Jul 24th 2008
From The Economist print edition
“CAN a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam?” When Egypt’s grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, pondered that dilemma in an article published last year, many of his co-religionists were shocked that the question could even be asked.
And they were even more scandalised by his conclusion. The answer, he wrote, was yes, they can, in the light of three verses in the Koran: first, “Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion”; second, “Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve”; and, most famously, “There is no compulsion in religion.”
Illustration by Garry Neill
The sheikh’s pronouncement was certainly not that of a wet liberal; he agrees that anyone who deserts Islam is committing a sin and will pay a price in the hereafter, and also that in some historical circumstances (presumably war between Muslims and non-Muslims) an individual’s sin may also amount to “sedition against one’s society”. But his opinion caused a sensation because it went against the political and judicial trends in many parts of the Muslim world, and also against the mood in places where Muslims feel defensive.
In the West, many prominent Muslims would agree with the mufti’s scripturally-based view that leaving Islam is a matter between the believer and God, not for the state. But awkwardly, the main traditions of scholarship and jurisprudence in Islam—both the Shia school and the four main Sunni ones—draw on Hadiths (words and deeds ascribed with varying credibility to Muhammad) to argue in support of death for apostates. And in recent years sentiment in the Muslim world has been hardening. In every big “apostasy” case, the authorities have faced pressure from sections of public opinion, and from Islamist factions, to take the toughest possible stance.
In Malaysia, people who try to desert Islam can face compulsory “re-education”. Under the far harsher regime of Afghanistan, death for apostasy is still on the statute book, despite the country’s American-backed “liberation” from the tyranny of the Taliban. The Western world realised this when Abdul Rahman, an Afghan who had lived in Germany, was sentenced to die after police found him with a Bible. After pressure from Western governments, he was allowed to go to Italy. What especially startled Westerners was the fact that Afghanistan’s parliament, a product of the democracy for which NATO soldiers are dying, tried to bar Mr Rahman’s exit, and that street protests called for his execution.
The fact that he fled to Italy is one of the factors that have made the issue of Muslim-Christian conversion a hot topic in that country. There are several others. During this year’s Easter celebrations, Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born journalist who is now a columnist in Italy, was publicly baptised as a Catholic by Pope Benedict; the convert hailed his “liberation” from Islam, and has used his column to celebrate other cases of Muslims becoming Christian. To the delight of some Catholics and the dismay of others, he has defended the right of Christians to proselytise among Muslims, and denounced liberal churchmen who are “soft” on Islam.
Muslims in Italy and elsewhere have called Mr Allam a provocateur and chided Pope Benedict for abetting him. But given that many of Italy’s Muslims are converts (and beneficiaries of Europe’s tolerance), Mr Allam says his critics are hypocrites, denying him a liberty which they themselves have enjoyed.
If there is any issue on which Islam’s diaspora—experiencing the relative calmness of inter-faith relations in the West—might be able to give a clearer moral lead, it is surely this one. But even in the West, speaking out for the legal and civil right to “apostasise” can carry a cost. Usama Hasan, an influential young British imam, recently made the case for the right to change religions—only to find himself furiously denounced and threatened on Islamist websites, many of them produced in the West.
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11784865
(Thanks to Azahidi who led us to the website)
Berikut adalah terjemahan artikel bahasa Inggeris di atas:
Dalam bayangan maut
"Bolehkah seorang Islam pilih agama selain Islam?" Apabila mufti besar Mesir, Ali Gomaa, renungkan dilema itu di dalam sebuah artikel diterbit tahun lalu, ramai daripada orang-orang agama bersamanya terkejut bahawa soalan itu ditanya pula.
Dan kekejutan mereka ditambah lagi dengan kesimpulannya. Jawapannya, dia tulis, ialah ya, mereka boleh, berdasarkan tiga ayat Quran: pertama, "Bagi kamu agama kamu, dan bagiku agamaku"; kedua, "hendaklah sesiapa yang hendak, percaya; dan hendaklah sesiapa yang hendak, tidak percaya"; dan, paling masyhur sekali, "Tidak ada paksaan dalam agama."
Pengumuman syeikh tentu sekali bukan suatu liberal yang longgar; beliau setuju bahawa sesiapa tinggalkan Islam lakukan dosa dan akan dibalas di akhirat, dan juga dalam sesetengah sebab bersejarah (barangkali perang antara orang-orang Islam dengan bukan Islam) dosa seseorang boleh juga bererti "hasutan ke atas sesuatu masyrakat". Akan tetapi pendapatnya mencetuskan sensasi sebab bertentangan dengan trend politik dan kehakiman di banyak tempat dunia Islam, dan juga bertentangan dengan angin di tempat-tempat di mana orang-orang Islam berasa akan mempertahankan diri.
Di Barat, ramai orang Islam terkenal bersetuju dengan pendapat mufti yang berlandaskan Kitab bahawa tinggalkan Islam adalah soal antara orang yang percaya dengan Tuhan, bukan soal negeri. Tetapi peliknya, tadisi utama dalam kesarjanaan dan perundangan Islam - kedua-dua Syiah dan empat fahaman Suni yan utama - menyedut Hadis dalam hujah menyokong hukum bunuh ke atas orang-orang murtad. Dan beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini sentimen di dunia Islam sudah jadi tegar. Dalam tiap-tiap kes "murtad" yang besar, pihak berkuasa telah menghadapi tekanan daripada golongan-golongan pendapat umum, dan daripada puak-puak Islam, untuk mengambil sekeras pendirian yang mungkin.
Di Malaysia, orang-orang yang cuba tinggalkan Islam boleh dikenakan "pemulihan" yang wajib (tetapi ada yang dipenjara baru-baru ini - tambahan penterjemah). Di bawah pemerintahan yang jauh lebih keras iaitu Afghanistan, bunuh bagi murtad masih tercatat di dalam buku undang-undang, meskipun negara berada dalam "pembebasan" dukungan Amerika daripada kezaliman Taliban. Dunia Barat sedari hal ini apabila Abdul Rahman, seorang Afghan yang tinggal di negara German, telah dijatuhkan hukuman mati setelah polis menjumpainya dengan sebuah Bible. Setelah didesak oleh kerajaan-kerajaan Barat, dia dibenarkan pergi ke Itali. Apa yang terutamanya memeranjatkan orang-orang Barat adalah bahawa parlimen Afghanistan, suatu produk demokrasi yang askar-askar NATO bermatian, cuba menghalang Encik Rahman daripada keluar, dan bahawa bantahan-bantahan di jalanan melaung agar dia dibunuh.
Sebab dia lari ke Itali jadi satu daripada faktor-faktor yang buat isu pemelukan Islam-Kristian satu tajuk panas di negara itu. Ada lagi beberapa yang lain. Semasa perayaan Easter tahun ini, Magdi Allam, seorang wartawan kelahiran Mesir, yang dewasa ini jadi penulis ruang di Itali, telah dibaptiskan di khalayak ramai sebagai Katolik oleh Pope Benedict; pemeluk tersebut menyorak "pembebasannya" daripada Islam, dan mengguna ruangannya untuk meraikan kes-kes orang Islam jadi Kristian yang lain. Sesetengah penganut Katolik gembira sementara yang lain tidak apabila dia mempertahankan hak Kristian untuk menarik jadi penganut di kalangan orang-orang Islam, dan mengecam orang-orang gereja yang "lembut" terhadap Islam.
Orang-orang Islam di Itali dan di tempat lain terangkan Encik Allam sebagai seorang provokatif dan menegur Pope Benedict kerana bersekongkol dengannya. Bahawa kebanyakan daripada orang-orang Islam Itali adalah saudara baru (dan orang-orang yang dapat manfaat daripada toleransi Europa), Encik Allam mengatakan bahawa pengkritik-pengkritiknya adalah hipokrit, menahannya daripada kebebasan yang mereka sendiri menikmati.
Sekiranya ada sebarang isu atas penyebaran Islam - dengan mengalami ketenangan dalam hubungan antara agama di Barat - yang memungkinkan dapat beri teladan moral yang jelas, maka pasti inilah ia. Tetapi di Barat pun, untuk menyuara dengan perundangan dan hak awam atas "murtad" boleh membawa padah. Usama Hasan, seorang imam Inggeris yang berpengaruh, baru-baru ini telah kemukakan kes untuk hak menukar agama - hanya dapati dirinya dikutuk hebat dan diugut di laman-laman web Islamik, kebanyakannya diterbit di Barat.
15 Ogos 2008
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