Skip to content

Sivin Kit's Garden

Planting Seeds for a Better World

Menu
  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing
Menu

Random Links 274 ("Moving on" Malaysia Edition)

Posted on 24 July, 2008 by Sivin Kit

Apostasy Revisited by Dr. Musa bin Mohd Nordin

This is one issue that we cannot ignore. Thus, I read this article with much interest.

There is no single verse in the Qur’an that prescribes an earthly punishment for apostasy. Verses about apostasy in the Qur’an speak only about God’s punishment of the apostate in the Hereafter. Writes Prof. Badawi :
[Behold, as for those who come to believe, and then deny the truth, and again come to believe, and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of truth – God will not forgive them, nor will guide them in any way.] (An-Nisaa’ 4:137)
It is important to note in the above verse that if the Qur’an prescribes capital punishment for apostasy, then the apostate should be killed after the first instance of apostasy. As such there would be no opportunity to "again come to believe and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of truth". In spite of these acts of repeated apostasy, no capital punishment is prescribed for them.
The silence of the Qur’an on any prescribed mandatory capital punishment for apostasy is quite revealing. More revealing is the fact that there is overwhelming evidence in the Qur’an of freedom of conscious, belief, and worship.

Dialogue is a Muslim duty

Dr Syed Farid Alatas is one person where dialogue indeed is enriching …

Dr Farid aptly began by noting the importance of dialogue for national integration and racial harmony. In other words, dialogue was a non-negotiable.  He expressed a concern that dialogue had thus far been relegated to the mere exchange of theological ideas among scholars rather than being embodied as a joint effort to solve very practical issues facing a multi-racial society. 

Using a host of historical examples, Dr Farid elaborated his insightful observation that the positive elements of modern civilisation found their roots in multi-cultural — and to be more precise, interreligious — encounters. Such encounters were, in his assessment, focused on understanding and appreciating rather than converting “the other.”

At a very practical level, Dr Farid expressed his view that for such inter-religious encounters to take place authentically within Malaysia, the manner in which education took place had to be revised. The present education system, particularly its contents, caused polarisation more than giving rise to healthy dialogue. Since the way subjects were taught should propagate respect for various cultures, Dr Farid suggested that textbook contents should be changed. Should this effort be undertaken with utmost seriousness, he was quite confident that the next generation of people would be inherently dialogical in their view of inter-religious interactions.

The presenter was extremely and eloquently forthcoming with his views regarding the state of interreligious dialogue in Malaysia. He commented that if real dialogue was actually taking place in Malaysia, the Muslims would be upholding the rights of Christians to, for example, erect crosses on their religious buildings instead of feeling threatened by such religious expressions. He emphatically stated that Muslims had a duty to help persons of other religions to solve their problems at a very practical level.

22 July 2008 – Recruitment System of Foreign Workers needs to be Urgently Revamped

18 July 2008 – Police Roadblocks undermine National Productivity: Use alternative means of maintaining public order

02 July 2008 – Ensure Policies Provide Fair Economic Opportunity to all Malaysians

21 April 2008  – ACA to be made Fully Independent

Four  CPPS statements which are immediately relevant to a lot that’s going on these days.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Moved to Medium
  • The End | The Beginning
  • I Will be Back …
  • It’s Been a While …
  • GE13 Malaysia: Who to Vote for? (A Christian Contribution)

Recent Comments

  • Malaysia: Government Vows to Review Web Censorship Law After Protest · Global Voices on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • List of Participants in Internet Blackout Day! « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • Join Us and Support Internet Blackout Day « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • JB on Imagining My PhD Journey
  • Alex Tang on Imagining My PhD Journey

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

CALENDAR

July 2008
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Jun   Aug »
  • Academics
  • Bangsar Lutheran Church
  • Beyond
  • Bible
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Christian Year – Lent
  • Church
  • Conversations
  • Emergent/Emerging Churches
  • Events
  • Family
  • Five Sentences
  • Friends in Conversation
  • Fun stuff
  • Gracious Christianity
  • Ideas
  • Images
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Lists
  • Lutheran
  • Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Meditation
  • Micah Mandate
  • Mission
  • Movies
  • Music
  • New Stuff
  • Norway
  • Norwegian Notes
  • Personal
  • Philosophy
  • Podcast
  • Preaching
  • Prezi
  • Project 365
  • Random Links
  • Random Thoughts
  • Random Tweets
  • Random Utterances
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • RoH Malaysia
  • Second Thoughts
  • Seven Series
  • Simple Steps
  • Spirituality
  • Technology
  • Theology
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • World
  • Worship
  • Writing

Archives

  • November 2020
  • November 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004
  • January 2004
  • December 2003
  • November 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • August 2003
  • July 2003
  • June 2003
  • May 2003
  • April 2003
  • February 2003
  • August 2002

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Pages

  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing

Social Media

© 2022 Sivin Kit's Garden | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme