Poetry and Prejudice

eboo

hi iam from india

it is 50 years to the week that my parents wed hind u and muslim . the three of us children were raised in a pluralist home

my parents held inter-faith and pluralist initiatives in society too and contributed much
by example and involvement.
how appa would have loved to have heard of this in his time. amma, a doctor, will be delighted if i could take this work to where she lives and works.
is there a way that we can dialogue to bring this program to india?
oh yes my grandfather's name was ibrahim too*lol*

shama

If the thought of women being raped by warring thugs "nearly drove your father mad". Why are you silent about the atrocities in Darfur? These are Muslim women being defiled too.

"I am no fan of Islam (nor of any religion--sects and cults derived from all of them practice violence, gross injustice, and exclusion, always in the name of God), but these posts are entirely inappropriate to Mr. Patel's concerns."

Yeah, there are too many "don't talk about something without talking about everything!!!" idiots, whether they're all "don't talk about anything someone did wrong to a Muslim without talking about everything wrong any Muslim did!!!" or "don't talk about anything another nation did wrong without talking about everything America did wrong!!!" I wish they'd get a clue or two and stop being this idiotic.

mercy im easily distracted-
my point was that i have in the past shared a similar prejudice and bias towards the serbians-
(strangely enough, serbs always ask if im serbian)
i recognized myself and my own failings in mr patels own self critique.

and it was living amongst the people themselves that got me to jusdge them positively and recognize my own inner and ugly judgement-

i liked my first landlord so much , i actively looked for and found a second serb to rent from-
and we all cried when i had to move.
(i really came to love them)

peace amd thanks for another great post borther patel

ramadan mubarak

i saw this post with 0 responses for some time, and hesitated to post anything here because i knew it would quickly attract muslim bashers and mindless xenpohobic misunderstandings.

facing ones own prejudices (which is what mr patel was peaking to i believe) is a difficult thing to encounter in ourselves.

finding the humanity in the people who spark these knee herk emotional reactions is a beautiful way to address what is, after all, something every human is guilty of.

just because in america we are prejudiced currently towards muslims, doesnt mean that someone in another country shares our particular brand or target-

there is a quite large population of bosnian muslims displaced in chicago, as well as a more affluent, older and more stable serbian population (having been here longer)

i took in a homeless bosnian woman whose eye had been gouged out compeltely by the rifle of a serb in her homeland.

it marred an otherwise lovely face.
coincidentally, my landlord ( an unusually attentive one- in the building every day fixing and talking) was a christian serb.

the dialogues between the two did more for both of them than for me- but he was a singularly generous and caring individual.

ive lsitened to many many stories by bosnians about the war- which just happened 10-15 or so years ago, and is their reality and the memories are fresh.
mr patel always contributes to his own community, and this blog with his faithfulness (and importantly actions) as a muslim that encourages inclusion, plurality and tolerance.

If you wish to stick to the subject of poetry, the Koran is part poetry, read the wonderful section where the arabic god Allah threatens us with earthquakes, prejudiced and hateful poetry, but wonderfully powerful poetry the Koran. Yes, poets can be prejudiced even when the poet is Allah.

You must be new here. Mr. Patel started off when he firs began to write his columns by trying push Islam on us, how wonderful the "revelations" to Muhammad and and all that nonsense. he was challenged and he has stopped telling us how wonderful Islam is.

Then he switched to whining about the ill-treatment Muslims get in the USA.

I have asked him to answer questions about the apartheid practiced in Muslim countries and the apartheid is fully backed by the teachings of Muhammad who said "two deens should not exist in Muslim lands."

Deen =religion.

