Something I wrote for ‘Letters’ in Malaysiakini.com this week….It was published earlier today, but it seems to have gone from the site….
I wish I had known…
I refer to Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib’s letter, ‘Apostasy punishment quite clear in texts’ and particularly his claims that “…for apostasy is a punishment that a convert has willingly accepted at the time of his conversion. It is not a penalty imposed, rather it is penalty accepted willingly by all converts as part of the teachings of Islam...”
So what about those born Muslims? I wish I had known this before I was born, I may have just ‘opted’ for an agnostic family. But of course, no such choice was given, and if I were to exercise my right to ‘jump the Islamic ship’, people like Abdul Rahman Abdul Talib will drive me off the gangplank and into the jaws of death.
Regardless of the views of ulamaks and even fatwas (religious edicts), it’s rather difficult to accept the death penalty for apostasy in this century. It may well have been acceptable in Islam’s infancy, but it’s a matured religion now and such a martial nature has no place in the world of today – well, maybe in far flung Pakistani villages, Afghanistan, Somalia and in other places of strife, but not in a modern, globalised Malaysia.
What has been put forward by people like Abdul Rahman, presents a frightening face of Islam – death, mutilation, honour killings, an eye-for-an-eye – clearly designed to discourage people from embracing the religion and striking fear in Muslims to enforce compliance and acceptance. I can see sand dunes, flint-locks, scimitars waving, bows and arrows, lances, flags, and rows upon rows of warriors astride camels and horses.
I can imagine a time in our country when mobs would seek out apostates in housing estates, apartments, the parks, KLCC and put them up for public linching and beheading.
What century are we living in?
