Before attacking Nurul, Umno should ask Rosmah why she was prancing onstage to 'Jai Ho!'

Nurul Izzah Anwar was definitely not prancing on stage to “Jai Ho”, which the wife of the Prime Minister was accused of doing. No, unlike Rosmah Mansor, the Lembah Pantai MP had only made an intellectual statement in response to a question from a participant on “religious freedom”.

This young, charismatic politician had quoted the Qur'anic verse 256 when a participant asked for her view about religious freedom:

“There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut (Idolatry) and believes in thy Lord has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And thy Lord is Hearing and Knowing.

According to her, the Qur'an addresses all mankind and the verse had made clear Islam's stance on freedom of choice, and she, however, added that she would go with the prevalent view that Muslims in Malaysia be bound by the Syariah.

It simply means here that there is no compulsion in choosing a faith. Islam is a Din (having faith in the path along which righteous Muslims should live complying with the divine law). It’s a way of life and for Muslims they are required to be strong in their faith (aqidah) when in submission to God.

A change of faith

There is of course absolute freedom of religion in Islam. But Nurul was quoted of saying that “there is no compulsion in ‘religion’”, whether for Muslims or non-Muslims. She has a point here. Islam is all about an individual’s own voluntary submission to Allah; there can be no coercion but guidance because faith cannot be forced upon anyone, even on those who are born Muslims.

They can only be guided to have stronger faith in the Din. That must be the purpose of having Islamic education at all levels in schools and madrasah – with the intention of gradually making Muslims strengthen their belief and faith in Islam (submission to God).

A Muslim cannot be coerced to accept another faith nor can a non-Muslim be forced to accept Islam. The Qur’an has made this point so clear. Only God truly discerns the pious from the impiety. Why all the unnecessary polemics on the semantics “force” and “freedom” then? It’s all politics in the name of faith or religion.

So where did Nurul go wrong?  She merely quoted the Qur’an. The Qur’an did not raptly mention “freedom of faith for Muslims” but “there is no compulsion in religion”. And for the Muslims the Qur’an is believed to be God’s final revelation.

A child born to a Muslim is “not literally ‘forced’ by the parents to accept Islam, but is nurtured and given the proper guidance  from the Qur’an (hidayah) to accept the faith as the way of life. Even after accepting the faith, in effect there is “no force” on the child to practise Islam as the way of life but again the child will be “gladly and consistently advised” to do so to strengthen his faith  – averting him from the wrong to the right path.

The child’s faith or belief in Islam thus is expected to be gradually nurtured not through coercion but through guidance for them to have a sturdier faith in the Din.

Nature of faith

On the nature of faith it is more than just a belief in the form of avowal in the heart or through vocal expressions, but has to be followed by submission – to serve oneself and mankind – in the way prescribed by God. The belief in Islam requires faith.  This is determined through one’s good deeds in accordance to what is coveted by God.

Going by this construal can any individual or politician who is “corrupt” and “not trustworthy” then be classified as a renegade or “silent” apostate since he does not submit to God’s prescribed decrees?

For this reason, the term apostasy (irtidad in Arabic) in Islam has a deeper meaning than just leaving a faith through mere overt verbal pronouncement that one has lost faith in the Din.  It is usually defined as “relapse or regress from one’s faith to become a non-believer of God’s complete edicts.

However, the Qur'an itself does not prescribe any earthly punishment such as killing for apostasy; Many Islamic scholars who base their knowledge on the Qur’an opine that there is no punishment at all as long as the renegade "do not work against the society or nation that submits to the will of God."

Some Islamic scholars, including Wael Hallaq, state that apostasy laws are not derived from the Qur'an. Several modern scholars oppose any penalty for apostasy, including Gamal Al-Banna, Taha Jabir Alalwani, Ahmad Kutty and Shabir Ally.

The Quran-Alone Muslims, citing verses from Qur'an which advocate “free will”, do not support the apostasy penalty as prescribed by some religious zealots, following some medieval practices, in some regressive Muslim countries.

Treacherous acts of the deserters

But how about these verses in the Qur’an?

Verse 3:72:  "A section of the People of the Book say:  Believe in the morning what is revealed to the believers but reject it at the end of the day; perchance (by chance) they may (themselves) turn back (from Islam)." This denotes the treacherous acts of the deserters who had so much hatred towards Islam – to enter Islam and desert it afterwards just as a ploy to destroy the faith of the Muslims.

Verse 2:191 "And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith."

This verse essentially is not dedicated to the “apostates” as some Muslims tend to interpret.  It mentions in general about slaying the pagans who declare wars on the Din.  The pagans would obviously include the “apostates” and the “hypocrites” who deserted Islam to take vengeance on the Din, but the verse certainly does not wantonly order the killing of anyone who deserts Islam.

The verses above actually refer to “traitors” who willingly wage war against the Din or peaceful existence of the ummah (people), the state and the Apostle, such as piecing together with the enemies who are at war against theDin.

This rule on treacherousness applies to all nations in the world as depicted in history. War and violence are not encouraged in Islam and yet Muslims and non-Muslims throughout history have engaged in wars to justify their lust for power, territory and superiority.  In some instances, however, war has become necessary for defensive reasons.

