The case of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian facing execution for his apostasy from Islam, has focused attention on just how Islam views other religions.
While Rahman is grabbing the headlines, the plain fact of the matter is that in all Moslem dominated areas of the world, Christians and other non-Moslems live under various social and political disabilities, and at times are persecuted - even unto death. But, it should be noted, it isn't just Moslems persecuting Christians - the governments of China and Vietnam, just to name two, also quite horribly suppress Christians. Persecution.org has the details for all who are interested in seeing them.
Rahman's case, however, is very important to the United States. Because we have shed blood there to free the Afghans and help midwife their democracy, we have a special responsibility - and a tricky task. We cannot permit Afghanistan to fall back into tyranny, but we also cannot be seen to be running the show. Under Afghan law, it is illegal for a Moslem to convert to another faith. This sort of law is incomprehensible to us here in America, but to the people of Afghanistan, it is just part of the natural order of things.
The solution to the problem of Rahman is fairly easy. As he was converted 16 years ago before the current Afghan government was created (and, indeed, while an officialy athiest communist government was in charge), Karzai can just hold that his conversion wasn't illegal as there wasn't a law against him doing it when he did (I do see this as being the eventual outcome of the case - with the man also likely ending up in exile, probably in the United States). But the larger issue remains: what must the US attitude be towards what any American would consider horrible repression, but which is legal in the Moslem world and, indeed, supported by the broad mass of the people?
The only thing to do is use gentle, but persistent, argument to convince the Moslem world that Islam can co-exist with other faiths. This is not a task for a day, or even a decade. This is the task of a century - Islam is what it is, and any attempt to force it to change too rapidly would only backfire. All we can do is keep working at it, and also remembering that we don't have the authority to tell the Moslem people how to order their lives - only they do, and we must trust in their innate humanity to do the right thing.
Posted by Mark Noonan at March 22, 2006 07:00 AM
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Comments
Karzai can just hold that his conversion wasn't illegal as there wasn't a law against him doing it when he did
There has been a law against him doing it ever since Muhammad received the S*****c Verses from "Gabriel."
Can you honestly say that Americans fought and died so that a Christian could be put to death for his faith under a "new democratic" regime?
If the democracies which we are midwifing in the Arab world are to be worth establishing and defending, they must uphold the freedoms of democracy: religion, speech, the press, and the like. If Americans went to war to make the world safe for repressive theocracy, then the wars have been a mistake and they can forfeit any expectation of our support under any circumstances.
So get it right, Karzai!
Posted by: adriandrews at March 22, 2006 10:39 AM
Actually, the Penal Code in Afghanistan was written in 1976. It is the same penal code that the state is using right now. So what was illegal then is still illegal now.
I don't believe it is actually written in the Penal Code that apostasy is illegal. However, most Muslims (especially those that strictly interpret the Shariah) believe that it is and believe it is an act that is punishable by death. The Afghan laws include the Shariah, so even if the crime is not codified in their laws, they still enforce it.
Posted by: Will at March 22, 2006 01:01 PM
Thank God Abdul Rahman's case is receiving worldwide attention! President Bush needs to lay down the law on this case to prevent not only Abdul Rahman from being executed, but to prevent others from being executed or persecuted in the future. Allowing people to freely give up Islam, will make all of the other changes possible.
"Abdul Rahman: On Trial for Freedom"
by Robert Spencer
Posted Mar 22, 2006
Human Events Online
"In fact, however, the Islamic death penalty for apostasy was not invented either by Karzai or Mullah Omar. It is as old as the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s command that “if somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him” (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 52, no. 260). It is deeply ingrained in Islamic culture—" [..]
The Abdul Rahman case is an opportunity for the British and American governments to refine and clarify what exactly they mean by freedom: [..]
Abdul Rahman may go free simply as a bid to keep American aid flowing into Kabul. But the deeper problem within Afghan society—and the larger lack of focus in the Western powers’ overall aims in Afghanistan and Iraq—will still remain. We may hope that sometime soon President Bush, having determined to keep his new “partners in the cause of freedom,” will call for the removal of the Sharia provisions in the Afghan and Iraqi Constitutions, and declare his support for full freedom of conscience such as that exercised by Abdul Rahman.
Posted by: Freedom1 at March 22, 2006 06:18 PM
Mark, I agree. It is sad that this kind intolerance shows just how weak the islamic faith is. Communists have to build fences to keep their people captive, while islam threatens death to anyone who doen not want to practice their faith.
Posted by: james allegro at March 22, 2006 07:21 PM
This is one of the problems that the Left and the insurgents are going to call us out on, and that we must resolve.
Are we going to support democracy, and let them make their own decisions, even if we don't believe in those decisions, or are we going to impose our culture and values on them?
This is the central argument the mullahs are using to support their stance that Iraq is a new Crusade by the west.
Posted by: The Small Town hick at March 22, 2006 07:33 PM
Post a comment
Karzai can just hold that his conversion wasn't illegal as there wasn't a law against him doing it when he did
There has been a law against him doing it ever since Muhammad received the S*****c Verses from "Gabriel."
Can you honestly say that Americans fought and died so that a Christian could be put to death for his faith under a "new democratic" regime?
If the democracies which we are midwifing in the Arab world are to be worth establishing and defending, they must uphold the freedoms of democracy: religion, speech, the press, and the like. If Americans went to war to make the world safe for repressive theocracy, then the wars have been a mistake and they can forfeit any expectation of our support under any circumstances.
So get it right, Karzai!
Actually, the Penal Code in Afghanistan was written in 1976. It is the same penal code that the state is using right now. So what was illegal then is still illegal now.
I don't believe it is actually written in the Penal Code that apostasy is illegal. However, most Muslims (especially those that strictly interpret the Shariah) believe that it is and believe it is an act that is punishable by death. The Afghan laws include the Shariah, so even if the crime is not codified in their laws, they still enforce it.
Thank God Abdul Rahman's case is receiving worldwide attention! President Bush needs to lay down the law on this case to prevent not only Abdul Rahman from being executed, but to prevent others from being executed or persecuted in the future. Allowing people to freely give up Islam, will make all of the other changes possible.
"Abdul Rahman: On Trial for Freedom"
by Robert Spencer
Posted Mar 22, 2006
Human Events Online
"In fact, however, the Islamic death penalty for apostasy was not invented either by Karzai or Mullah Omar. It is as old as the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s command that “if somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him” (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 52, no. 260). It is deeply ingrained in Islamic culture—" [..]
The Abdul Rahman case is an opportunity for the British and American governments to refine and clarify what exactly they mean by freedom: [..]
Abdul Rahman may go free simply as a bid to keep American aid flowing into Kabul. But the deeper problem within Afghan society—and the larger lack of focus in the Western powers’ overall aims in Afghanistan and Iraq—will still remain. We may hope that sometime soon President Bush, having determined to keep his new “partners in the cause of freedom,” will call for the removal of the Sharia provisions in the Afghan and Iraqi Constitutions, and declare his support for full freedom of conscience such as that exercised by Abdul Rahman.
Mark, I agree. It is sad that this kind intolerance shows just how weak the islamic faith is. Communists have to build fences to keep their people captive, while islam threatens death to anyone who doen not want to practice their faith.
This is one of the problems that the Left and the insurgents are going to call us out on, and that we must resolve.
Are we going to support democracy, and let them make their own decisions, even if we don't believe in those decisions, or are we going to impose our culture and values on them?
This is the central argument the mullahs are using to support their stance that Iraq is a new Crusade by the west.