Islam, Saudi and apostasy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Islam, Saudi and apostasy - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Just when we thought the term "terrorism" could not become more meaningless or manipulated, Saudi Arabia's government seems to have proved us wrong by recently adding atheism under the charge. Based on polls
revealing that self-identified atheists constitute 5 percent of Saudi
population, this makes for a staggering number of terrorists in the
kingdom, most of whom maintain external religious observance in society
while using online anonymity to express their true beliefs.
However, this matter is not so straightforward. Nesrine Malik highlights
in a recent article an often-ignored distinction between the private,
and public, more political forms of atheism. Indeed, as Malik points
out, in an ultraconservative country like Saudi Arabia where religion,
tribe, family and politics, are interlinked and of utmost importance, to
take an antagonistic stance against Islam necessarily entails an
antagonistic stance against the fabric of society.
It is a commonly held belief that Islamic
law dictates the death penalty as an absolute punishment for apostasy.
However, this reading of the Islamic Tradition relies on restricting the
role of the Prophet Muhammad to that of a religious figure issuing
timeless decrees. Such a restriction of the Prophet's role will
undoubtedly give rise to numerous paradoxes, as it will decontextualise
all his statements and actions in a way that not only makes Islam
incoherent as a religion, but also incompatible with certain societal
developments.
According to polls, 5 percent of Saudis identify as atheists [AFP]
