The Silent Majority can Deliver

by Claude Salhani

Washington, D.C. - When a Danish cartoonist conjured a handful of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad in an unflattering light, the Muslim world erupted in sometimes-violent protest, leaving a trail of dead bodies from the Middle East to the islands of Indonesia.

But when a Muslim convert was recently sentenced to die in Afghanistan for choosing a different path to his God, the majority of the Muslim world remained silent. There were no demonstrations in Karachi, Peshawar, Damascus or Beirut. There was only silence -- a noticeable silence that was, quite frankly, disappointing.

Missing from the debate were loud and unequivocal condemnations by the leaders of predominantly Muslim countries. But blaming the absence of good leadership has become an all-too-convenient proxy for indirectly condoning Muslim apathy toward many issues. One assumes that the majority of people remained silent for fear that they too would find themselves accused of heresy. But while self-preservation is everyone's right, it is questionable whether we can, as a global community, disregard the wider implications of not putting the principle first at such a critical time on the world stage.

The Holy Qur'an teaches that "there is no compulsion in religion, for the right way is clear from the wrong way", (2:256). Additionally, many Hadiths, or sayings, of the Prophet are clear about respecting "non-believers":

"Whoever hurts a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state hurts me, and he who hurts me annoys God." (Bukhari)

"He who hurts a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state, I am his adversary, and I shall be his adversary on the Day of a Judgement." (Bukhari)

"Beware on the Day of Judgement; I shall myself be a complainant against him who wrongs a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state or lays on him a responsibility greater than he can bear or deprives him of anything that belongs to him." (Al-Mawardi)

Besides such direct evidence underscoring the absence of an Islamic foundation for punishing apostasy, it is not inappropriate to call upon the human conscience in this affair. Christians leaving their faith for Islam is something that happens every day, and usually without reaction; such conversions are particularly frequent in European and North American prisons.

This is not to overlook the fact that in Egypt, a Copt converting to Islam has caused the occasional uproar. Nor is it to say that religious fervour is uni-directional, for Christians have had their fair share of killing "non-believers": the infamous phrase of the Vietnam War era, "Kill them all, let God sort them out", originated with the Catholic popes during the Cathar Wars, when Pope Innocent III in 1210 unleashed "orders of fire and sword" against a group of Cathars, deemed heretics. Similarly, after papal forces besieged Beziers in southern France, about 450 defenders were apprehended. Many of them claimed to be Christians and good Catholics and did not want to die. Fearing that among them some may have been lying, the pope is reported to have passed on the order in Latin: "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset" or "Kill them all. God will know His own."

The point however is not to vie with one another in wicked deeds, but to honour the legacies of our great religions and moreover treat others as we wish to be treated. So when an Afghan man decides to exercise his fundamental right to choose how to worship his God who, incidentally, is the same God worshipped by his Muslim compatriots, the shari'a courts in Afghanistan should have let him be. When they didn't, the majority should have risen up to protect the true legacy of its faith while appealing to reason at the same time. From the perspective of Western leaders and human rights groups, the issue is one of basic individual liberties, of one's right to elect how one lives one's life, without interference from the state, church or mosque.

A country cannot claim it is free or just until its citizens enjoy individual liberties which include not only what language they speak, but how they choose to pray as well.

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* Claude Salhani is International Editor and a political analyst with United Press International in Washington. Comments may be sent to Claude@UPI.com.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), April 18, 2006

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