taking an oath does not equals to telling the truth

in the bible, the third commandment is ‘thou shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain’.

‘taking the lord’s name’ means taking an oath. however, this commandment doesn’t mean that an oath should never be taken but notice the ‘vain’ there? it merely means it should not be done in vain or falsely.

jesus has commanded us not to swear. he said not to swear by heaven, as it is the throne of god AND not to swear by earth, as it is the footstool of god. he continues: “do not swear by jerusalem too, for it is the city of the great king. neither should you swear by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black.  let your statement bye ‘yes yes’ or ‘no no’ for anything beyond comes of evil.”  (matthew 5:34)

what jesus said there were meant for the jewish leaders at that time, who to him, were hypocrites the jewish leaders were trying to appear to be very holy – “I will take a sacred oath!” – to try to get people to believe them – “i swear by the temple!” – BUT they have no intention to keep their promises at all.

i remember long long ago when i was a child, my mama and papa used to scold me whenever i said “i swear…”.  this is because as god-fearing parents, they believe, swearing is calling on god’s name in vain. why should we swear if we know god loves us and god answers our prayers, according to what he sees is good for us.

the following is what i came across about what is an oath, on the net somewhere:

A well-known expositor of the theology of the Reformation, A.A. Hodge, a Professor at Princeton, wrote in 1869 about the requirements of God’s Law:

A lawful oath consists in calling upon God, the occasion being of sufficient seriousness and importance, to witness the truth of what we affirm as true, or our voluntary assumption of an obligation to do something in the future-with an implied imprecation of God’s disfavour if we lie or prove unfaithful to our engagements. This last is generally expressed by the phrase forming the concluding part of the formula of most oaths, “So help me God;”-i.e., Let God so help me as I have told the truth, or as I will keep my promise.

Hence an oath is an act of supreme religious worship, since it recognizes the omnipresence, omniscience, absolute justice and sovereignty of the Person whose august witness is invoked, and whose judgment is appealed to as final.

take note of the last sentence. ‘SUPREME RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. RECOGNISE THE OMNIPRESENCE, OMNISCIENCE….. OF GOD, WHOM SHE/HE INVOKE.

will someone who was involved in a sex video, maybe he directed the sex scene, since he admitted being in the sex movie….  someone who knows the person involved in the sex is married and yet do nothing…. someone who show porn to the public…  will this someone be someone who indulge in SUPREME RELIGIOUS WORSHIP? someone who RECOGNISE GOD AS THE OMNIPRESENCE, ETC?

i don’t know. you tell me. but now let me tell you for sure i’m not the only one who hold on to the heading up there (taking an oath does not equal to telling truth). why, even a religous scholar agree to that. excerpt from malaysiakini:

Prior to the oath-taking, Eskay, who was dressed in a maroon shirt and holding a copy of the al-Quran, was approached by a ‘pendakwah bebas‘ (unaffliated religious scholar) who tried to advise him against taking oath.

The scholar, Firdaus Fikri (left), told Eskay that chapter an-Nur states that a person accusing someone of adultery without proof can be punished with 80 lashes of the whip.

“It is in the Quran that you are holding if you open it,” he said.

Firdaus told Eskay that the oath he is taking does not automatically mean that his accusations were true.

“I have fulfilled my responsibility of advising you,” he said, after Eskay thanked him.

PKR communications director, nik nazmi so rightly said that oath-taking is a mockery of islam.

“Their ignorance about religion is clear. They do not understand the concept of the sumpah laknat which has been explained by esteemed scholars locally and abroad.

“As per the case of (sodomy complainant Mohd) Saiful (Bukhari Azlan) who also took the oath, Umno is not interested in religious edicts, but are using (religion) to make it seem like Anwar is guilty,” he said.

He added that PKR is saddened that Islam is being used this way, and urged more muftis and religious scholars to speak out against such acts.

even the shariah lawyers said that such oath-taking cannot be used as proof that the allegations are true.

The Association of Shariah Lawyers had yesterday explained that such an oath must be taken by both the accused and the accuser, and that it cannot be used as proof that the allegations are true.

In the case of adultery, its president Mohamad Isa bin Abd Ralip said that it is the accused who is allowed to take an oath if the accuser cannot present enough proof of his allegations.

“If the accused takes the oath, then the allegations will be dropped,” he said.

now, hear what the public had to say. the following are some selected comments taken from malaysiakini from two reports, pandemonium ahead of eskay’s oath-taking and eskay takes religious oath in mosque.

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Anonymous_3e4b Is it any wonder that non Muslims (in Malaysia) view Islam with contempt. Islam’s greatest enemy (in Malaysia anyway) is not the Jew or the Christian or even the foreign western imperialist but UMNO!!!!! One sometimes prays to the almighty to strike all who follow UMNO dead

M’sia1st Hypocrites, sinners like to swear, that is their daily words, as they take it likely, nothing to them. Good people, believers will only turn to God and follow His commands, not political masters or UMNO. Whether they swear or not, it does NOT make them innocent or guilty. The court should be the genuine place to decide, better still the syariah court. Media or public courts are NOT the place to do that. It is UNISLAMIC to swear while holding Quran, in mosque or otherwise. The syariah court, under the strict order from the judge can have the authority to hold such swearing. Even that is NOT a prerequisite, and NOT an evidence to establish one’s innocence. All prominent ulama, locally or internationally, have advised Anwar NOT to swear. That is NOT the right Islamic way. This series of episods is purely political. As in civil law there is NO ground or prima facie to proceed with such video. In Islamic Law, that would be thrown out. So, what are IGP, AG & PM are waiting for? period.

