The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council which is the umbrella body of the Gurdwaras in Malaysia, is greatly disturbed at the many false facts stated about the Sikh religion in Ahmad Iqram Mohamad Noor’s book titled ‘Yahudi, Kristian, Hindu dan Buddha berasal daripada Islam’ in chapter 10 of the book. This narrow and biased writing about the Sikh religion has caused anger among the Sikh community.

It appears like the writer and the publisher are averse to the fallout that can be caused by this sensitive issue. The government of Malaysia has repeatedly stressed on the need for unity and harmony amongst the various religions in Malaysia and the actions of the writer of this controversial book is damaging the government’s noble efforts to promote unity and harmony.

In chapter 10 of Ahmad Iqram’s above quoted book, which is titled ‘Agama Sikh berasal daripada Islam’ (Pages 304 to 314), the writer has stated many wrong facts on every page and given a negative interpretation which have touched the sensitivities of the Sikhs regarding their religion.

Amongst the wrong facts stated are the following:

1. The heading of chapter 10 itself that says ‘Agama Sikh berasal daripada Islam’ (Page 304) is itself very sensitive and factually and in truth wrong.

2. “Berdasarkan ajaran ini, maka ada golongan yang melihat Kabir sebagai printis kepada ajaran Sikhisme.” (Page 25)

This is false, Kabir is not the founder of Sikhism but one of the saints whose writings have been accepted and included in the Holy Sikh Scripture.

3. “Selepas idea Kabir tersebar, maka lahirlah pengasas agama Sikh pada tahun 1469. Beliau bernama Guru Nanak Dev.” (Page 305)

This statement again is incorrect. Guru Nanak is the founder of Sikhism which is authentic, new and revolutionary religion at the time with its own spirituality and its concept of God, Nature, Humanity and Society.

4. “Sementara umat Islam mengatakan Nanak adalah seorang Muslim kerana Nanak percaya pada Syahadah Islam dan sudah melaksanakan rukun Islam yang kelima, iaitu haji.” (Page 308)

This is again false. When Guru Nanak was asked by the Hindu and Sufi saints to state whether he is a Hindu or a Muslim, Guru Nanak had declared categorically that he is Neither.

5. The following are the further inaccurate or false statements:

• “Beliau (Nanak) berasa perbezaan ini tidak dapat menyatukan antara masyarakat Islam dan Hindu, maka beliau bertindak bagi melakukan sinkretis (percampuran) antara agama Hindu dan juga Islam. Hasil daripada percampuran ajaran kedua-dua agama ini, beliau menamakan agama Sikh.” (Page 311)
   
• “Kebanyakan daripada pengikut agama Sikh berasal daripada penganut agama Hindu yang masih mengikuti ajaran dan praktik keagamaan yang lain.” (Page 312)
   
• “Konflik-konflik politik antara menganut Sikh dengan penguasa Kerajaan Mughal membuatkan mereka benci kepada Islam dan umat Islam pada umumnya.” (Page 312)
   
• “Jelas, terdapat banyak unsur agama Islam yang turut diterapkan dalam agama ini.” (Page 312)

‘Too many factual errors’

After having reviewed the contents in the book, especially chapter 10, the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council finds that the book contains too many factual errors regarding the history and development of Sikhism. The writer appears not to have done vigorous research on the matter and failed to refer to authoritative Sikh texts. This failure has resulted in the writer stating wrong facts and coming to wrong findings, as the author has done here.

In view of the above, the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council requests the following action be taken immediately:

1. Requests the government to immediately withdraw the book titled ‘Yahudi, Kristian, Hindu dan Buddha berasal daripada Islam’ from circulation.

2. Investigate the writer and the publisher of the book under the Penal Code for blasphemous remarks and under the Publications and Printing Presses Act.

3. That the writer and publisher apologise for their errors as above and give an undertaking not to repeat them.

The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council also urges the Home Affairs Ministry to be more vigilant and disallow such books from being published. Where the writer is giving views on other religions, those other religions must be consulted.

The Malaysian Gurdwaras Council remains ever willing and ready to vet books and materials containing write-ups on the Sikh religion.

JAGIR SINGH is president, Malaysian Gurdwaras Council.