Of Joy and Renunciation

Caution: This post might contain materials that are sensitive to a certain demographic of blogreaders.


Many conflicting, politically-motivated, or emotionally-charged views following the Federal Court’s decision on the Lina Joy’s case had me trolling the Internet for answers. At last, I found solace after reading this Q&A segment, as well as other pertinent commentaries on apostasy from the Islamic point of view, dug deep from the archives of Arabnews, a Saudi-based daily newspaper. Since these Arab writers have the advantage of learning the Qur’an in their first language, they earn both my respect and trust. Their credibility, in my books, is undeniable.

Friday, 28, February, 2003 (26, Dhul Hijjah, 1423)
On Apostasy…
Adil Salahi, Arab News Staff

Q. I find it difficult to understand two things in Islamic law. The first is the punishment of apostasy, which is death. I cannot reconcile this with the Qur’anic statement that there is no compulsion in religion. Surely people are free to believe what they want. How can this be reconciled with inflicting the death penalty on a person simply because he left Islam to some other religion? Please explain.
N.Y. Chundrigar

A. Certain offenses carry mandatory punishments in Islamic law, which means that when any of them is proven according to Islamic legal requirements, the punishment has to be enforced, and the offender cannot be pardoned. Many scholars consider these offenses to be 7 in number, and such scholars include apostasy as one of them. However, a number of highly reputable scholars have questioned this, and concluded that these offenses are only four.

Apostasy is not among them. However, all scholars, past and contemporary, agree that no person is questioned about their faith, which means that a Muslim who converts to some other religion and keeps this to himself, or within his immediate contacts, no one will ever bother him. It is a person who publicizes the fact to encourage others to do likewise that commits a punishable offense. Here you should compare this action to someone who tries to undermine the constitution of the country he lives in. No country allows that. In fact, most countries prescribe very severe punishments for such offenders.

Besides, an apostate must be given a chance to reconsider his position. This is an important Islamic requirement agreed by all scholars, without exception. He is called upon to revert back to Islam, and his views are discussed, and his doubts cleared. If it is a question of beliefs only, this process may continue as long as necessary.

This means that the apostate should only keep his beliefs to himself in order not to incur any punishment. However, if he does not, the punishment is discretionary. What we know for certain is that neither the Prophet, nor his two immediate successors inflicted the death punishment on any apostate, although there were cases under each one of them.

To recap, here are some germane points that I have managed to ferret out:

1. Apostasy is NOT one of offenses, under Islamic law, which carries a mandatory death punishment.
2. However, some Islamic countries may elect to practice a form of discretion in punishing those who publicly renounce Islam. In this case, the ‘last-resort’ punishment is death.
3. Prescribing a discretionary punishment to apostates does not contravene the constitutional and legal principles that guarantee freedom of belief.
4. A person accused of any offense, including the offense of apostasy, cannot be considered guilty without a public trial before an ordinary court of law.
5. This discretionary punishment of apostasy therefore repudiates the view held by a majority of ill-informed scholars which ‘considers an apostate as having no self-immunity which protects him from being killed.’
6. In an Islamic state, a person declaring publicly his renunciation of Islam is likened to undermining ‘the constitution of the country he lives in.’
7. An apostate is given a timeframe to reconsider his position through a series of counselling sessions with an upstanding Islamic scholar where ‘his views are discussed, and his doubts cleared.’

When these conclusions are applied to the case of Lina Joy, the only logical solution that I could offer her is to leave the country immediately. Unless the possible fatal outcome sentenced by the Sharia court doesn’t deter her from her frivolous stance, I suggest she removes herself from all these unnecessary misery and heartaches and take permanent residence in a country that embraces freedom of speech and religion in the truest of spirit (is there such an utopia?). Even the U.S. was embroiled in racial hate crimes up to ‘60s.

The Malaysian constitution that declares, among others, Islam as the official religion of the country was passed by The Federal Legislative Council which comprised representatives from the Malay, the Chinese and the Indian communities. Probably the non-indigenous races were currying favour to the Malay race. Perhaps, assenting to this declaration is their way of showing respect to the Malays as the indigenous race of this country. A healthy sign of tolerance. Who knows what was going through their minds? As such, this proclamation does not in any way contradicts freedom for religion, as accused by skeptics, fan-flamers and human rights activists alike. Other races are free to practice their religions with the recognition of Islam as the official religion. Religious freedom is therefore subsumable under this Islam-as-official-religion edict. They are in consonant with one another.

So for Lina Joy to demand the official change to her creed in a de facto Islamic state simply runs against the basic Islamic principles in dealing with apostates. It creates havoc in the multi-cultural and multi-religious society in which she is a citizen (and the nosy-parker world for that matter). If her case was approved, a string of other Lina Joys will follow suit and expect certain other privileges to be on their plate. The rippling effects are insurmountable.

It’s better to part company with Malaysia, Lina Joy. It’d do most of us, peaceful Malaysians, a whole lot of good.

They (the scholars) cite cases of people who changed their faith after adopting Islam during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his two immediate successors, Abu Bakr and Umar, and none of them was executed. It is to that early period of Islam that we look for practical guidance in understanding Islamic rules. Had the death penalty for apostasy been mandatory, none of them would have refrained from enforcing it.

For noteworthy blogs on this issue, please read this and this.