 |
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Mustafa
said Muslims should not ask the government to ban Black Metal
music "as there are others who listen to it."
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CAIRO,
January 28, 2006, (IslamOnline.net) – The Malaysian government
favors counseling followers of a satanic black metal cult rather than
banning the musical genre, the Star Online reported on
Saturday, January 28.
"We
will have intensive counseling sessions with the followers, who we
believe got hooked without fully understanding what it is all about
and the consequences," Datuk Mustafa Abdul Rahman, the
director-general of the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), told a
press conference on Friday, January 27.
"They
are young and easily influenced. If they knew what they would end up
doing as followers of the culture, they would not want to be a part of
it."
Mustafa
said Black Metal was a source of concern for the department,
especially that it often led its followers to worship Satan, rebel,
kill and incite hatred.
He
recalled that that several hundred Black Metal followers had been
arrested over the years and given counselling.
However,
he was not aware if those counselled had been rearrested for taking
part in Black Metal activities again.
Sensitive
The
Malaysian official said banning the musical genre was not the right
answer to the problem.
"Muslims
here co-exist with those of different beliefs and it is not right for
us to ask the government to ban Black Metal music as there are others
who listen to it. We have to be sensitive."
He
asserted that other religious leaders "would also want their
followers to do good and listen to good things."
The
National Fatwa Council,
Malaysia
's highest Islamic authority, on Monday, January 23, banned Muslims
from taking part in a heavy metal cult, which plays the blasphemous
Black Metal genre.
Council
chair Shukor Husin said the cult's practices, in which members stamp
on the Noble Qur’an, drink alcohol and freely engage in sex, went
against the teachings of Islam and could propel a Muslim out of the
religion.
He
said authorities plan to enact new laws banning the music style,
allowing prosecution of its Muslim followers.
Some
60 percent of
Malaysia
's 26 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims, who are subject to
Islamic laws as well as the country's secular legal system.
The
council's rulings don't affect the ethnic Chinese and Indian
minorities, who are mainly Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.
Black
metal is another form of hard metal, like death or trash metal, and is
often associated with devil worship because of the dark symbols and
clothes used by black metal bands.
The
genre is known for its satanic or pagan influences and occult imagery.
It
emerged in the early 1980s predating the great expansion of heavy
metal extreme genres. Its name is a play on "Black Magic".
It
roots belong to Norwegian guitarist Øystein Aarseth
(1968–1993), who launched a blasphemous and anti-Christian campaign
in
Norway
through songs that glorified Satan.
The
music gained notoriety in
Malaysia
in 2001 after a series of media exposes on young black metal fans,
including lurid stories about ritualistic practices such as drinking
blood.
Islam
prohibits all forms of singing and music that incites debauchery,
indecency, or sin.
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