14th Commentary - Islam and Religious Conversion
This commentary is on the article entitled "Clearing the air over apostasy in Islam", dated April 14th, and other articles relating to the case of the Mr. Abdul Rahman, who was almost faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam.
It is worrying to see that one could face the death penalty for converting out of Islam, as this type of punishment is not seen in other religions; not within my knowledge anyway. Why does Islam have such a serious punishment for people who decide to convert out of it? Is there not supposed to be religious freedom in the world? A person should be allowed to choose what religion he or she wishes to believe in, no compelled to remain in one because their parents chose it for them when they were born, or because they had chosen to believe in it earlier. If one no longer sees the values of being in the religion, is there any use in forcing him or her to remain in it? I do not see the point of doing so.
The article does mention that the death ruling for apostasy in Islam is not concrete. This at least is a good point. But why the death penalty in the first place? Is Islam not a fair and tolerant religion? We all know that the image of Islam has already suffered from the terrorists who claim to be following the teachings of Islam in committing their horrendous deeds upon innocent people. By calling for the death of the convert, the conservatives have shown to the world how intolerant some followers of Islam can be. Furthermore, the article also stated that other Islamic countries did not even say a single thing about the issue, while other countries around the world raised concerns over religious freedom and human rights against the possible sentence. Such silence does not help improve the image of Islam. It is fortunate that Mr. Rahman had been spared the possibility of death for his conversion, but the fact that the reason that they gave – about him not being in the right mind when he converted – shows that Muslims still refuse the fact that any sane person would want to convert out of Islam. Yet they allow – even encourage – people to convert into Islam. Such actions only helps to show others that Islam is a monolithic religion, where its followers refuse to admit that their religion is something that no one would want to give up. No other religion has gone to show the world such problems. How would the conservative followers of Islam accept religious harmony then, if they see that all other religions are below theirs?
Thus it is vital that that there is a change in their ways, in order to promote religious harmony in the face of increasing terrorism. They have to stop creating the bad image of Islam being too structured and unfair. Show the world that Islam can be a fair and tolerant religion that protects human rights. I am sure Muslims will be able to do it.
It is worrying to see that one could face the death penalty for converting out of Islam, as this type of punishment is not seen in other religions; not within my knowledge anyway. Why does Islam have such a serious punishment for people who decide to convert out of it? Is there not supposed to be religious freedom in the world? A person should be allowed to choose what religion he or she wishes to believe in, no compelled to remain in one because their parents chose it for them when they were born, or because they had chosen to believe in it earlier. If one no longer sees the values of being in the religion, is there any use in forcing him or her to remain in it? I do not see the point of doing so.
The article does mention that the death ruling for apostasy in Islam is not concrete. This at least is a good point. But why the death penalty in the first place? Is Islam not a fair and tolerant religion? We all know that the image of Islam has already suffered from the terrorists who claim to be following the teachings of Islam in committing their horrendous deeds upon innocent people. By calling for the death of the convert, the conservatives have shown to the world how intolerant some followers of Islam can be. Furthermore, the article also stated that other Islamic countries did not even say a single thing about the issue, while other countries around the world raised concerns over religious freedom and human rights against the possible sentence. Such silence does not help improve the image of Islam. It is fortunate that Mr. Rahman had been spared the possibility of death for his conversion, but the fact that the reason that they gave – about him not being in the right mind when he converted – shows that Muslims still refuse the fact that any sane person would want to convert out of Islam. Yet they allow – even encourage – people to convert into Islam. Such actions only helps to show others that Islam is a monolithic religion, where its followers refuse to admit that their religion is something that no one would want to give up. No other religion has gone to show the world such problems. How would the conservative followers of Islam accept religious harmony then, if they see that all other religions are below theirs?
Thus it is vital that that there is a change in their ways, in order to promote religious harmony in the face of increasing terrorism. They have to stop creating the bad image of Islam being too structured and unfair. Show the world that Islam can be a fair and tolerant religion that protects human rights. I am sure Muslims will be able to do it.
posted by Raylen at 1:00 PM
1 Comments:
I agree that a person should be allowed to choose what religion he or she wishes to believe in. Religions are meant to teach positive values to their devotees. Most teaches us the importance of respecting all life forms in our environment. For example, Catholic does not approve of child abortion as it believes that a foetus is also a form of life. So, is Islam not as fair and tolerant as other religions? Is the Islamic God not as benevolent as other religious Gods? Why would Islam condemn those who wish to convert to other religions? By calling for the death of the convert, the conservatives have shown to the world how intolerant some followers of Islam can be. as long as the teachings of the new religion are positive, people should have the right to believe in the religion.
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