2011 in Review - Religion & Politics

Note: A version of this article was first posted on the Foreign Policy Blogs Network on 15th November, 2011 and can be found here.

2011 – in the world of religion and politics, we have seen banning of Muslim “Hijab” in France, Congressional Hearings on “Radicalization of Muslims in America” and various similar acts across the globe; but what I keep coming back to in my mind are the lives lost on account of the Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan.

In January, Pakistan lost it’s Governor of Punjab, Mr. Salman Taseer, because he stood up against laws that were so blatantly anti-Islam; laws that were promulgated and have since been used as a tool to oppress women and minorities. Later in March, Pakistan lost its Federal Minister of Minority Affairs, Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, to the same fight. I have previously written in attempt to reveal the truth behind these Blasphemy Laws and how they are, in fact, not true to Islam at all.

In Pakistan, from January through to July, there have been eighteen new cases registered under these laws, three life imprisonment sentences awarded, over a dozen harassment cases registered and five lives lost; all the while, only one accused was acquitted. What is more troubling is that these are just the cases that were reported – an immeasurable amount go unreported and possibly end in the loss of lives.

Salman Taseer said “people told me I’m making a mistake and I should back down, but I said no. Today if I don’t stand up, then tomorrow people who think like me won’t be able to.” For this reason, I have chosen people like him and Shahbaz Bhatti as my people of the year. They have been able to draw attention to the long standing injustice that these laws propagate so shamelessly – and all in the garb of a religion that preaches nothing of the sort. It is a shame that these people have had to lose their lives for many to take notice.

Following the death of Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, government officials in Pakistan were too afraid to attend his funeral services. They were afraid of the clerics that would see their attendance as an agreement with Mr. Bhatti’s stance on the Blasphemy Laws, and in contravention to their beliefs and, therefore, liable to death. The same fears posed as a hurdle for the family of Mr. Salman Tasser when no lawyer was eager to take on his family’s case against his murderer. Many hailed his murderer as a saint and a “warrior of Islam”. I was afraid when their Warrior was sentenced to death – afraid of what the clerics would pull into the streets in retaliation. Although the streets were surprisingly calm, the judge that passed the sentence has had to go into hiding, out of the same fear.

It is this fear that most live in, day in and out. Ever since the inception of these laws, a sect known as the Ahmedi’s have been forbidden to wish the Islamic greeting of peace (“Asalam’o’alaikum” meaking “peace be with you”) as they have been branded non-Muslims. Others are afraid of walking into the wrong mosque or touching the Qur’an incorrectly, for fear of being accused of committing blasphemy.

However, the fear has managed to escape one proud Pakistani. Although the agony did not end for Mr. Taseer’s family with his death, his son having been kidnapped later in the year (his whereabouts are still unknown), Mr. Taseer’s daughter, Shehrbano, has managed to turn this loss into determination. She continues her fathers work and has been awarded the Human Rights Foundation award for Extraordinary Bravery in promoting Human Rights for her campaign against the Blasphemy Laws.

So, although my memories of this year are peppered with Blasphemy cases and a injustice done and lives lost as a direct result of this iniquitous and anti-religious law, the year ends with a hope for a better one to follow. A hope that rests on the shoulders of people like Shehrbano – who, in the face of adversity have shown insurmountable strength.

In her acceptance speech at the Human Rights Foundation, Shehrbano said that those that supported these “draconian laws” did so on the bases of their emotion rather than on fact. My hope is that the facts are highlighted come 2012 and that these facts pave the way to an enlightened approach to the Blasphemy Laws – so that they are finally eradicated and the true meaning of Islam is returned to this Islamic Republic.

Apostasy and Islam

Note: A version of this article was first posted on the Foreign Policy Blogs Network on 5th October, 2011 and can be found here.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to death for apostasy in Iran – various Human Rights groups are now pleading for his release. Although the ruling itself is said to be questionable in light of the Iranian civil code, the ruling was passed under the Shariah.

