Saturday 21 November 2009

Maldives To Ban Public Practice of Non-Muslim Religions

Mohamed Nasheed, the President of the Maldives, said yesterday that he would seek advice from Muslim scholars on Islam’s position on allowing non-Muslims to worship in an Islamic community.

In his radio weekly address, the president said the constitution was "very clear" that laws contrary to Islam could not be made or enacted.

"It has become very important for me to find out what Islamic sharia says about not allowing foreigners who want to worship other religions in the Maldives," he said. "When this bill comes from the People's Majlis for the president to ratify, the question before me will be what is the ruling in Islamic sharia on people of other religions living in an Islamic community to worship?"

The president said he needed an answer to the question before ratifying the bill. "When I know, it will be easier for me to make a decision on ratify the bill before it becomes law," he said.

And what is the Islamic position on this issue? The fourteenth-century Islamic legal manual Reliance of the Traveller says the following about non-Muslim communities living under Islamic rule: "...non-Muslim subjects are obliged to comply with Islamic rules that pertain to the safety and indemnity of life, reputation, and property. In addition, they...are forbidden to...ring church bells or display crosses, recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals and feastdays; and are forbidden to build new churches."

Reliance of the Traveller is not just a medieval document. In 1991, it was endorsed by Cairo's Al-Azhar University as conforming "to the practise and faith of the orthodox Sunni community". Al-Azhar, the oldest and most prestiguous educational institution in the Islamic world, is the closest equivalent in Sunni Islam to the Vatican.

Thus, it is mainstream, orthodox Islamic law (not "radical Islam", "Islamism", or "a strict interpretation of Islamic law") which mandates that non-Muslim minorities must be denied equality of rights with Muslims when it comes to religious observance, amongst other things. President Nasheed will probably be told this by his scholars. And so the the return of dhimmitude - the world's greatest, and yet most ignored, human rights outrage - will continue apace.

4 comments:

  1. lol I can't believe you're still churning out this crap. lolz

    ReplyDelete
  2. Typical. Persistent apologist comes here after a while away, personally attacks me, and completely ignores the massive human rights abuses occurring in the name of Islam.

    For someone who's so sure that I'm taking crap, you sure are taking a while when it comes to refuting any of it. I have the time; when you're ready...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh you have the time alright, that much is clear! lol

    I seem to remember handing your arse to you in the past. Will be only too happy to do it again!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "I seem to remember handing your arse to you in the past. Will be only too happy to do it again!!"

    Really? Now that I definitely DON'T remember. The only remotely intelligent exchange I remember us having here was a debate on the Arab-Israeli conflict, in which - far from "handing me my arse" - you displayed ignorance of international law regarding what constitutes an "illegal occupation", and peddled half-truths and lies about the Gaza conflict.

    But I'm happy to start again. How about this thread? Can you present any evidence that Islam DOES NOT in fact prescribe unequal treatment for non-Muslims under Islamic rule, including a complete ban on the public practise of non-Muslim religions?

    ReplyDelete