Are Muslims smart enough to think?

As humankind develops, all kinds of field of study progress along with it, from the arts and philosophy to the sciences and economics. It’s only natural.

One thing that seems to have stayed stagnant is the minds of the Muslims, particularly in Malaysia. It's like the society has just stayed in a vacuum time capsule.

Fundamentalism in Islam is actually a good thing because it is supposed to mean that the religion and its teachings hasn't been corrupted or negatively influenced.

But fundamentalism which means not moving forward, not progressing in terms of thoughts and interpretations, and not wanting to evolve with humankind, now that is dangerous.

The reaction towards the recent 'I want to touch a dog' campaign just highlights this even more (you all just knew I was going to head in this direction, didn't you?).

The fact that certain people felt that the campaign had to be organised is already sad enough, but when Muslims start reacting in a way that is childish and barbaric is even sadder.

The campaign was organised to teach people, Muslims in particular, and help them understand that there is no good God-given reason to fear dogs at all.

There was a Muslim ustaz on hand to talk about the religious beliefs regarding the animal and also ways of cleansing after coming in contact with it.

It was an activity that was done in a controlled environment, under supervision and with the positive intention of educating and creating awareness.

But the reaction from the public ranged from accusing the organiser of purposely trying to insult Islam and Muslims (even the ustaz who was there was accused as being a Christian!), to even issuing threats of violence against him.

And for all the people who tried to justify and rationalise the event in a positive light, the reaction was equally shocking. The fundamentalists were just not engaging.

Those who were aggressive just accused the organiser and those who supported the event as un-Islamic, not well-versed in Islam (how would they know?) and stupid.

The non-aggressive ones provided their best justifications. But their best were just saying that 'Islam says so and who are we to disagree' and 'faith doesn't require logic or rationalising'.

In this day and age, blind faith should have been minimised because the studies, research and thinking that have been done would have increased our understanding of the religion.

Interpretations would have changed and evolved from the time of the Prophet because that was centuries ago. The level of societal thinking has changed and so should the religion.

Why use toothbrushes and toothpastes today when you can use a stick to clean your teeth? Why drive a car today when you can ride a camel?

Why do you think there are different mazhabs? It is because the different groups of Muslim practising in different places in the world adapted and evolved according to their contexts.

With all the advancements humans have made in the field of science, why are cleansing rituals adopted still so primitive? Actually, we have sertu soap bars now. So easy and simple!

Anyway, the point is that the fundamentalists and administrators are threatened because they are stuck and do not have the ability to understand new thoughts and ideas.

They try to curb anything that will go against what they have believed, practised and structured all this while. And this is not new; it has been happening for centuries.

It happened to the Mutazilites when they used rational thought to explain Islamic beliefs and practices -- a new school of thought, and anything new was considered a threat to the status quo.

The thing is, it wouldn’t hurt to have new and different perspectives of Islam. Especially at a time when the religion and its ritualistic practices are being demonised by the world community.

If Islam wants to be relevant and relatable, and if we want to curb the rise of extremism like the Islamic State, there needs to be a reform in the entire religious structure.

How else do we want the religion to appeal to outsiders? Forget about wanting to preach and convert and if you can’t even make people acknowledge its beauty.

Islam will continue to lose its status as one of the greatest and biggest religions in the world from the way the fundamentalists are portraying it.

Even worse, the risk of losing Muslims who are looking for more meaning to their belief other than just blind faith is fast becoming a reality.

When Muslims around the world are discussing about issues like diverse interpretations and school of thoughts of Islam and the development of the ummah, we in Malaysia are still stuck.