Ruben What a sad day for all of us. A man whose own credibility is questionable to manipulate and use Religion for his own evil ulterior motives. I wonder what the National Fatwa council and the State Ulamas have to say about this practice.

justice seeker This Eskay fella is a mualaf, a convert who would have converted for monetary gains. And I dare say he is holding the Al-Quran for the first time. The pendakwah bebas had reminded this bastard that he was holding the Al-Quran TERBALIK–UPSIDE DOWN. This clearly shows–GOD IS GREAT revealing to everyone present and those who watched the video that this idiot is blindly swearing. The other 2 idiots knew he was a convert and wont know anything and will swear on their behalf. Isnt this a mockery of the highest order. The 2 born Muslims didnt want to swear but bait a convert to swear.

Cannon Malaysians shake their heads indisbelief to see Umno Baru’s ‘towering giants,’ producers and distributors of porn, escorted by the police as they take their smut into the mosque. I recall, when handling over the reins of power to Dr. Mahathir, our PM Tun Hussein Onn made the remark that he hoped it was the right decision he had made in appointing Mahathir as his successor, for better or for worse. These words “… for better or for worse” come back to haunt us. Malaysians now know why our beloved Bapa Merdeka, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and our illustrious PM Hussein Onn both died outside this Umno, founded by Mahathir. We’ve just witnessed the gutter politics of Umno at its lowest and worst – and the degeneration of PDRM. This Umno birthed by Mahathir has turned to be a nightmare from Elm Street, a party from hell.

Mambo What a mockery!! This fler admited he was part of the sinful act of being with Anwar and did the recording and yet he dares to go the Mosque and swears upon the Quran? What bout his sin?? And the Ustaz allows all these? Clearly their God got stepped upon by the people who rules this country! What a shame!! Malu man!

tel In this cooutry two things people like to drag into when s*** happen, that is islam and the other one is our king. what a shame. if you have the balls pls do not drag the king and religion into it. use you bloody brain to prove/do it rather then using king/islam as an excuse to prove yourself. I wonder what people around the world will look at us in Malaysia in the future.

constitutional pendatang This a most shameful act. To take an oath upon a Holy Book that a sin had been committed with the intention to besmirch the reputation of another human being. However you rationalise this action it is morally wrong. Please do not involve the Almighty in this sort of undertaking because He said “judge not lest ye be judged”. I feel disgust but also sorrow for you. If you sleep well tonight then I say your conscience is hardened.

Honest What amazes me is that one fellow claims he goes to prostitutes dens in Thailand, then he says he is the other person going to the prostitute and then he lauds he took took porno. Then he prostitutes himself in style in TVs and papers of his as heroism. Now mosque. He is then continuously given red carpet treatment by the apparatus as if it is joyous. All because he is helping enemies trying to bring down Anwar. How clownish? And you know what? The type of attack on Anwar is so degrading, sympathy is simply increasing. Why? All because what his enemies are doing is more abhorring. Most who comment it with me are fed-up with charading. Who is actually behind the play? One who seeks to benefit. Nation is being taken down the drain and for what? Shame? Shame?

Anonymous_40ca What is the point of bringing God into the picture? Is it under the pretext of “God is my witness” to bring justice against the other person. Then this religious person in the first place should have stopped the sin from being committed instead of participating in it. God would more than happy if you could stop the act of sin commited by your brother than to point the finger at your brother for commiting the sin. What are you trying to prove here, that you are more holier than your brother. And you have decided to publicly judge your brother on a sin under the pretext of “God is my witness”. Then shouldn’t it also under the pretext of “God is my witness”, we can also conclude that you have committed an even bigger sin by allowing your brother to sin and later pointing the finger at your brother that he sinned.

rayfire We have authorized sedition via Utusan, authorized porn via TV3 and now authorized desecration of religion and its practices in the name of political dirt approved by JAWI, assisted by police and directed by the government of the day! Malaysia serba boleh dalam hal-hal yang mengaibkan rakyat!

M’sia1st Hypocrites, sinners like to swear, that is their daily words, as they take it likely, nothing to them. Good people, believers will only turn to God and follow His commands, not political masters or UMNO. Whether they swear or not, it does NOT make them innocent or guilty. The court should be the genuine place to decide, better still the syariah court. Media or public courts are NOT the place to do that. It is UNISLAMIC to swear while holding Quran, in mosque or otherwise. The syariah court, under the strict order from the judge can have the authority to hold such swearing. Even that is NOT a prerequisite, and NOT an evidence to establish one’s innocence. All prominent ulama, locally or internationally, have advised Anwar NOT to swear. That is NOT the right Islamic way. This series of episods is purely political. As in civil law there is NO ground or prima facie to proceed with such video. In Islamic Law, that would be thrown out. So, what are IGP, AG & PM are waiting for? period.

NOTE: read further other comments on malaysiakini
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