At rights forum, Muslim groups butt heads on religious freedom

PETALING JAYA, April 18 — Freedom of religion became the most hotly-debated topic in a forum on Islam and human rights last night, with the participating Muslim groups variously praising and condemning Putrajaya for its apparent persecution of religious minorities.

A representative from Islamist party PAS, which has been accused of sheltering Shiah followers, said that the party disagrees with Putrajaya for arresting and pursuing followers of Islam’s second largest denomination.

PAS Research Centre chief operating officer Dr Zuhdi Marzuki also cited the party’s role as an intermediary between the Shiah-majority Iran government and Putrajaya as evidence of its cordial relationship with the denomination’s practitioners.

However, Zuhdi said that the party does not extend the same attitude towards other non-Sunni Islamic denominations, including the Ahmadis; followers of the particular school were arrested during Friday prayers last week by Selangor religious authorities.

“With other denominations which are not categorised as the main ones, we take the same attitude as what has been decreed by the Malaysian government,” Zuhdi said here, explaining that they do not count as Muslims.

Dialogue must be the first avenue to reason with apostates, Zuhdi said, adding that Hudud law punishments could later apply to those who flaunted their apostasy.

“The problem is when they advertise it, which disturbs the focus and peace of the Muslim community,” he said.

Zuhdi also quoted an Islamic scholar who allegedly said that apostates must be crazy to leave Islam as they have no reason at all for doing so.

Meanwhile, Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) was adamant that Muslims must not be allowed to leave the religion, calling apostasy “the greatest sin” in Islam.

The group has consistently branded Shiah as a threat to the sanctity of Islam in the country, along with Christianisation and liberalism.

Isma was also asked by an audience about its refusal to recognise Shiah, despite it being listed as one of the legal schools of thought by 200 Islamic scholars from 50 countries in the Amman Message issued in November 2004.

“What was said in the Amman declaration was recognising the Zaidiyyah and Ja’fari schools. Based on our own studies, these two schools no longer exist,” Isma deputy president Aminuddin Yahaya asserted.

The Ja’fari school of jurisprudence is the one followed by most Shiah Muslims, including some of the Zaidis.

“The current Shiah teachings are far removed from these two schools … We have to stop this sort of things to preserve our faith,” he added.

The third panellist, Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa of the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), criticised any effort to force individuals to love Islam by preventing them from leaving the religion.

He insisted that the floodgates of apostasy would not burst open in Malaysia simply by according freedom of religion to Muslims.

“Do we think that to choose a religion is like choosing between Coke and Pepsi? Do you think it is as easy as that?” the IRF chairman said, noting that conscience is needed in choosing one’s faith.

“The fabric of faith is made of the same fabric of love,” he added.

Farouk pointed out that in countries with freedom of religion, many have freely chosen to embrace Islam instead because they could see its beauty.

To make his point, Farouk alleged that millions of ringgits in taxpayers’ money is being spent annually by Malaysian religious authorities to proselytise and convert non-Muslims into Islam, despite the Chinese being the majority of the taxpayers.

According to a report in January by Washington-based research organisation Pew Research Center, Malaysian government sets “very high” restrictions on religion that are on par with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Although Malaysia’s Federal Constitution provides for “freedom of religion”, there is a “substantial contradiction” and only some religious practices are protected, the report said, adding that the government prohibits worship or religious practices of one or more religious groups as general policy.

Muslims make up 61.3 per cent of the Malaysian population, followed by Buddhists at 19.8 per cent, and Christians at 9.2 per cent, according to the latest census data from 2010.

Over the past year, the largely Sunni Muslim country has also started a campaign against Shiah teachings.