NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has
just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the
condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her
husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison
has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has
been shackled since being imprisoned.’[1] Mariam
also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her.
The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for
which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100
lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband.
Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese
sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say
can do as they please in these matters.
 |
| Mariam Ibrahim and her husband. |
Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and
in 12 of those countries it is punishable by death. Pakistan doesn’t have a
death sentence for apostasy but it does for blasphemy, and the threshold for
‘blasphemy’ can very low; so in effect you can be put to death for expressing
atheist beliefs in 13 countries. Pakistani’s blasphemy laws are regularly used
to intimidate and persecute religious minorities. (Being cleared incidentally
often means being released into the hands of the mob, who, having already
decided their verdict murder the acquitted with impunity).[2] Saudi
Arabian law equates atheism with terrorism.
I have searched for condemnation of Mariam’s sentence on a
variety of Muslim websites in the UK, including the Muslim Council of Britain,
always quick to comment on any real or perceived slights to Islamic sensibilities,
but could find none. The OIC, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the
57-member Islamic bloc whose Saudi-based secretariat regularly issues
statements on matters of concern relating to the Muslim world, has been silent
on the case so far.
 |
| Nesrine Malik |
When reflecting on these matters I thought of two rather
curious comment piece by the Guardian contributor Nesrine Malik.[3] It is
difficult to know what to make of these, in essence extraordinarily trivial apologias;
they ought to be headlined, in praise of hypocrisy.
The idea, she argues, that the death penalty is ‘gratuitously* and frequently applied to
those who renounce Islam or harbour thoughts of apostasy’ is a
misrepresentation of reality by ill-informed western liberals, like A C
Grayling. The reality being that she knows a lot of people living in Muslim
countries who no longer believe, and life is fine for them, they face no
particular pressure so long as they keep quiet and ‘go through the motions of
religious observance, they have not come into any physical danger.’ She boldly declares that:-
‘Despite the
prominence of the image of a hunted apostate supported by western atheists and vilified
by Islamic institutions, there are atheists of Muslim heritage who would not
necessarily identify with this stereotype. I would make the distinction between
individual atheism as a matter of belief, and the position of publicly
declaring oneself atheist – or, more potently, "ex-Muslim". The
former is a personal position, the latter a political one that seeks to
challenge authority.’
Her case boils down to the explanation that it is OK to be
an atheist in a Muslim Country, (though not of course to be a convert to
Christianity), as long as you keep your mouth shut and ‘go through the motions.’ So that’s all right then.
Malik’s real beef is with those who declare themselves ex-Muslims
and openly attack their former religion for its intolerance and misogyny. In
particular noting that ‘…It is easy to
appear churlish[4]
or insensitive when disputing the assertions of people who claim their lives
are in danger but we must also consider the possibility that some will annex
the emotive power of "death for apostasy" to serve their own ends, be
they personal or political.’ She goes on to paint a picture of sunshine and
tolerance.
‘Despite the death penalty
for apostasy in Islamic law – a sentence only ever likely to be brought into
play, where not politically or mischievously motivated, by public declarations
of anti-theism – it is still possible to be an atheist without necessarily
rejecting a Muslim cultural identity and heritage. The analogy is with those
atheists of Christian heritage who still want to get married in church, baptise
their babies, and can appreciate the importance or need for religion in others.’
Perhaps Mariam was politically
or mischievously motivated when she chose to marry a Christian?
Malik then goes on to assault the straw man placed on the
desk in front of her; ‘But claiming Islam is the root cause – or
in some cases the only cause – of the Muslim world's malaise, and crusading
against it on that basis is both disingenuous and counterproductive.’
The cruelty of religion never fails to amaze me, every day
the newspapers carry stories of vicious homophobia, intolerance and violence,
all perpetrated in the name of the one true faith, be that Christianity, Islam,
Hinduism or Judaism. Even Buddhism, the closest thing we have to a
non-religious religion, seems suddenly bored with its image of tolerance and
harmony and has got in on the act, as Buddhist monks now murder Muslims in
northern Burma/Myanmar. My amazement at this craving for cruelty is only
surpassed by my astonishment at the extraordinary nonsense that religious
apologists spout in defence of the barbarous behaviour of their co-religionists.
*Well that’s a relief, I mean one would not want to be sentenced to death gratuitously for renouncing ones religious beliefs, i.e. ‘being without apparent reason, cause, or justification.’