I believe that Charles Simic was referring to Simone Weil (not Simon), whose writings on the uses of violence are eloquent and prescient; see, especially, her essay "The Iliad: Poem of Force."
There are, of course, examples of poets who celebrate violence (war "heroes," revenge, imperialism, the "beauty" of destruction--see the works of, among others, Homer, Virgil, Pindar, Roy Campbell, Ezra Pound, and many more), so it is difficult to endorse Mr. Patel's admiration for "poets" in general; not all are Wilfred Owens or William Carlos Williams or, for that matter, Walt Whitmans. It is true, however,that poets seem able to recognize the ironies (usually self-destructive) of those who celebrate rape and murder. (But why are so few poets writing about the PresentResident and his murderous regime?)

It would appear that "Anonymous" and "Baines" are the same person, who seems to want to filibuster here with a rabid anti-Muslim set of posts that are, in fact, not responsive to the topic raised in Mr. Patel's column. I am no fan of Islam (nor of any religion--sects and cults derived from all of them practice violence, gross injustice, and exclusion, always in the name of God), but these posts are entirely inappropriate to Mr. Patel's concerns. If "Baines" (or whatever his name may be) wants to indulge in verbal carpet bombing or Muslims, he should find his own blog to do it.
Tom Dillingham

Muhammad married Aisha, the 6-year-old daughter of Abu Bakr. He consummated the marriage after Aisha got her first menstruation at age 8 (9 by the Islamic Calendar) when he was 52.

What do you think he could have done with all those child-slaves he captured in his raids?

Tabari VIII: 187 “The (sixty-two-year old) Messenger of Allah married Mulaykah. She was young (12) and beautiful. One of the Prophet’s wives came to her and said, ‘Are you not ashamed to marry a man who killed your father during the day he conquered Mecca?” She therefore took refuge from him” {fled}.

Sunaan Abu Dawud: Book 13, Number 2380: “The Prophet (pbuh) used to kiss her (Aisha) and suck her tongue when he was fasting.” This was his way of hydrating himself.

Sahih Bukhari: V3B31N149: Narrated 'Aisha: “The Prophet used to kiss and embrace (his wives) while he was fasting,…”

What more need be said of this peodophile sex-maniac messenger of Allah, who dishonored Allah’s Quranic fasting rule for sex.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocratic monarchy in which Islam is the official religion; the law requires that all Saudi citizens be Muslims. Religious freedom is virtually non-existent. The Government does not provide legal recognition or protection for freedom of religion, and it is severely restricted in practice. The public practice of non-Muslim religions is prohibited. As a matter of policy, the Government guarantees and protects the right to private worship for all, including non-Muslims who gather in homes for religious practice; however, this right is not always respected in practice and is not defined in law.[1] The Saudi Mutaween (Arabic: مطوعين), or Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (i.e., the religious police), enforces the prohibition on the public practice of non-Muslim religions. The Government claims to recognize the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; it does not always respect this right in practice.[2]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Religious demography
* 2 Status of religious freedom
* 3 Restrictions on religious freedom
* 4 Saudi practices as "religious apartheid"
* 5 2006 Freedom House Report
* 6 Forced religious conversion
* 7 Anti-Semitism
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 External links

[edit] Religious demography

The country’s total land area is 756,981 square miles (1,960,572 km² and before the recent land transfer to Yemen), and its population is approximately 24 million, of which an estimated 10 million are foreign workers. The foreign population includes approximately 2 million Yemenites, 1.5 million Indians, 1 million Bangladeshis, nearly 900,000 Pakistanis, 800,000 Egyptians, 800,000 Filipinos, 250,000 Palestinians, 150,000 Lebanese, 130,000 Sri Lankans, 40,000 Eritreans, and 36,000 Americans. Comprehensive statistics for the denominations of foreigners are not available, but they include Muslims from the various branches and schools of Islam, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews. For example, the Embassy of the Philippines reports that over 90 percent of the Filipino community is Christian.

A majority of Saudi citizens are Sunni Muslims. Within Sunni Islam, The strict interpretation of Islam taught by the Salafi or Wahhabi school is the only officially recognized religion.

