Akidah vs Amalan

I regularly read Raja Petra Kamarudin's blog. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his passion for what he believes in - freedom of speech and expression.

His latest blog touches on Akidah (faith) and I quote

I know, now many so-called Islamists will argue that Akidah is about praying, fasting, paying your tithes, going to Mekah and all that. To these people I say: bullshit. That is not Akidah. That is amalan (practice). And those are mere rituals. Even horses, penguins, seals, elephants, tigers, dogs, and whatnot can be taught to do tricks. This does not mean they all know why they are doing these tricks. They only know that if they do them then they get rewarded with food. So they do them….but for food.

Those rituals that many Muslims perform are also for rewards -- mostly the reward of Heaven and to avoid punishment, meaning Hell. Assuming you get nothing and suffer nothing if you either do or do not do them, then 90% or more of Muslims would dump all the rituals. That is how ‘sincere’ these fakes are. They do not perform these rituals for God. They perform them for their own sakes, for the ‘rewards’ and to avoid punishment.

I know to some this sound shocking although coming from RPK, it's perfectly normal. Frankly, I too subscribe to the same thinking, especially the 2nd paragraph.

Ask any practicing Muslims as to why they do certain Ibadah (act of worship) and most of them would mention the Pahala (rewards) that comes with it or the Balasan (retribution) for not doing it, with no mention of God.

Not too far fetch to say if there is no reward or retribution system, many might not even bother. It is no different from people not littering because they believe littering is bad but rather because they are afraid of being fined.

Having said all that, as long as everyone is happy with what they are doing, then there's no harm. The real problem is when they start imposing on others.

Do what pleases you but not at the expense of others - Azhar Khamis