THE OPPORTUNITY OF APOSTASY

The way I look at things, the best news of the week is the story of Abdul Rahman being on trial and facing the death penalty in Afghanistan for converting from Islam to Christianity. 

What a fantastic opportunity to put Sharia Islam on the defensive, make it once again the laughingstock of the world, and start forcing it out of the Dark Ages.  The case of Abdul Rahman shines a spotlight on the moral inferiority of Sharia Islam compared to the world’s other major religions.

Sharia is traditional and accepted Islamic law.  There is no dispute among either ancient or modern Moslem scholars that under Islamic law, a murtadd, "one who turns his back on Islam," an apostate, must be put to death.  Irtidad, apostasy, is committing treason against God, and traitors deserve to be killed.

Senior Moslem clerics in Afghanistan such as Abdul Raoulf told the court in Kabul, "Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man (Abdul Rahman) must die."  Cleric Raoulf is considered an Islamic moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban while it was in power.

In an interview to an AP reporter in the courtyard of Kabul’s Herati Mosque, he said Rahman’s fate should be to "cut off his head… pull him into pieces so there’s nothing left."

Such demands are commonplace wherever Sharia law prevails.  The leader of the Moslem community in the East African island of Zanzibar, Sheikh Azzani Khalid Hamdan, has publicly stated:

"Sharia law is the basis of all law.  It allows us to render judgment based on the Koran against those who don’t follow the laws of Allah.  It is our duty to spread Islam, and to especially try to convince the Christians to change their faith.  A man has the right to choose his religion, but once he is a Moslem, then he has lost that right. If he changes, under the laws of Sharia, he should be put to death."

But no one pays attention to Zanzibar.  The marvelous opportunity of Adbul Rahman is that this is in Afghanistan, where American and other Western soldiers have died and are continuing to risk their lives in order to liberate it from medieval tyranny.  As my friend Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, puts it: 

"Americans have not given their lives so that Christians can be put to death."

So now we have the chance to extend the outpouring of Western outrage regarding this one unfortunate man to a global demand that Islam abandon punishment for apostasy.

After all, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:  "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.  This right includes freedom to change his religion or belief."

Once again, like the Cartoon Jihad, Islam has demonstrated a mortal vulnerability.  The lesson to be learned here is that the key to victory in the War on Islamofascism is to be on the constant search for its vulnerabilities.

The key to winning any war is to search for and exploit the enemy’s vulnerabilities.  That’s how the Reagan Doctrine won the Cold War, by switching from a policy of defensive containment to identifying and exploiting the Soviet Union’s weaknesses.

We can win this war like we won the Cold War.  The opportunity of apostasy can now be exploited, Moslems around the world evangelized and encouraged to abandon such a primitive religion as Islam.

There is already a website of apostate Moslems that is doing just that:  Apostates of Islam.  Moslem scholar Ibn Warraq has written a thoroughly-researched book on the history of Islamic apostasy with numerous interviews of contemporary ex-Moslems who have abandoned Islam: Apostates Speak Out.

The Apostasy Movement is growing within Islam.  It will now be catalyzed by Adbul Rahman.  We owe him a debt of gratitude – and our best efforts to ensure he is brought to safety.