A minority of citizens are Shia Muslims, also called Shiites. They form around 15% of the native population.[3] They live mostly in the eastern districts on the Persian Gulf (Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Dammam), where they constitute approximately three-quarters of the native population, and in western highlands of Arabia (districts of Jazan, Najran, Asir, Medina, Ta'if, and Hijaz). There is no information regarding foreign missionaries in the country. Proselytizing by non-Muslims is not permitted. [1] A Shiite student was even arrested for allegedly proselytizing other students in 2006. [1]

[edit] Status of religious freedom

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy and the Government has declared the Qur'an and the Sunnah (tradition) of Muhammad to be the country’s Constitution. Freedom of religion is severely limited. Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be Muslims.[1] The Government prohibits the private and public practice of other religions. The Government bases its legitimacy on governance according to the precepts of the rigorously conservative and strict interpretation of the Salafi or Wahhabi school of the Sunni branch of Islam and discriminates against other branches of Islam. Neither the Government nor society in general accepts the concepts of separation of religion and state, and such separation does not exist.

The legal system is based on Sharia (Islamic law), with Shari'a courts basing their judgments largely on a code derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The Government permits Shi'a Muslims to use their own legal tradition to adjudicate noncriminal cases within their community.

The only national holidays observed in Saudi Arabia are the two Eids, Eid Al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan and Eid Al-Adha at the conclusion of the Hajj. Observance of the Shi'a holiday of Ashura is allowed in the eastern city of Qatif and in the southern province of Najran, though not officially stated.[1]

[edit] Restrictions on religious freedom
"Non-Muslim Bypass:" Non-Muslims are barred from entering Mecca. An example of religious segregation according to critics.
"Non-Muslim Bypass:" Non-Muslims are barred from entering Mecca. An example of religious segregation according to critics.

Islamic practice generally is limited to that of a school of the Sunni branch of Islam as interpreted by Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, an 18th century Arab religious reformer. Outside Saudi Arabia, this branch of Islam is often referred to as "Wahhabi," a term the Saudis do not use. The teachings of the reformer Abd al Wahhab are more often referred to by adherents as "Salafi" or "Muwahhidun," that is, following the earliest generations of Muslims (Salafi), or believers in the divine unity (Muwahhidun).

Practices contrary to this interpretation, such as celebration of Muhammad's birthday and visits to the tombs of renowned Muslims, are discouraged. The spreading of Muslim teachings not in conformance with the officially accepted interpretation of Islam is prohibited. Writers and other individuals who publicly criticize this interpretation, including both those who advocate a stricter interpretation and those who favor a more moderate interpretation than the Government's, reportedly have been imprisoned and faced other reprisals.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs supervises and finances the construction and maintenance of almost all mosques in the country, although over 30 percent of all mosques in Saudi Arabia are built and endowed by private persons. The Ministry pays the salaries of imams (prayer leaders) and others who work in the mosques. A governmental committee defines the qualifications of imams. The Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice (commonly called "religious police" or Mutawwa'in) is a government entity, and its chairman has ministerial status. The Committee sends out armed and unarmed people into the public to ensure that Saudi citizens and expatriates living in the kingdom follow the Islamic mores, at least in public.

Foreign imams are barred from leading worship during the most heavily attended prayer times and prohibited from delivering sermons during Friday congregational prayers. The Government states that its actions are part of its "Saudiization" plan to replace foreign workers with citizens.

Under Saudi law conversion by a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant.

Saudi Arabia prohibits public non-Muslim religious activities. Non-Muslim worshipers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation, and sometimes torture for engaging in overt religious activity that attracts official attention.

The Government has stated publicly, including before the U.N. Committee on Human Rights in Geneva, that its policy is to protect the right of non-Muslims to worship privately. However, non-Muslim organizations have claimed that there are no explicit guidelines for distinguishing between public and private worship, such as the number of persons permitted to attend and the types of locations that are acceptable. Such lack of clarity, as well as instances of arbitrary enforcement by the authorities, obliges most non-Muslims to worship in such a manner as to avoid discovery. Those detained for non-Muslim worship almost always are deported by authorities after sometimes lengthy periods of arrest during investigation. In some cases, they also are sentenced to receive lashes prior to deportation.

