Dato Hj Ishak Baharom dalam kenangan

Pada tanggal 16 Mac 1998 Harakah melalui “English Section” nya telah menerbitkan artikel saya yang berikut di muka depannya:

The Selangor Mufti – The Changing of the guards

Saya menulis berkenaan pengumuman Mufti baru oleh kerajaan negeri Selangor berikutan pemecatan ke atas Mufti sebelumnya iaitu Dato Ishak Baharom. Saya menulis:

The former soft spoken and friendly Mufti Dato Ishak Baharom is a legend that could not be easily forgotten nor replaced. He shall go down in the annals of Selangor and Malaysian history as the first and only Mufti who was terminated for upholding the true teachings of Islam.

Dalam artikel tersebut juga saya menonjolkan beberapa contoh keberanian Dato Ishak dalam menegakkan kebenaran walaupun terpaksa menanggung risiko yang tinggi. Salah satunya adalah semasa keluar dalam program popular ketika itu Forum Perdana Ehwal Islam. Saya menulis:

Once during a forum in Bangi the moderator, Dr Hasan Ali, posed a question to all the panelists on their views regarding those who belittle and make fun of the Hudud Laws. Dato Hj Ishak being one of the panelists without any hesitation applying the Quran and Sunnah, labelled these groups as murtad in the first instance. Another panelist, Dr Harun Din later remarked that never in his personal experience has he heard a daring and straight forward remark ever been given by any Mufti in Malaysia.

Dato Ishak ketika itu telah dipecat walaupun kerajaan negeri sebenarnya baru sahaja memperbaharui kontraknya untuk satu penggal yang baru. Alasan yang diberikan kononnya faktor usia. Saya menulis:

In one ceramah in Subang Airport Mosque he revealed that his contract did expire but it was renewed earlier on for another term and if age factor was the reason, then there are a few more Muftis who should also be asked to leave. A Mufti in one state is almost 80.

Dan dipenghujung artikel itu saya menulis:

Right now Selangor has lost the services of a noble and distinguished aleem. Though Dato Hj Ishak might no longer be the Mufti officially, in the eyes of the rakyat in Selangor and dep in the hearts of many he shall always remain one.

Siang tadi kira-kira jam 3.00 petang Dato Hj Ishak Baharom telah pulang ke rahmatullah pada usia 80 tahun akibat komplikasi tekanan darah. Semoga Allah swt mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh ulamak besar ini, Alfatihah.
(PETIKAN DARI blog Roslan SMS)

sementara itu, sdr.loloq juga telah kembali ke rahmatullah pada hari yang sama kerana pendarahan otak. Loloq, 50 tahun, adalah seorang penulis lirik yg popular dan byk tulisan liriknya didalam lagu2 artis yg terkenal spt M.Nasir, Search,Mawi etc...al-fatihah utk arwah.