The Face Of "moderate" Islam

[Mateo el Feo]

[b]Court rejects plea to change religion[/b]

May 31, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's top civil court yesterday rejected a Muslim convert's appeal to be recognised as a Christian, in a case that tested the limits of religious freedom in the moderate Islamic country.

Malaysia's best-known Christian convert, Lina Joy, lost a six-year battle to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card, after Federal Court judges ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Sharia Court had the power to make such changes.

"Apostasy is a matter linked to Islamic laws. It's under the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court ... civil courts cannot interfere," Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim said.

Activists have warned that a ruling against Ms Joy could strengthen the fears of non-Muslims that they are discriminated against in Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has substantial Christian, Buddhist and Hindu minorities.

But conservative Muslims would have considered a ruling allowing her to change religions as an erosion of Islamic values.

Ms Joy, who changed her name from Azlina Jailani after converting to Christianity in 1998, was not at the hearing.

Dozens of Muslims outside the court shouted "Allahu Akbar", or "God is great", after the verdict. "She cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion," judge Ahmad Fairuz said. "She must follow rules."

But judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Ms Joy, saying it was unreasonable to ask her to go to the Sharia Court because she could face criminal prosecution there.

Apostasy - the abandonment of a faith - is punishable by fines and jail sentences. Offenders are often sent to prison-like rehabilitation centres.

"We fully believe justice has been served," Muslim Youth Movement president Yusri Mohammad said of the verdict in the Joy case.

But others expressed disappointment, saying the ruling failed to protect religious rights.

"People like Lina Joy shouldn't be trapped in a legal cage, not being able to come out to practice their true conscience and religion," said Leonard Teoh, a Catholic lawyer.

The Malaysian constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all citizens. But the sharia courts have not allowed Muslims, who comprise nearly 60 per cent of the country's 26 million people, to legally leave their religion.

AP

Link: [url="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21823373-2703,00.html"]http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...73-2703,00.html[/url]

This raises questions such as:

1) Can we blame a few radical Muslim fanatics who hijacked the religion of Islam?
2) Amid all the complaints of discrimination against Muslims in the West, is there a Western country that even approaches the discrimination described above?
3) Will the defenders of Islam somehow turn this around into an attack against those mean "Islamaphobes" for daring to bring up these stories?

[kenrockthefirst]

[quote name='Mateo el Feo' post='1284346' date='May 30 2007, 11:56 AM']This raises questions such as:

1) Can we blame a few radical Muslim fanatics who hijacked the religion of Islam?
2) Amid all the complaints of discrimination against Muslims in the West, is there a Western country that even approaches the discrimination described above?
3) Will the defenders of Islam somehow turn this around into an attack against those mean "Islamaphobes" for daring to bring up these stories?[/quote]
[list=1]
[*]I keep hearing about how Islam has been "hijacked" by "extremists." Where are all the "moderate" Muslims objecting to this?
[*]No.
[*]You mean like the Muslims who reacted with violence against being called "violent?"
[/list]

[mortify]

[quote]Apostasy - the abandonment of a faith - is punishable by fines and jail sentences. Offenders are often sent to prison-like rehabilitation centres.[/quote]

In the old days they would be executed, I guess that's what makes it a moderate Islamic country. And what's this "rehabilitation center"? Why do I get the feeling it's painful, and involves something akin to Clockwork Orange's method of rehab?


Ty for the article Mateo, it's time for some people to wake up.