The Shariah, as we know it today, is an amalgamation of five sources, only one of which is unanimously believed to be divinely revealed (the Qur’an). The rest (Sunna, Ijma, Qiyas and Ijtehad) are all transmitted and understood by people following the Prophet years after his passing; therefore, arguably prone to human error. Whether or not the additional sources to the Shariah are legitimate is a separate argument – one that is not up for debate today. What is essential to understand is that all schools of thought agree, theoretically, if a concept contradicts the Qur’an and the actual actions of the Prophet, it cannot be accepted as a part of the Shariah – much less deemed divinely ordained law (which is the connotation “Shariah” takes today).

Chapter 2 verse 256 of the Qur’an states “There shall be no coercion in matters of faith.” This verse is often quoted to prove that Islam can not be spread by might, or what many jurists call “conversion by the sword”. All Islamic jurists agree that conversion under oppression is void, and in fact, that if a non-Muslim is coerced to convert, the oppressor has sinned. If this is so, how could the converse not similarly hold true?

When studying the Qur’an in light of the times each revelation was received, I find two clear examples of where the Qur’an clearly speaks of apostasy, even specific apostates, and does not prescribe a punishment for them – clearly proving that no divinely ordained legal requirement exists within Islam for the state imposed punishment of apostasy. Let me cite those examples:

1) The Hypocrites of Uhad

When members of Muhammad’s army at the battle of Uhad turn back and run from the battle field, the Qur’an says, “those who were tainted with hypocrisy… Unto apostasy were they nearer on that day than unto faith” (3:167). The verse continues to talk about how God knows what is truly in their hearts; it does not say whether those who had turned away should be cast out of the society, let alone hung. In chapter 33, the Qur’an refers to these people again, calling them “hypocrites” and saying that God is just in His retribution. Again, it says nothing of a punishment to be met out in this life and such retribution, mentioned throughout the Qur’an, alludes to punishment in the after-life.

2) The Truce of Hudabiya

During the famed Truce of Hudabiya, when the Muslims of Medina and the pagan Arabs of Mecca entered into a treaty of peace, a clause of the treaty stated that minors of either side that had gone over to the other without the consent of their guardian, were to be returned. The Meccan’s held married women to be subject to the guardianship of their husbands, therefore, returnable. At this time, many women had secretly converted to Islam and fled to Medina and some women from Medina had returned to Mecca. In line with the practice of “khul” – a form of annulment initiated by the woman in accordance with Islamic injunctions (in the practice of which the woman leaving her husband would have to return her dower money), if a woman was leaving Mecca and moving to Medina, she would return her dower money and in cases where she did not have the means, the treasury of Medina would help pay. In the cases where the women were returning to Mecca and abandoning Islam, in chapter 60 verse 11 of the Qur‘an, we find clear instructions that the treasury of Medina is required to pay out the amount of dower to the man whose wife has left him to return to Mecca.

Undoubtedly, the women moving to Mecca were apostates, they had abandoned their homes and lives that they established as Muslims to return to their pagan culture and belief, but instead of ordering they be hung, the Qur’an gives them the leverage and allows the state to step in and pay their annulment dower.

If a divine law were to be created, it would have been created either at Uhad or during the Truce of Hudabiya or at another time as deemed appropriate. It was not.

That said, most schools of thought in Islam prescribe life imprisonment in cases of high treason (as is the case in most countries to date); and in cases where the accused is not deemed dangerous, no punishment is recommended at all. Very few jurists believe capital punishment should be adopted, and that too only in cases where it is believed that the apostate is attempting to harm the Muslim community, or the “Ummah.”

Mehdi Hasan, writing for the Guardian, asks a very essential question: “Muslims have to ask ourselves: Is the God we worship so weak and needy that he requires us to force our fellow humans to worship him? Is our religion so frail and insecure that it cannot tolerate any rejection whatsoever? And why are we silent as an innocent Christian is sentenced to death in the name of Islam? To hang a man for refusing to believe in Islam is theologically and morally unjustifiable; it is not just un-Islamic but anti-Islamic.”

Keeping in mind that any rule/law under the Shariah that is contrary to the Qur’an must be struck down as invalid, I believe it is safe to say that capital punishment is not the penalty for apostasy. I think it’s time to let Youcef go home.