This must be part of the animalistic instinct that has its set found in the human psyche. But verse 16:126 of the Qur’an says: “If you have to retaliate, let your retaliation be commensurate with the wrong which was done to you; but if you endure with patience, the best reward indeed is for those who endure with patience.”

The Abrahamic faiths

So what is apostasy then? The tree major Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – by their medieval “interpretations” seem to have strict punishment (death) for apostasy. One must understand the tribal warring nature of the people in the medieval age that had led to this form of strict punishment being promulgated. It cannot be God’s diktat.

Prominent scholars have attributed this harsh punishment to at least three reasons: For them to maintain their tribal and religious status quo; warring tribes who wanted to dominate territories and the fear of them losing disciples and power, and the possibility of renegades (traitors) who would return to fight.  That is history, though.

As for the status quo of communities it may still be relevant until the present day. Losing people is akin to losing power in politics and supremacy.

For this reason, many Muslim scholars have mentioned that punishment for apostasy should be left to God in the hereafter. The Qur’an-Alone scholars have reproached capital punishment for apostasy and many modern scholars concur with this.

There is relevance in this decree as no human being can fathom what is in one’s mind when it comes to faith. Only God knows what is unfathomable and indefinite to human beings. Faith is a matter within one’s deep conscience – the discretion between an individual and God – and this cannot be defined with tangible bands and formulas.

The munafiq (hypocrite)

For this reason Islam also has the term munafiq (hypocrite) – opposed to those who truly have the iman (the believer) – to define a person who outwardly practices Islam while inwardly hides his disbelief (kufr). The corrupt in society for instance can be defined as the hypocrites who only pay lip service to faith.

Some scholars have even defined the corrupt in society as the silent apostates since they have relapsed or strayed from the right path as decreed by God and become a menace to society. But again only God knows best an individual’s true conviction or misdeeds in life when it comes to faith.

Politicians thus should stop resorting to misusing Islam to discredit their nemeses.

Nurul’s statement on the issue of “religious freedom” and her elucidation to the fact has been accepted by all and sundry accept those who tenaciously want to exploit the issue for political reasons. But it is surely backfiring on these political opportunists.

Compulsion is definitely not the answer when it comes to faith – nurturing and guidance are. Nurul to the rakyat did not say anything treacherous to the faith of Muslims. No Muslim is going to be swayed even if they had misunderstood her plainspoken statement. In fact, even in the Quran, verse 16:125 states:

"Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance."

In Islam an individual is free to choose between truth and falsehood and the Messenger’s function is to convey the message, epitomise it in his own life and to leave the rest to God – he is no supremo over individual to “compel” them to follow the prescribed Din.

Punishment for apostasy

Mahmud Shaltut, the late Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University argued that a worldly punishment for apostasy was not mentioned in the Qur'an and whenever it mentions apostasy it speaks about a punishment in the hereafter.

S. A. Rahman, of Pakistan, argues that there is no indication of the death penalty for apostasy in the Qur'an, and "that not only is there no punishment for apostasy provided in the Book but that the Word of God clearly envisages the natural death of the apostate.

A deserter will be punished only in the Hereafter.  He says that there is no reference to the death penalty in any of the 20 instances of apostasy mentioned in the Qur'an.

He wrote in his book “Punishment of Apostasy in Islam: “He [apostate] should, however, be free to profess and propagate the faith of his choice, so long as he keeps within the bounds of law and morality, and to enjoy all other rights as a peaceful citizen of the State, in common with his Muslim co-citizens.”

He also stated that “apostasy is an offence in the realm of the rights of God, rather than the rights of mankind, thus there would be no pressing necessity to punish a peaceful change of faith”.

Another Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, wrote:

“…all of the moral teachings of the Quran are based on the notion of moral responsibility, which entails the freedom of choice. Therefore, to state that one must be put to death for choosing to disbelieve would only undermine the entire moral edifice of the Quran.”

According to Muslim Islamic scholar Cyril Glassé, “death for apostasy was "not in practice enforced" in later times in the Muslim world, and was completely abolished by a decree of the Ottoman government in 1260AH/1844AD”.

The bigots are again losing the game

Nurul was right when she referred to the verse in the Qur’an that “there is no compulsion in religion”. But she also qualified her statement by stating that Muslims are subject to the prevailing syariah laws in the country.

Valuing the freedoms of thought and speech in a peaceable and civilised manner is encouraged in Islam and these virtues have blossomed in society of late.

Rudiments of Islam have drawn a lot of discussion and opened the minds of both Muslims and non-Muslims in an unprecedented and frank intellectual discourse – a sign of intellectual maturity in the country. This augurs well for multi-religious Malaysia.

The fact that some zealots are deliberately twisting and clutching onto this statement made by Nurul in a deleterious manner is akin to wafting the flames of religious sentiments. Thus is just another sign of their desperation to reap some political gains.

But in this case, these bigots are again losing the game because exploiting religion for political mileage does not go down well with the present Malays and Muslims.

Shines the moon among the lesser stars – Nurul is today the most popular woman politician in the country. She is only 31 years of age but is bright, futuristic and has all the potential in her to lead the nation one day.

Malaysia Chronicle