by: Mohamad Rayyan Moxcir Domado*
It was during the
Marcos regime when the Code of Muslim of Personal Laws (P.D. 1083) and the
Special Rules of Procedure governing the Shariah Courts in the Philippines were
decreed.
Shariah, or the Islamic
Law, comprises ten units in the
curriculum is only a primer to the purview and to the deep learning of the
Islamic Law practiced in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries. The
inclusion of the subject in the prospectus is implicitly part of the
mission-vision-philosophy of Mindanao State University to promote a culturally
diverse understanding among the Tri-People (The Bangsamoro, Migrants and
Indigenous People) in Mindanao.
I am already on my
sixth semester in the law school. And one of the common things that I observed
in my colleagues is that they not taking the Shariah subjects seriously. Though I haven’t made a survey or a
datum or statistics to present, this opinion is based on my strong observation
and the views shared by my classmates and other students whom I have
corresponded with. According to them the whole scope of Shariah is not part of
the Bar Exam therefore it is not practical to include it in our curriculum and
a mere waste of time. Instead, we should have been focusing to the other
subjects. Some were clamoring for the revision of the curriculum, precisely the
deletion of the Shariah units in the syllabus. To make it worse, students who
do not know how to defraud on the other subjects have the courage to open their
notes during the midterm and final exams in their Shariah classes which
apparently leads me to the impression that they do not think Islamic Law is
worthy enough to be taken as part of our everyday learning.
In reply to these, I
wore a mask of grin and pretended not to be affected every time my colleagues
and professors dropped their comments even in the social networking site Facebook regarding their views in
studying Shariah. However, to me the thought of making sweeping negative
statements on the Islamic Law is indecent and judgmental. What is more
disappointing is that we are given access to information, almost spoon-fed,
that all we have to do is to exert an effort to read and understand things. Yet,
we intentionally refuse to know and deliberately choose to be ignorant and
judgmental. It is very frustrating and to some extent, oppressing.
Yes, this may not be
in the ambit of the regular Bar exam but still it is part of the law of the land
which is promulgated as special law that worth to be studied and be given a
balanced time like the other subjects. On the other hand, this will serve as an
avenue to know the real definition of Islam and an opportunity to learn beyond
how most of the irresponsible media defined it: religion of the world famous
terrorists and extremists but rather like all other religions which also outcry
for peace and justice.
As quoted in Paulo
Coelho’s Like the Flowing River, “If you were to look (the Islam) with more
love, you would mainly see what we (Christian) have in common, then half of the
world’s problem would be solved.”
* Mohammad Rayyan Moxcir Domado or "Bibbo" as he is known in the MSU
College of Law – IIT Extension, is a junior law student from the same school. He is a
Shariah Counselor and placed 2nd in the Shariah Bar Examinations in 2012.
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