by Chiifen Hiu
There has been a recent uproar surrounding the issue of
apostasy amongst the Muslim community, and fingers of blame have been pointed
in all directions, from Christian tuition schools to opposition leaders.
But really, at a time like Hari Raya Aidilfitri, should we
perhaps not be celebrating our commitment and faith, or the commitment and
faith of our loved ones to Islam? Instead we are squabbling and pointing
fingers; actions that stem from a place of insecurity and lack of faith, in
direct contrast to what all religions call for.
St Thomas Aquinas once said, “To one who has faith, no
explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
Does anyone really believe that enacting extreme laws can
force true faith into the non-believer? And if it’s not true faith that we’re
after, it has to be asked, what purpose do these laws against conversion from
Islam serve? To govern by fear and force? It is hard to believe that this is
what the religion truly calls for in their followers: a generation of the
socially indoctrinated and the forced.
Oppressive
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights regards the
recanting of a person’s religion to be a human right that is legally protected
by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Interestingly, in many countries where Islam is the state
religion: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Nigeria, and in some states in
Malaysia, apostasy is penalised (we are more liberal, in most of these
countries it is penalised by death) but conversion into Islam is highly
encouraged. Now why are these oppressive laws necessary?
Some may be crying out right about now, “How dare you! We are
not oppressed!” Now unfortunately, when one doesn’t even have the
internationally recognised human right to choose what religion and God one can
put one's faith in, it is most certainly oppression.
Of course many, if not most, have found peace in this
situation and solace in Islam. Many, if not most, do not feel oppressed,
because they have grown up with what is undoubtedly a beautiful religion and
have come to embrace it. And for this I salute their pure and unadulterated
faith. But it is in cases like Lina Joy and Wong Ah Kiu that the question of
human rights really come into play.
While in both cases the courts eventually ruled in favour of
the conversion, the legal proceedings were both tiresome and drawn out with
initial rejections and appeals, putting the strain of the public’s eye onto
what should’ve been a mere personal or familial affair for the converts.
According to the BBC, Joy had to go into hiding when her case was in court.
Another hopeful-convert, known only as Maria said in 2006,
"If people know that I've converted to Christianity, they might take the law
into their own hands. If they are not broadminded, they might take a stone and
throw it at me.”
Freedom
of choice
So those who don’t believe our current system is one that
promotes oppression might want to take a look at the strain choosing to believe
in another God has had on these women’s lives, and maybe, just maybe,
reconsider.
Freedom is choice, and inflammatory as it may seem to this
country, maybe this freedom of choice should extend to religion and moreover,
to the Muslim community. Surely it is better to have followers believe in the
religion because they want to, rather than because they have to?
Human rights and freedom of choice aside, the strict rule of
thumb that all Malays need necessarily be Muslims, could very well be
contributing to creating generation after generation of followers, but not
thinkers. What this law has essentially done is take away the people’s
independence on their very personal and significant path of spirituality.
It teaches to follow without questioning, believe without
challenging, actually drawing many parallels to our education system, but
that’s a story for another day. It takes away from independent thinking and
indoctrinates a fear of challenging, leaving us with a generation of sheep and
a country in stagnation. It does nothing to encourage leadership or thinking
outside of the box.
This may be an extrapolation, and there are some out there
who break the mould, of course, but as a hypothesis and a theory it isn’t an
exaggerated one.
A presonal right and nothing
more
As a point of clarification however, I am in no way against
Islam, in fact, I think it’s a commanding religion. I am merely against a
system that not only oppresses but in general also takes away from the
character and independence of a society that has so much potential, but has
unfortunately a government too insecure to allow them to achieve it.
Religion is a beautiful
thing; it is human nature that mars it. Our history stands as true testament to
that. The Iran-Iraq war, September 11th and the crusades are all consequences of man’s
selfish desires dressed up in a fancy disguise that those involved call
religion. As such, the sooner we stop bickering about who was trying to
proselytise whom and realise that religion is nothing more and nothing less
than a personal right and choice, the better.
To all my Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir dan
batin.
Source : MC
EmpireMoney.com
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