The Government does not permit non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for the purpose of conducting religious services, although some come under other auspices and perform religious functions in secret. Such restrictions make it very difficult for most non-Muslims to maintain contact with clergymen and attend services. Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who require a priest on a regular basis to receive the sacraments required by their faith, particularly are affected.

Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non-Muslim religious materials such as Bibles, is illegal. Muslims or non-Muslims wearing religious symbols of any kind in public risk confrontation with the Mutawwa'in. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, approximately 50 so-called "Call and Guidance" centers employing approximately 500 persons work to convert foreigners to Islam. Some non-Muslim foreigners convert to Islam during their stay in the country. According to official reports, 942 foreign workers converted to Islam in the past year. The press often carries articles about such conversions, including testimonials. The press as well as government officials publicized the conversion of the Italian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in late 2001.

The Government requires noncitizen residents to carry a Saudi residence permit (Iqama) for identification in place of their passports.[4] Among other information, these contain a religious designation for "Muslim" or "non-Muslim."

Members of the Shi’a minority are the subjects of officially sanctioned political and economic discrimination. The authorities permit the celebration of the Shi’a holiday of Ashura in the eastern province city of Qatif, provided that the celebrants do not undertake large, public marches or engage in self-flagellation (a traditional Shi’a practice). The celebrations are monitored by the police. In 2002 observance of Ashura took place without incident in Qatif. No other Ashura celebrations are permitted in the country, and many Shi’a travel to Qatif or to Bahrain to participate in Ashura celebrations. The Government continued to enforce other restrictions on the Shi’a community, such as banning Shi’a books.

Shi’a have declined government offers to build state-supported mosques because they fear the Government would prohibit the incorporation and display of Shi’a motifs in any such mosques. The Government seldom permits private construction of Shi’a mosques. In March 2001, religious police reportedly closed a Shi’a mosque in Hofuf because it had been built without government permission.

Members of the Shi’a minority are discriminated against in government employment, especially with respect to positions that relate to national security, such as in the military or in the Ministry of the Interior. The Government restricts employment of Shi’a in the oil and petrochemical industries. The Government also discriminates against Shi’a in higher education through unofficial restrictions on the number of Shi’a admitted to universities.

Under the provisions of Shari’a law as practiced in the country, judges may discount the testimony of people who are not practicing Muslims or who do not adhere to the official interpretation of Islam. Legal sources report that testimony by Shi’a is often ignored in courts of law or is deemed to have less weight than testimony by Sunnis. For example, in May 2001, a judge in the eastern province ruled that the testimony of two Shi'a witnesses to an automobile accident was inadmissible.[citation needed] Sentencing under the legal system is not uniform. Laws and regulations state that defendants should be treated equally; however, under Shari’a as interpreted and applied in the country, crimes against Muslims may result in harsher penalties than those against non-Muslims. Observers believe that the new Criminal Procedure Law, passed in late 2001 and became effective on May 1, 2002, should give fairer treatment to all defendants.

Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to search for contraband, including non-Muslim materials, such as Bibles and religious videotapes. Such materials are subject to confiscation, although rules appear to be applied arbitrarily.

Islamic religious education is mandatory in public schools at all levels. All public school children receive religious instruction that conforms with the official version of Islam. Non-Muslim students in private schools are not required to study Islam. No private religious schools are permitted for non-Muslims.[1] In the westernized schools operated for Saudi Aramco employees the Islamic education is often a semi-annual introductory course, sometimes taught in conjunction with a brief historical outline of Christianity and Judaism.[citation needed]

Saudi religious police recently detained Shiite pilgrims participating in the Haj, allegedly calling them "infidels in Mecca"[5]

[edit] Saudi practices as "religious apartheid"

Saudi Arabia's treatment of religious minorities has also been described by both Saudis and non-Saudis as "apartheid" and "religious apartheid".[6]

