Do you have licence from God to lord over us, Nash?

“And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet” – The Book of Exodus, Chapter 7, verse 1, The Holy Bible.

Now, you can read this verse in many ways.

Literally, too, if you wished, and no one could fault you if you imagined Moses walking up to Pharaoh and saying, “I am your Lord. Do as I bid you do”.

I had wanted to stay away from this whole apostasy controversy sparked off by Nurul’s statements at a recent forum as we have bigger and more important battles to fight, but Malaysiakini’s report today really pissed me off.

This UMNO wolf in PAS sheepskin contends that what Nurul said about there being ‘ “no compulsion in religion” was tantamount to giving religious freedom to Malay Muslims as the verse which she quoted can only be applied to non-Muslims’.

The verse can only be applied to non-Muslims?

Let’s look at the verse again.

“There shall be no compulsion in religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in idols and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And God is Hearing and Knowing” – Chapter 2 verse 256, Holy Qur’an.

Now. like the verse in Exodus, you can read this in many ways, too, but if you’re not going to do a literal read, Nash, and read into it something that’s not there, you, oh scholarly one, ought to be mindful of this verse.

“So woe to those who write with their own hands, then say, “This is from God ,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn” – Chapter 2 verse 79, Holy Qur’an.

Whilst we’re on the scriptures, oh scholarly one, since you say Muslims have no choice, pray tell us, who was God addressing in the following verses, marked in red?

“And whoever desires other than Islam as religion, never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers. How shall God guide a people who disbelieved after their belief and had witnessed that the Messenger is true and clear signs had come to them? And God does not guide the wrongdoing people. For those, their recompense will be that upon them is the curse of God and the angels and the people, all together, abiding eternally therein. The punishment will not be lightened for them, nor will they be reprieved. Except for those who repent after that and correct themselves. For indeed, God is Forgiving and Merciful. Indeed, those who reject the message after their belief and then increase in disbelief – never will their feigned repentance be accepted, and they are the ones astray” – Chapter 3, verses 85 to 90, Holy Qur’an.

Who, oh scholarly one, is God addressing in the words marked in red?

Seems to me that God was addressing those who had believed and bore witness to the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and then were now professing unbelief.

No?

And seems to me God was saying He would take back those who sincerely repented but not the others.

And that means they had a choice, no?

Oh, scholarly one?

Now, oh scholarly one, you don’t have to answer this if you can produce a licence such as was given to Moses way back in the days of Exodus, in which event I’ll give you a Hi-5, prostrate before you and do a 2 : 131. ( For the non-scholars like me, the Qur’an narrates that God asked Abraham if the latter would submit to the former. In Chapter 2, verse 131 [ hence 2:131], Abraham is said to have replied : “I submit to the Lord of the Worlds” ).

If you cant produce that licence, and refuse to say who is referred to in the words marked out in red above, I am commanded by God in Chapter 6 verse 148, Holy Qur’an to say to you :

“Do you have any knowledge that you can produce for us? You follow not except assumption, and you are not but falsifying”.