Al-Arqam outdoes itself with new book (UPDATED)

The farce that is Al-Arqam is getting lively again. After a few months respite where this irritating group sat and did nothing, this week they outdid their last joke (sorry, serious organization) by releasing a new book. The book's title is:

“Seks Islam, perangi Yahudi untk kembalikan seks Islam kepada dunia".

For those of you not familiar with Malay that reads:

"Islamic sex, fighting Jews to return Islamic sex to the world".

Just wow. Al-Arqam, you outdid yourself! I though that the 'Obedient Wives Club', where you preached that wives should act like prostitutes for their husbands, was the best joke you'd pull but this... this I have no words for. No words to state how much I laughed reading this over breakfast and no words to state how a small part of me died from embarrassment. And you even managed to blame 'Jews' for all your problems again, bonus points for you! One wonder's how exactly 'Jews' are stopping 'Islamic sex' but I guess I have to buy the book huh?

Yes, Al-Arqam, one of the jesters in the arena that is the sad state of the Muslim world today. And you can guess that they will be liberally splashed over every news paper in the land and a lot of international ones as well. Because that is what these people want. Unsatisfied with the dismal and boring lives they lead and unwilling to change the world for good they instead waste everyone's time.

These pathetic outbursts of stupid, un-researched and deliberately outrageous 'books' and 'groups' purely to get in the papers, get them a little attention and then back to the plotting room for the next farce. They never try and change anything, they just push something into the open and don't care if people laugh. Anyone heard anything from the 'Obedient Wives Club' since it was 'announced' all those months ago? Me neither.

American readers might like to liken these groups to the Westboro Baptist Church, the cult like 'Church' who like to picket military funerals with outrageous signs becuase they know it will rile everyone up. Or the Dove World Outreach Centre who had the little dance over the Quran burning. They are insignificant, pointless, small and of no relevance but you can bet they will get in the papers a lot! Because that is all they want.

Muslims have already spoken out against this 'book'. Sisters In Islam were, as expected, one of the first to release a statement and the Kelantan mufti, Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad, stepped in to correct the 'book's' over emphasis on sex. For non-Malaysians, Kelantan is the state where the 'book' was released and the mufti is the person appointed to run Islamic affairs. He stated correctly that the Quran likens the husband-wife relationship to 'the ‘wife clothes the husband and you (the husband) clothes the wife''. In other words, an equal relationship where both parties get fulfillment. Interestingly he hasn't issued a ban on the book (as he can do so for 'Islamic' books) and I feel this is wise. Any such ban will just fan the flames so to speak, bringing more attention to the farce.

Now, I must admit here that I do agree with Al-Arqam on one thing; Muslims don't talk about the 's' word enough. It's mostly embarrassment and culture, heck no one likes talking about it, but actually Islam states that sex between husband and wife is like charity, not something to be ashamed of and something to be enjoyed. Most couples have 'dips' in their 'sex lives' during marriage and we shouldn't let it damage relationships. It's an issue that we should face, but not by releasing crappy books with little foundation in Islamic practice.

But Al-Arqam, no, they don't care about this at all. A few newspaper headlines, a little bit on the TV news and they're happy. What a sad world we live in.

Jack

UPDATE I: JAKIM, Malaysia's government 'Islamic Development' department, have stepped in to state they will be restricting distribution of the book (if not outright banning it) as it is in their words “shameful” and “nonsensical”. The Woman, Family and Community Development Minister has also been quoted as saying: “Should this publication be in contravention of the law whether civil or syariah (Sharia), then the law here will take its course,”. Let's just pray that is the end of that and nothing more is said about this ridiculous publication.