JULY 29 — Last month, the mufti of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan gazetted a fatwa declaring the courses taught by the ESQ Leadership Center Sdn Bhd to be haram. In other words, Muslims are banned from attending the courses offered by the company.

The mufti released the fatwa (available on the mufti department’s website as a pdf), giving 10 reasons for his decision. Accompanying the fatwa is a 44-page working paper (also available on the website), titled “Kertas Gerakan Islam Liberal Di Indonesia Dan Kaitannya Dengan ESQ.” The working paper lists a single author, who is the mufti himself.

In the working paper, the mufti claims that the nature of the ESQ training constitute a programme of planned apostasy because it mixes elements from other religions and “spiritual”‘ thinking along with Islam. By doing this mix, the training promotes liberalism and pluralism, ergo enticing the attendees to accept the validity of other religions and spiritual movements. And by their acceptance, the attendees have inadvertently become apostates.

Apparently, the mufti and his staff had earlier raised their doubts regarding the religious validity of the ESQ programme from as far back as August 1, 2008. Further, from that point, until June 17, 2010 — the date on which the fatwa was gazetted — there were two separate committees formed outside of the mufti’s department to look into the ESQ course and both committees found that there were indeed elements within the training which they found dubious.

As such, after nearly two years of research, the mufti had become convinced that the ESQ training is deviant. And once he was convinced, he found himself with no recourse but to produce the fatwa. The mufti’s reasoning is a very simple one — it’s his job.

We know all this because aside from the fatwa and the working paper, the mufti’s office has also produced two other papers, titled “Kenyataan Berhubungan Dengan Fatwa Pengharaman ESQ” and “Kronologi Fatwa Berkenaan Kursus ESQ Leadership Training Anjuran Ary Ginanjar Agustian Oleh Jawantankuasa Perundingan Hukum Syarak Wilayah Persekutuan.” Needless to say, both these papers are also available on the website.

Taken as a set, these four papers represent a comprehensive dossier comprising the events, actions and thought processes undertaken by the mufti and his staff in formulating the fatwa. It serves, if nothing else, as a singular lesson on how a religious authority goes about his work.

One may or may not agree with the fatwa, but one cannot deny that it was, at the very least, pretty well thought out.

Not surprisingly, the ESQ Leadership Center came out to strenuously refute the fatwa by the mufti, stating, among other things, that it does not contravene any Islamic doctrines or laws, does not endanger the faith of the attendees, nor bring the attendees to apostasy (planned or otherwise).

The ESQ Leadership Center pointed out that it had formed an ESQ syariah panel, comprising former muftis and top officers from Jakim and the like. This syariah panel was considered inadequate by the FT mufti for two reasons: 1. The ESQ training programme had existed for 10 years without a syariah panel, and 2. this panel is a localised one formed after the training had been banned for the first time in August 2009 (even though a fatwa had not been released at the point).

Not giving up, the ESQ people then pointed out that the training was attended by other mullahs, including two (or possibly eight) current state muftis, and the attending mullahs did not find the training to be a threat to their akidah (faith). In fact, according to one state mufti, the training was a very good one in bringing realisation and repentance for the attendees, giving as proof the fact that he observed some of the attendees crying during the training.

Why the existence of tears is considered as valid proof for the validity of the training was not exactly expanded upon.

To buttress ESQ’s “halalness”, the National Fatwa Council Committee then stated that it has no objections to ESQ continuing its training, subject to monitoring by the ESQ syariah panel. The chairman of the committee stated, among other things, that the ESQ motivational training programme provides many benefits to the attendees and had been attended to good effect by mullahs, politicians, academicians, professionals, artists, students and the like.

Without a doubt, there have been mullahs, politicians, academics, sundry professionals and artists who have come out in defence of ESQ, stating that in their opinion the training have had no effect in eroding their faith but have instead reinforced it.

However, apart from a short three-point statement on the e-fatwa site giving the opinion of the National Fatwa Council Committee in allowing the ESQ training to continue, we have yet to see any published paper that has attempted to refute the 10 points given in the FT mufti’s fatwa, or to dispute the chronology of events as stated by the FT mufti’s department. Never mind a double-digit working paper to counter the mufti’s 44-pager.

In short, in contrast to the effort put in by the FT mufti, all that we’ve seen from the ESQ side are vague, wishy-washy statements by former attendees.

To wit, on one side we have the mufti of the Federal Territories and on the other side we have the runner-up to Season 2 of “One In A Million”.

Okay, that’s not fair. Aligned against the FT mufti is not only her, but also her father (an actor), several state muftis (current and previous), the son of a former prime minister, CEOs of several GLCs and the National Fatwa Council committee.

But, to this observer at least, it seems like the FT mufti still has the bigger gun. And apparently, he’s got an even bigger one in the works. In the final paragraph of his statement “Kenyataan Berhubungan Dengan Fatwa Pengharaman ESQ”, the mufti said that he will expand further on the 10 reasons given for the fatwa, as well as reveal the link between the ESQ programme and an American Jew by the name of Danah Zohar (who is now, apparently, a Buddhist).

No, he’s not making it up.

Endnotes:

1. The office of the Federal Territories Mufti is here.

2. The e-fatwa site is here.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.