Testifying before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on June 4, 2002, in a briefing entitled "Human Rights in Saudi Arabia: The Role of Women", Ali Al-Ahmed, Director of the Saudi Institute, stated:

Saudi Arabia is a glaring example of religious apartheid. The religious institutions from government clerics to judges, to religious curricula, and all religious instructions in media are restricted to the Wahhabi understanding of Islam, adhered to by less than 40% of the population. The Saudi government communized Islam, through its monopoly of both religious thoughts and practice. Wahhabi Islam is imposed and enforced on all Saudis regardless of their religious orientations. The Wahhabi sect does not tolerate other religious or ideological beliefs, Muslim or not. Religious symbols by Muslims, Christians, Jewish and other believers are all banned. The Saudi embassy in Washington is a living example of religious apartheid. In its 50 years, there has not been a single non-Sunni Muslim diplomat in the embassy. The branch of Imam Mohamed Bin Saud University in Fairfax, Virginia instructs its students that Shia Islam is a Jewish conspiracy. [7]

Amir Taheri quotes a Shi'ite businessman from Dhahran as saying "It is not normal that there are no Shi'ite army officers, ministers, governors, mayors and ambassadors in this kingdom. This form of religious apartheid is as intolerable as was apartheid based on race." [8]

Saudi religious police recently detained Shiite pilgrims participating in the Haj, allegedly calling them "infidels in Mecca".[5]

Until March 1, 2004, the official government website stated that Jews were forbidden from entering the country.[9]

According to Alan Dershowitz, "in Saudi Arabia apartheid is practiced against non-Muslims, with signs indicating that Muslims must go to certain areas and non-Muslims to others." [10] On December 14, 2005, Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democrat Representative Shelley Berkley introduced a bill in Congress urging American divestiture from Saudi Arabia, and giving as its rationale (among other things) "Saudi Arabia is a country that practices religious apartheid and continuously subjugates its citizenry, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to a specific interpretation of Islam." [11] Freedom House showed on its website, on a page tiled "Religious apartheid in Saudi Arabia", a picture of a sign showing Muslim-only and non-Muslim roads.[12]

According Saudi policy for tourists, it is not permissible to bring Christian or Jewish religious symbols and books into the kingdom and they are subject to confiscation[13]

[edit] 2006 Freedom House Report

According to Freedom House's 2006 report,[14]

The Saudi Ministry of Education Islamic studies textbooks ... continue to promote an ideology of hatred that teaches bigotry and deplores tolerance. These texts continue to instruct students to hold a dualistic worldview in which there exist two incompatible realms – one consisting of true believers in Islam ... and the other the unbelievers – realms that can never coexist in peace. Students are being taught that Christians and Jews and other Muslims are "enemies" of the true believer... The textbooks condemn and denigrate Shiite and Sufi Muslims' beliefs and practices as heretical and call them "polytheists", command Muslims to hate Christians, Jews, polytheists and other "unbelievers", and teach that the Crusades never ended, and identify Western social service providers, media outlets, centers for academic studies, and campaigns for women's rights as part of the modern phase of the Crusades.

[edit] Forced religious conversion

Under the law, children of Saudi fathers are considered Muslim, regardless of the county or the religious tradition in which they may have been raised. In some cases, children raised in other countries and in other religious traditions who came to Saudi Arabia or who were taken by their Saudi fathers to Saudi Arabia reportedly were coerced to conform to Islamic norms and practices; forcible conversion is prohibited. During 2006, there were no reports of the forced religious conversion of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States.[1]

On 3 September 1992 Sadiq 'Abdul-Karim Malallah was publicly beheaded in al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province after being convicted of apostasy and blasphemy. Sadiq Malallah, a Shi'a Muslim from Saudi Arabia, was arrested in April 1988 and charged with throwing stones at a police patrol. He was reportedly held in solitary confinement for long periods during his first months in detention and tortured prior to his first appearance before a judge in July 1988. The judge reportedly asked him to convert from Shi'a Islam to Sunni Wahhabi Islam, and allegedly promised him a lighter sentence if he complied. After he refused to do so, he was taken to al-Mabahith al-'Amma (General Intelligence) Prison in Dammam where he was held until April 1990. He was then transferred to al-Mabahith al-'Amma Prison in Riyadh, where he remained until the date of his execution. Sadiq Malallah is believed to have been involved in efforts to secure improved rights for Saudi Arabia's Shi'a Muslim minority.

