Indonesia Scholars Stress Religious Freedom Amid Apostasy Cases
Source: Ucan, 19 February 2008
JAKARTA (UCAN)—Muslim and Christian scholars here have discussed apostasy, particularly within the Muslim community, and agreed that religious freedom as guaranteed by the country’s constitution must be respected.
Luthfi Assyaukanie, a Muslim scholar, said at a Jan. 29 discussion that apostasy was mushrooming among local Muslims. He pointed out that many Muslims have joined the Ahmadiyah and Al-Qiyadah Al-Islamiyah sects.
Assyaukanie was among several Muslim and Christian speakers at the discussion organized monthly by Liberal Islam Network (JIL, Indonesian acronym) at its headquarters in Jakarta. About 70 people, mostly Muslims, attended the Apostasy from the Perspective of Religions discussion.
Assyaukanie, a JIL member, also pointed out that Islamic clerics have condemned Muslims who express controversial views. “We still remember the fatwa (religious edicts) against our colleague Ulil,” Assyaukanie said.
He was referring to the 2003 death fatwa issued by a group of Indonesian Islamic clerics against Ulil Abshar Abdalla for an article he wrote the previous year in the Jakarta-based Kompas daily. Some clerics considered the article, Rejuvenating Islamic Understanding, heretical.
Abdalla, a JIL coordinator, had also defended the rights of Ahmadis and opposed many fatwa issued by the Indonesian Ulama (Islamic scholars) Council, such as one forbidding Muslims from giving Christmas greetings to Christians.
Islam Defenders’ Front, Indonesian Mujahidin Council and some other Muslim organizations have targeted Ahmadiyah and Al-Qiyadah Al-Islamiyah.
Ahmadiyah was founded in the Punjab region, now divided between India and Pakistan, in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the mahdi, a figure expected by some Muslims at the end of the world. Followers in Indonesia number up to 200,000.
Al-Qiyadah Al-Islamiyah, with about 40,000 followers, was formed in 2000 by Ahmad Moshaddeq, an Indonesian who claimed to be a prophet.
Assyaukanie said a person can be classified as an apostate if he or she engages in any of four acts: rejection of God’s divinity; rejection of Muhammad’s prophethood; rejection of any part of the Qur’an, or addition or omission of a verse in the Qur’an during Islamic teaching; and contempt of ulama or the ulama institution. But he noted that some ulama consider giving greetings on nawruz (the Iranian and Bahai New Year) or Christmas as acts of apostasy, Assyaukanie said.
He added that ulama have stipulated three conditions for an “apostate” to be punished: that the offender is an adult, is sane and committed the offence freely. Punishments include death, imprisonment or lashing.
A trial for apostasy should be carried out by a state Islamic court, and not by any individual or private institution, Assyaukanie said. “But some ulama maintain that the trial can be done by anybody.”
“It seems some Muslims in Indonesia display anarchic behavior against people considered as apostates. Ahmadiyah followers have often faced violence or even death on the pretext that the state failed to take legal action,” he noted.
Assyaukanie asserted that the Qur’anic verse, “Let there be no compulsion in religion,” promotes religious freedom.
Nowadays, he continued, more and more Islamic countries have adopted laws that uphold freedom and human rights. “People have become more convinced that sanctions for apostasy are against religious freedom, which is upheld by almost all state constitutions in the world.”
Father Deshi Ramadhani, lecturer of biblical studies at Driyarkara School of Philosophy, told the forum: “Formerly the Catholic Church maintained the principle of ‘no salvation outside the Church.’ This has been abandoned.”
The priest, who has Muslim-Catholic parentage, explained that this change happened when Christians realized salvation is open to all, “because God is merciful.”
Reverend Albertus Patty of Christian Church of Indonesia said that in medieval times, Christian apostates were killed.
He also noted that Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Ministry “has recorded 323 Church synods (denominations),” but a survey indicates “more than 400 synods are not registered yet.” Despite differences among Christian denominations, he added, one unquestionable belief in all Christian Churches is the divinity of Jesus.
JIL coordinator Moqsith Ghazali, moderator of the discussion, noted that differences among religions regarding apostasy are subjective. He invited the audience to refer to something objective in Indonesia’s heritage, the national constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.
19 February 2008, 00:04