Al-Wasatiyyah as one of the characteristics of Islam.

ISLAM AND OTHER RELIGIONS (RKA 0413)

NAME

MATRIC NO.

PROGRAMME

SHAH AL-HADI BIN SHAHRIM

144377

MEDICAL

ASRUL ROMDANI BIN BUJANG SAILI

140034

DENTISTRY

MOHAMAD FARID BIN MOHAMED BAHRI

141582

MEDICAL

SECTION NO. : 641

INSTRUCTORS NAME: MADAM SADRINA

ANALYSIS
My Article Wasatiyyah as Explained by Prof. Muhammad Kamal Hassan: Justice,
Excellence and Balance is the title of the article that we have chosen to be discussed under
the topic Al-Wasatiyyah as one of the characteristics of Islam. This short yet comprehensive
article is written by Muhammad Haniff Bin Hassan who holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Studies
from RSIS (formerly known as the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies) at Nanyang
Technological University (NTU). He is also a member of the Syariah Appeal Board under
Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, the Islamic Advisory Board for HSBC Insurance
(Singapore) from 2000 to 2014 and others. He is also active in writing articles for local
newspapers like Berita Harian and The New Straits Times other than writing books such as
Islam's General View on Health (Malay) (2001), Questions and Answers on Jihad (English
and Malay) (2007) and Don't Be Extreme in Religion (English and Malay) (2008).He also
owns a personal blog to answer and counter extremist ideology in
http://counterideology2.wordpress.com.

The article is discussing about wasatiyyah or moderation that is being practised in Islam. First
of all, wasatiyyah in the Islamic concept must be based on the Al-Quran and Sunnah. These
are important to ensure that our understanding about wasatiyyah will not be considered as
incorrect or against Islamic religion if we did not refer to both of these vital sources of
information for the concept of wasatiyyah. Wasatiyyah is referred to the three key values of
Islam which are Iman, ilm and Taqwa. Prof. Hassan, the one who presented about
wasatiyyah or moderation at the Second International Conference on Terrorist Rehabilitation
and Community Resilience in Singapore (26-27 March, 2013), said that Iman is when we
believe that Allah as the only God and Prophet Muhammad S.A.W is His last messenger.
Next, ilm is also important because knowledge is considered essential in Islam and we need

knowledge to get to know our Creator other than avoiding ourselves from being deceived by
other person who does not have enough knowledge and commit something that seems right to
them but technically wrong in Islam. Third is Taqwa. Taqwa is indeed important in the
concept of wasatiyyah and centrality in Islam but is not elaborated much by Prof. Hassan.

The three pillars of wasatiyyah is justice, excellence and balance as what had been stated by
the author at the title of the article. Firstly, justice includes power, dignity and strength to do
justice towards other people. Justice means that taking actions according to behaviour
without being affected by factors such as emotions. Next, excellence and goodness in ones
life is related to wasatiyyah which includes the act of amar makruf nahi mungkar. Asking
people to do good deeds and preventing them from doing bad deeds is enough to show that
Islam promotes moderation in the behaviour of Muslims. Besides, the last pillar of
wasatiyyah which is balance or moderation which includes inter-religious tolerance and
peaceful co-existence trains Muslims to be tolerant towards other religion. Prof. Hassan states
his worries as people nowadays are paying more attention towards moderation rather than the
other two pillars of wasatiyyah which are justice and excellence/goodness. He also observed
and warned that there are some mistakes done by some part of people which is against the
real concept of wasatiyyah and need to be corrected. He also thought that moderation could
not stand alone without justice and excellence/goodness because only when the three of these
pillars of wasatiyyah is followed, only then will be the right understanding of moderation
according to Al-Quran and Sunnah. By the completion of justice, excellence and moderation
pillars in wasatiyyah, a Muslim will become Al-Falah which is a holistic wellbeing. Muslims
who had achieved this stage will easily gain Barakah, Ridwan, Rahman and Taufiq from
Allah S.W.T.