The kerfuffle over Islam Hadhari has left us all shell-shocked. A scatological comparison between Islam Hadhari and money politics on a weblog, which was quickly corrected and the writer banned, raised needless political pressure, fear and doubt if the prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's (Pak Lah) reform agenda is what it says.

It showed, once again, that it takes little for Umno politicians and its acolytes to instill fear on any who differs from its worldview. The Barisan Nasional (BN) government it leads, not to be outdone, rises to the bait and makes it real.

But it missed the point: if the scatological words were replaced with genteel words, would this kerfuffle have risen? It would not.

Underlying it, but unmentioned, is the bad blood between Umno's spinmeister and the blog owner. He picked the issue out of context and raised it into one of defaming Islam, which it clearly was not. When Umno political careers are fuelled by denouncing non-Muslim denouncers of Islam, what happened is not out of the ordinary. It quickly turned, as it always does, into one of national security. The Internal Security Act (ISA) was brought in to threaten those who defame Islam.

What is Islam Hadhari?

This is where the difficulty begins. What is Islam Hadhari?

Is it a religion? It is not. Muslims believe Islam is the most perfect of the Abrahamaic religions, and cannot be bettered. Is it a new Muslim school of jurisprudence? No. Islam has two major branches, Sunni and Shia. The Sunni recognises four schools of jurisprudence Maliki, Hambali, Hanafi, Shafie, named after their progenitors. The Shia has its different schools, but it does not concern us here.

In Malaysia, only the Shafie school is recognised, the others tolerated so long as they do not make a show of their faith. The Shia is all but banned, but Malaysian Sunnis converting to Shia have sometimes found themselves detained under the ISA. If a man converts to Islam here it is into the Shafie school. Islam Hadhari is not an Islamic school of jurisprudence. Is it a sect like Wahhabism, the return-to-the-fundamental faith of Sunni Islam rooted in Saudi Arabia?

Wahhabism is not allowed in Malaysia, although its teachings have seeped into practice of the Shafiee faith in Malaysia. No. If Wahhabism cannot, nor can Islam Hadhari.

Is it a philosophical erudition of Islam in the modern world? No. Even those who praise it the most, are hard put to define it. Is it Islam as defined by Pak Lah, this brilliant academic scholar, as defined by his spinmeister, though all he has is a degree in Islamic studies and until he became prime minister his academic brilliance and Islamic erudition was securely hidden from the outside world? No.

Is it a political philosophy? No. When the concept of philosophy is absent in the Malay milieu he lives in, and one who thinks is to be distrusted, Islam Hadhari is neither a political nor a religious philosophy.

Is it a political agenda? Yes. Umno thought it, as usual without thinking what it is, to challenge PAS and its fundamentalist Islamic vision. It is to tell Malaysians that Umno Islam is more responsive to the modern world than PAS'. One can see evidence of it in how Umno plays up Islamic Hadhari. If it is what Umno says it is, it would have been discussed in detail with Umno's own religious groups, the best Muslim scholars in town, and allow it to be discussed in public. It is not. It is yet another weapon in the Umno armoury to best PAS.

It was concocted by the government's Islamic adviser, Dr Hamid Othman, and the former grand imam of the national mosque, Pirdaus Ismail, who now sits on the Umno Youth executive council and has decided his future is not in Islam but in Umno politics. Former prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, would have none of it. But Pak Lah slurped it up. The spin followed. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Hard questions

Now comes the hard questions. The BN government Pak Lah leads is committed to removing Islam from politics. It is aimed at PAS, the only theocratic political party in Malaysia. The law forbids anyone to use Islam for any political or business purposes. The registrars of companies and societies routinely strike out names containing Muslim and Islamic elements. Then how is Islam Hadhari registered? Or is it at all?

Since existing laws, and the Islamic clergy, especially those aligned to the government, would object when Islam is misused in politics, why have they been silent? Is it because they are prevented from objecting to it, or do they believe that their perks of office is more important than the fate of Islam in Malaysia or even their conscience?

Having declared Islam Hadhari to be a reality, without saying what it is or how different it is from Islam, the traditional veil of silence descended upon it. It is praised sky high, and all criticism is accepted so long as it is in favour and does not deviate from the officially ordained orthodoxy of it. The moment you raise unanswerable questions or comparisons with the venal world, all hell breaks loose. The distinctions are blurred, and suddenly Islam is under attack. Blood is everywhere, and when the dust settles, the casualties are all on the attacker.

The New Straits Times and Berita Harian, took up the cudgels, and bayed for blood. It was a tirade, not a news story. The government reacted swiftly. The deputy internal security minister, Noh Omar said the blog's comparison between Islam Hadhari and money politics defamed Islam, and promised to use the ISA on the perpetrator. He insisted Islam Hadhari is synonymous with Islam, a notion even Umno rejects.

The police should have been called in, but it was not. When asked about it, the federal CID director, Musa Hassan, said it must first investigate if Islam was defamed and by whom. Pak Lah felt obliged to enter into the debate but backed out as quickly when he saw the dangers of this vendetta disguised as a national issue.

But it turned Malaysia into a laughing stock, its promise not to censor the Internet thrown into doubt, the fear that beneath the quiet calm of Malaysia in the outside world lurks a nether world of irrationality that could, for no apparent reason, burst on to the public eye. Whatever kudos Pak Lah obtained for his public positions, they are now thrown into doubt.

One is not surprised at what happened. What makes it worse is that it strays into the political word and what should be a localised fear is now hurtled to Malaysians and foreigners. This kerfuffle over Islam Hadhari is only the latest attack in a series from Umno and the government it leads. Not so long ago, it was malaysiakini over a similar anonymous letter it printed. It had no case. As there is none now.

At no time, was an attempt made to ask the alleged perpetrators their explanation. it wanted to score points politically. All it got was a political black eye. As now.