AFGHANISTAN

27 March 2006

DON’T FORGET HIM NOW: STANDING WITH ABDUL RAHMAN – A CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIANS

Abdul Rahman is willing to die for his Christian faith and thus to challenge an aspect of Islam that is iniquitous and cruel. Christians must support their courageous brother in his stand.

The 41-year-old convert from Islam to Christianity, who had been threatened with a death sentence for apostasy, is to be released by the Afghan authorities. In response to pressure from many Western governments a pretext has been found to dismiss the case against him, though whether this pretext is lack of evidence or his alleged insanity is not yet clear.

This resolution to the problem is not necessarily the good news which it appears at first to be. For one thing, an anonymous official has said that the prosecutors will be doing further investigation of the case. Secondly, senior Muslim clerics in Afghanistan had already warned that if Rahman were released he would be murdered. Indeed a member of the country’s main Islamic organisation, the Afghan Ulama Council, said, “We will call on the people to pull him to pieces so there’s nothing left.” It seems likely that the people would willingly respond to such incitement for, according to the BBC, “an overwhelming number of ordinary Afghans appear to believe that Mr Rahman has erred and deserves to be executed”.

Even if Rahman is able to flee to a safe country which will agree not to deport him, the question remains of Islam’s apostasy law, under which he was convicted. All four schools of Sunni Islamic law, as well as Shi‘a Islamic law, agree that the penalty for a sane adult male who leaves Islam is death. The sanctioning of murder in this way makes Islam unique among world faiths.

The 2004 Afghan constitution states that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred law of Islam.” (Article 3). Hence the death sentence for apostasy from Islam which the Afghan judge and prosecutor in Rahman’s case have declared to be a part of Afghan law.

In a complete contradiction of this, the constitution also states that Afghanistan will respect (Preamble) and abide by (Article 7) the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration guarantees the freedom to change one’s religion in its Article 18.

If Abdul Rahman were the only convert from Islam to Christianity, his fellow Christians around the world and all who love liberty could simply rejoice at his escape from hanging. The teachings of Islamic law [shari‘a] and the ambiguity of the Afghan constitution would be irrelevant. But there are former Muslims who now follow Jesus Christ in every country of the world, including others in Afghanistan. For all of them Islam’s apostasy law has implications. Though only a handful of countries have the death sentence for apostasy in their law, in every Muslim society there is a widespread knowledge of what shari‘a says on this subject. This knowledge has tainted the attitudes of Muslims to those who have left their faith. As a result converts from Islam suffer harassment even where the law of the land does not forbid them from converting. Typically they are rejected by their families, marginalised by the community, and persecuted by officialdom and society by a variety of methods and pretexts. Often they suffer violence, sometimes they are murdered. These things happen in the West as well as in the Muslim world.

Unless the shari‘a’s ruling on apostasy is challenged this will continue. Abdul Rahman himself recognises the futility of his fleeing Afghanistan without the issue of punishment for a sane convert being settled. “If I flee again that would mean my country hasn’t changed. It would mean that they have won, our enemies.” He said, “I don’t want to die. But if God decides, I am ready to confront my choices, all the way.” Abdul Rahman is willing to die for his faith, but evidently hopes that if he has to die it would help to save other converts from a similar fate.

A number of Muslim voices have been raised around the world in the last few days saying that Islam does not really teach that apostates should be executed. The argument usually is that (1) what the Qur’an says about apostasy is ambiguous and (2) what the hadith [traditions] record of Muhammad’s words and example on this subject should never have been universalised but were only applicable for particular contexts in which the apostates were also traitors to the Islamic state. This reasoning has long been held by a minority of liberal Muslims, but has never yet managed to make any impact on the official teachings of shari‘a, formulated in the Middle Ages.

Let these arguments be addressed to Muslims as well as to non-Muslims. Let them be announced and taught by Islamic leaders at every level, in every country and within every group and sect of Islam. Let it be announced by fatwas from the most senior scholars and in Friday sermons from local imams in their mosques. Let it be promoted on Islamic television stations, Islamic websites and circulated through the videos and DVDs by which extremism is so often promoted. Let it be reinforced with new legislation in the relevant countries and re-training of police and security personnel. Let shari‘a be re-written on this point.

The appalling silence of world Christian leaders, in particular Protestant leaders, on Abdul Rahman’s case is a matter of shame. The Pope has spoken out, but what of the World Council of Churches, the Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, evangelicals, Pentecostals and others?

Abdul Rahman is willing to die for Christ and for his fellow Christians. Can we do anything less than stand with him? There are times when God calls us to make a choice – to stand for what is right, for His Kingdom and for His people. If the Church does not back up this our brother in his courageous stance, she will come close to denying Christ. Abdul Rahman said, “IF I MUST DIE, I WILL DIE. SOMEBODY, A LONG TIME AGO, DID IT FOR ALL OF US.”

ACTION

While Christians and other non-Muslims cannot directly participate in this process, we can ensure that the issue does not fade away, as the immediate danger to Abdul Rahman recedes. Let us keep this issue in the public eye. Write to your head of government, your senior church leaders, and also to the leaders of the main Muslim bodies in your country. The apostasy law must not be swept back under the carpet.

Barnabas Fund’s campaign “The Right to Justice” has been initiated to seek to bring an end to injustice such as Abdul Rahman and many other Christians are suffering. There is no place in the modern world for such barbaric treatment of Muslims who choose another faith. It is especially outrageous that Islam should be so active in seeking to win converts from other faiths (with much success), while it simultaneously refuses to allow any Muslims to convert away from Islam. Islam can no longer be a one-way street that converts can enter but never leave. Two-way traffic must now be permitted. Please join our campaign and sign our petition. [1]

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director of Barnabas Fund

RELATED NEWS ITEMS

[a] AFGHAN CHRISTIAN FACES DEATH SENTENCE IF HE WILL NOT RETURN TO ISLAM

http://www.barnabasfund.org/archivenews/article.php?ID_news_items=137

LINKS

[1] BARNABAS FUND’S CAMPAIGN “THE RIGHT TO JUSTICE”

http://www.righttojustice.org

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