ISLAM - EGYPT
Hegazi case: Islam’s obsession with conversions
by Samir Khalil Samir, sj
The case of Mohammad Hegazi, young Egyptian converted to Christianity, who wishes to be legally recognized as such, has opened a new debate in the Islamic world on conversions, which are often seen as acts of apostasy that merit death. What has emerged is a veritable obsession in Islam for personal conversions, this religion having been reduced more to an ethnic and sociological submission. There is even talk of a plan to convert Europe and the world to Islam, to which European governments are giving a hand. The first part in an analysis by Fr Samir Khalil Samir, Egyptian Jesuit, expert on Islam.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - The case has received a lot of public attention: a young Egyptian, Mohammad Ahmad Hegazi, age 25, converted to Christianity some years ago (some say 9, others 6 years ago; according to the Islamic version, it was just a few months ago!). He then married a woman named Zeinab, who also became Christian, taking the name Cristina. In recent months, he asked that his documents show his new religious affiliation. In Egypt, identity cards must indicate the holder’s religion and, so far, Hegazi’s is officially Islam. This means that he is considered to be Muslim for various legal questions pertaining to inheritance rights, family law etc.

His request was effectively been turned down by administrative authorities, who did not see his request through. So, Hegazi went to the government direct.Why did he ask for this change to be made only now, years after his conversion? Perhaps because the couple is expecting a baby. And if they are registered as Muslims, the child will have to be as well, regardless of the parents’ wishes.

When administrative authorities balked at his request, Hegazi went to the courts to claim his rights, with the help of a lawyer from an NGO.The case is extremely important, more than it may appear, also because it has been reported by media around the world and now the press in Egypt is also discussing it.Initially, reactions came from imams, then from the general public. The vast majority is saying that Mohammad Hegazi must be killed as an apostate. Only a small part dares to quote the Koran – which states that “there is no compulsion in religion” – and states its support for his freedom.

Identity cards

The liberal world in Egypt has for decades been asking that religion be removed from official documents. The specification of religious affiliation serves only to allow discrimination – of non Muslims, that is.I myself have experienced such discrimination many times and must say that, despite the promises of many politicians, religion is still indicated on identity cards. There are for example Catholic seminarians who, according to their identity card, are “Muslim.” Almost by default, newborns are registered as Muslim in public records. If one wants the registration changed, he is told that “it’s complicated” and that “there are advantages to being Muslim.”All this is not a just a bureaucratic problem.

There is the desire, on the part of certain administrative offices, to use their position to “Islamize” Christians, or simply an aversion to making such a change. This aversion is not due however to the inefficiency of Egyptian bureaucracy. The proof is that, going the other way, there is never any difficulty in changing the identity card of a Christian who wants to become Muslim: this gets done right away! This is therefore a lobby and a tendency in the public administration to Islamize people, starting with their official documents. Something similar happens even in Turkey – the secular Turkey! – where it takes years to change one’s name to a Christian name, as a confrère tells me.

It’s a general phenomenon, aimed at Islamizing the greatest number of Christians possible (there are at least 7 million of them in Egypt. The documents of a family related to me, third generation Christians, still say they are “Muslim.” The children, who go to mass every Sunday, are registered as “Muslims.” This makes it difficult for them to marry Christians, and often in cases like this, people are forced to flee the country in order to be married in a Christian church.The problem is that this situation is upheld by the law.

