In Some Circumstances It S Noble To Accept An Apology

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The issue of socks bearing the word Allah being sold at KK Mart’s Bandar Sunway outlet not only went viral on social media. Now, it seems it has become a national issue too, thanks to a public reaction by the Umno Youth chief.
To rub salt in the wound, the media also reported that the King and Johor regent have also urged the authorities to take strict action over the sale of the Miranosock product.
Being constitutionally tasked to protect and safeguard the sanctity of the religion of Islam, the reaction by the King on this hot-button issue would be, in my view, perfectly understandable.
Anyway, the police confirmed that investigation papers have been opened over the matter and the investigation would be carried out under Section 298A of the Penal Code for causing disharmony, disunity, or enmity on religious grounds and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper network facility use or service.
It is hoped the police will conduct the investigation professionally - without fear or favour.
In penning this note, I have no intention of muddling into a police investigation. After all, the investigation is still ongoing. On the other hand, this article is only dedicated to the Muslim fraternity.
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan IskandarUmno Youth has been pushing hard against KK Mart, urging Muslims for a boycott if the chain fails to post banners apologising over the incident. Apparently, Umno Youth seeks to dictate the act of apology following its own terms.
The fact is that KK Mart has duly apologised to all its customers and the Muslim community in particular and assured that immediate steps were taken to stop the sale of the socks, but this is still deemed inadequate by Umno Youth.
In fact, the supplier of the offending socks, Xin Jian Chang Sdn Bhd, has also tendered its apology despite the fact there has been no such demand by Umno Youth as far as I know.
The supplier also expressed its utmost regret for such an unfortunate incident and in turn made the following statements “This has opened my eyes to the need to be more careful in bringing in products from overseas... we will learn from our mistakes.”
While acknowledging this issue might be construed to be highly sensitive to Muslims and the author has no slightest intention of trivialising this issue, Muslims, should not, however, simply be oblivious to the factual matrix of the case.
The facts of the case do not demonstrate, at least in my view, a case of a premeditated act of deliberate provocation against Islam. Using the lingua franca of criminal law, it seems to me there has been an absence of mala fide.
Honest mistakes
On the contrary, I view the whole incident to be a case of genuine and bona fide mistakes on the part of the supplier and KK Mart resulting in such an unfortunate fiasco. Ergo, I tend to believe that the convenience store had inadvertently overlooked the socks sent to them from a supplier.
Of course, it should have been extremely cautious in scrutinising any imported materials from abroad. Nevertheless, it is difficult to accept the accusation that it deliberately tried to provoke the Muslims.
The same goes for the supplier. In my view, there was an honest clarification on the part of the supplier when it duly explained that a particular batch of 1,200 socks of various designs and colours which arrived in its facility in Batu Pahat, Johor procured in a bundle from China and its employees in turn sent the socks to various KK Mart premises on Jan 29 without fully and effectively scrutinising the items.
I strongly believe based on the factual matrix of the case that there is a strong case of honest and bona fide mistakes on the part of the supplier and KK Mart hence this should be a perfect case for Muslims to forgive the alleged perpetrators, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan.
No doubt practising forgiveness can be extremely hard. As a Muslim, who shall be our true exemplar? No doubt the true exemplar par excellence shall be our prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
It is interesting to note here that the great Imam Al-Bukhari narrated in his highly valuable compilation entitled Al-Adab Al-Mufrad under the chapter heading “Forgiveness of other People” a whole raft of the prophet Muhammad’s superb embodiment of his forgiving personality traits.
Would a call for a boycott against KK Mart by Umno Youth be considered a prudent move?
Umno Youth chief Akmal SalehWith the greatest respect, I don’t think it would be a good idea. After all, the country is facing economic difficulty at the moment. Why should we further burden the plight of the people including the Muslim workers in KK Mart?
In certain occasions and circumstances, forgiveness would be a noble gesture. - Mkini
MOHAMED HANIPA MAIDIN is a former deputy minister of law.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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