with Pakatan partners to whether it will allow woman leaders. This explains the Selangor MB imbroglio.

The council, said Khairuddin, decided that PKR’s plan went against Islamic principles as a leader should not be removed if he was innocent of wrongdoing. This anger at the Shura Council’s critics blanketed the Dewan Ulama’s assembly on Wednesday as ulama took to the microphone to denigrate the council’s critics. — by Sheridan Mahavera/The Malaysian Insider


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 19, 2014.