Under Egyptian law, children “belong to the better religion”, i.e. Islam. That this is stated in a body of law explains the discrimination in question. For example, a Muslim woman does not have the right to marry a Christian man: since children belong to the father, their children would be “Christian.” Legislation as a whole is designed to Islamize.The consequences are felt also felt outside the Muslim world. In Italy, last year, there was the case of a Tunisian woman who wanted to marry an Italian man, a baptized Catholic but non-practicing. Italian laws required the woman to present a document from her country of origin showing that she is free to marry, which she sought from the Tunisian embassy. In reply, the Tunisian consulate asked for a document that shows that her fiancé is “Muslim”! And to think that Tunisia is one of the few “moderate” and highly secularized Muslim countries! Still today, the couple has not been able to marry due to the Tunisian consulates refusal to give the woman a document stating that she is free to marry.

A great debate has been underway in Egypt in past months over the case of 12 Christians: they formally converted to Islam to be able to divorce, obtaining a new identity card that shows their new religion right away. Immediately after, they declared themselves to be Christian again and asked to have their old i.d. card returned. It seems that the matter will take a positive turn for them and should be resolved favourably this September. As we can see, the “identity card” question has great political importance, and this explains the intensity of the debate underway in the Islamic world. It is in fact a step that should bring the state to a certain neutrality vis-à-vis religions.

The conversion obsession

The Islamic world is truly obsessed with conversions. At least 7 Islamic countries apply the death penalty to those who convert from Islam: Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Mauritania. But in other states, like Egypt, converts are condemned to prison, not as apostates but for contempt of Islam, as Hossam Bahgat, a member of the Egyptian Initiative for personal rights, explains.

According to government daily Al-Massa’, all imams are unanimous on the need to kill the apostate Hegazi. They say that sharia (not the Koran) must be enforced and it calls for the death penalty.The more moderate say: if the apostate hides his conversion, does not broadcast his decision, then it is not necessary to kill him; he can live. If he lets it be known, then he causes scandal (fitna) and must die.

I happened to be looking through the web-site of the “Forum of Arab Aviation.” This case – Hegazi’s conversion -- is the sole topic of the site’s “Islamic” section. There are 8 reactions registered on the page and they all say that he must be killed. Some are subtle, saying for example: “The government must take the harshest decision to eliminate this problem,” but all the others quote the Koran: “Fitna is worse than killing” (2,191 and 2,217); others say that “Islam is the better religion”; others still “Kill him to avoid fitna” (8,39); others: “He who wants a religion other than Islam, his worship will not be accepted and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers” (3,85). No one quotes the Koranic phrase that affirms freedom of conscience, the one quoted by the Pope at Regensburg last September 12: “there is no compulsion in religion (2, 186); nor the other that says: “Truth comes from your Lord. Let him who will believe and let him who will not believe” (18,29).This was the case in dozens upon dozens of comments in numerous Islamic web-sites in the last week alone.Generally, for every 10 people who call for his death, there is just one who said: "I think that Hegazi should be free to choose."Others say that, yes, the Koran has the verse that says "there is no compulsion...", but it has been cancelled (nusikha) by the famous "sword verse" (âyat al-sayf) that would have cancelled dozens of verses, which however no one can identify: if that would be verse 5 of chapter 9 (known as the "penitence" verse, al-tawbah), or verse 29, or 36, or else 41: all these speak of killing the other, and are often applied to apostates. (1)

Death at the apostate

In any case, 3 famous imam have pronounced themselves against Hegazi. The first is Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a big expert in his field, who cites dozens of references from the first centuries and concludes that Hegazi has to be killed because the group is in danger and the group takes priority over the individual. The idea is: if this person begins to speak and says that he is happy to be Christian, and smilingly appears in photos with a Gospel in his hands, this is intolerable and is non-Muslim propaganda, which is officially allowed neither in Egypt, nor in other Islamic countries. And since Hegazi is spreading Christian propaganda, he must be killed.

Suad Saleh, Muslim judge and dean of the Faculty of Islamic Science at Al-Azhar University, has stated: yes, in matters of faith there is no compulsion, but Hegazi is spreading propaganda and thus the law must be applied. The judge advises that the apostate be given 3 days to repent and reconvert to Islam (istitâbah), then "apply the law" (i.e. execution).

The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr Ali Gomaa, Egypt's highest religious authority, stated to the Washington Post last June that apostasy "should not" be punished by death, eliciting numerous reactions from Al-Azhar. After many people expressed their approval for a death sentence, he retracted in a confused matter and his stance is still today unclear. On the surface, he wanted to reassure the West by using ambiguous wording, like the one that goes: "Apostasy is to be punished when it represents fitna or when it threatens the foundations of society."

Instead, as we have said, there is no punishment in this world for the apostate according to the Koran. But the imams rely on one of the Prophet's hadith of Islam handed down by Ibn 'Abbas: "Kill the one who changes religion." And they rely on the fact that Mohammad applied this punishment to Abdallah Ibn al-Azhal who, to avoid being killed, had sought protection in the Kaaba shrine, but Mohammad ordered his companions to kill him.

To all this must be added the reaction of Hegazi's and his wife’s parents. Questioned by Islamic judges, his father denied that his son converted to Christianity. His mother began screaming hysterically: "My son is dead, there will be no relation between us until the judgement day!" Ali Kamel Suleiman, the father of Zeinab, Hegazi’s wife, was more explicit. He declared to the independent daily al-Dustûr: "Bring me my daughter in whatever way possible, even dead." In our Egyptian mentality, this means: kill her, or bring her to me alive and I will kill her.

Because of the parents' behaviour, Mamduh Nakhla, a Copt, director of the "Al-Kalima" Centre for Human Rights, who had submitted to the administrative courts a request for the recognition of Hegazi's conversion to Christianity, then withdrew it for 2 reasons: "to not break Hegazi's ties with his family" and due to the "lack of a certificate of [Hegazi's] conversion to the Copt Church." This was confirmed by Father Morcos, a bishop close to the Patriarch Shenouda, who stated, "The Church does not proselytize." In all such matters of conversion, the Copt Church is usually very prudent, because it must take account of the "common good," so as to not compromise other negotiations with the government. Rumani Gad el-Rabb, another executive of the Al-Kalima Centre, instead told AFP that the group withdrew the request after having receiving threats.

[1] Instead according to scholars this reading is not exact. To be precise: there is a principle in Koranic exegesis by which a verse can be cancelled (Cf. Koran 2, 106). But to know which verses are cancelled, it must be clear in the Koran, or there must be unanimity in the community of origins. In any case, scholars says that in this specific case there is by no means unanimity. According to the greatest of medieval scholars, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505), only Koranic verse 21 responds to this criteria (cf. his book Mu‘tarak al-Aqrân, p. 118).

Eboo Patel

Could you elaborate about the rape of child named Aisha by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, Apostle of Allah? I am sure you chant Muhammad's name in prayer " La Illah Allah, Muhammadan Rasulallah".

Muhammad married six year old Aisha and had sex with her when she turned nine. He was 56 when he took the child to bed.

Is it not a shame that over 1 billion Muslims honor this rapist as their Prophet?

Mr. Patel

Please do not avoid my question. You rant and rave about Muslims being oppressed in the US. yet when asked you evade the question about Islamic apartheid practiced in Saudi Arabia.

In Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims may not enter Mecca and Medina. Wearing across is a crime. Non-Muslim places of worship may not be built in Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim countries.

The least you could do is to urge Muslims to boycott the hajj until the apartheid is ended. The money saved, about $ 10 Billion could be used to educate poor Muslim children.

Come on , Mr. Patel, do not waste this space on inane issues.

Poetry, like prayer, elevates language. Politics, like prejudice, lowers rhetoric to its lowest purpose, to divide us. America pays little attention to its poets while its athletes and political idiots are elevated to near worship. For this blindness, for this deafness, we must all suffer.