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A letter from Article 19 and numerous other human rights groups to the UNHRC and member states urges them to vote against resolutions condemning

• defamation
• denigration
• vilification
• negative stereotyping [omitted from list]
  • of religions.

    The primary issue is exploitation of blasphemy laws to persecute minorities and perpetrate injustice against individual members of minority groups. The secondary issue is the rights of freedom of expression and belief.  People should be free to discuss religious ideas and practices openly, free from threat of prosecution & persecution. 

    This issue flows directly from Islam's literalism, absolutism & supremacism.  The narrative of Islam tells us that Muhammad received divine revelation through the agency of Jibril, at once confirming and superseding earlier scriptures.  Because Moe is the seal of the prophets, his revelation is final.  Because Moe said that Allah said that it is from Allah, it is perfect.  That makes Islam right and everything else wrong. 

    Surah Al-Ma'idah 33 specifies the punishment for waging "war against Allah and and his Messenger", listing options from expulsion to execution. Tafsir Ibn Kathir defines "wage war" in the following terms: "`Wage war' mentioned here means, oppose and contradict, and it includes disbelief, blocking roads and spreading fear in the fairways." Disbelief, opposition & contradiction are capital offenses in Islam.  That makes any affirmation of Christian faith a capital offense subject to the death penalty. Because only Allah has the right to be worshiped, you have no right to worship otherwise.

    For the practical application, we must turn to Shari'ah, as codified in Reliance of the Traveller. First, we should examine the penalty for apostasy and the penalty applied to dhimmis who violate Islam's stricture.  Both apostates and offending dhimmis are subject to  execution.

O8.1 

When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed.

O8.2

In such a case, it is obligatory for the caliph (A: or his representive) to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed.

O9.14 

When an adult male is taken captive, the caliph (def: o25) considers the interests (O: of Islam and the Muslims) and decides between the prisoner's death, slavery, release without paying anything, or ransoming himself in exchange for money or for a Muslim captive held by the enemy.

If the prisoner becomes a Muslim (O: before the caliph chooses any of the four alternatives) then he may not be killed, and one of the other three alternatives is chosen.

    Dhimmis: conquered Jews & Christians dominated by Muslims, suffer certain restrictions under Islamic law. Examine them carefully.

O11.5

Such 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:

-1- are penalized for committing adultery or theft, thought not for drunkenness;

-2- are distinguished from Muslims in dress, wearing a wide cloth belt (zunnar);

-3- are not greeted with "as-Salamu 'alaykum";

-4- must keep to the side of the street;

-5- may not build higher than or as high as the Muslims' buildings, though if they acquire a tall house, it is not razed;

-6- are forbidden to openly display wine or pork, (A: to ring church bells or display crosses,) recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals and feastdays;

-7- and are forbidden to build new churches.

O11.10

The agreement is also violated (A: with respect to the offender alone) if the state has stipulated that any of the following things break it, and one of the subjects does so anyway, though if the state has not stipulated that these break the agreement, then they do not; namely, if one of the subject people:

-1- commits adultery with a Muslim woman or marries her;

-2- conceals spies of hostile forces;

-3- leads a Muslim away from Islam;

-4- kills a Muslim;

-5- or mentions something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), or Islam.

    What is impermissible to mention?  For the answer, we turn to a list of 20 acts which entail apostasy.

O8.7: Acts that Entail Leaving Islam

(O: Among the things that entail apostasy from Islam (may Allah protect us from them) are:

-1- to prostrate to an idol, whether sarcastically, out of mere contrariness, or in actual conviction, like that of someone who believes the Creator to be something that has originated in time. Like idols in this respect are the sun or moon, and like prostration is bowing to other than Allah, if one intends reverence towards it like the reverence due to Allah;

-2- to intend to commit unbelief, even if in the future. And like this intention is hesitating whether to do so or not: one thereby immediately commits unbelief;

-3- to speak words that imply unbelief such as ``Allah is the third of three,'' or ``I am Allah''-unless one's tongue has run away with one, or one is quoting another, or is one of the friends of Allah Most High (wali, def: w33) in a spiritually intoxicated state of total oblivion (A: friend of Allah or not, someone totally oblivious is as if insane, and is not held legally responsible (dis: k13.1(O:) ) ), for these latter do not entail unbelief;

-4- to revile Allah or His messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace);

-5- to deny the existence of Allah, His beginingless eternality, His endless eternality, or to deny any of His attributes which the consensus of Muslims ascribes to Him (dis: v1);

-6- to be sarcastic about Allah's name, His command, His interdiction, His promise, or His threat;

-7- to deny any verse of the Koran or anything which by scholarly consensus (def: b7) belongs to it, or to add a verse that does belong to it;

-8- to mockingly say, ``I don't know what faith is'';

-9- to reply to someone who says, ``There is no power or strength save through Allah''; ``Your saying `There's no power or strength, etc,' won't save you from hunger'';

-10- for a tyrant, after an oppressed person says, ``This is through the decree of Allah,'' to reply, ``I act without the decree of Allah'';

-11- to say that a Muslim is an unbeliever (kafir) (dis: w47) in words that are uninterpretable as merely meaning he is an ingrate towards Allah for divinely given blessings (n: in Arabic, also ``kafir'');

-12- when someone asks to be taught the Testification of Faith (Ar. Shahada, the words, ``La ilaha ill Allahu Muhammadun rasulu Llah'' (There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) ), and a Muslim refuses to teach him it;

-13- to describe a Muslim or someone who wants to become a Muslim in terms of unbelief (kufr);

-14- to deny the obligatory character of something which by the consensus of Muslims (ijma`, def: B7) is part of Islam, when it is well known as such, like the prayer (salat) or even one rak'a from one of the five obligatory prayers, if there is no excuse (def: u2.4);

-15- to hold that any of Allah's messengers or prophets are liars, or to deny their being sent;

(n: `Ala' al-din' Abidin adds the following:

-16- to revile the religion of Islam;

-17- to believe that things in themselves or by their own nature have any causal influence independent of the will of Allah;

-18- to deny the existence of angels or jinn (def: w22), or the heavens;

-19- to be sarcastic about any ruling of the Sacred Law;

-20- or to deny that Allah intended the Prophet's message (Allah bless him and give him peace) to be the religion followed by the entire world (dis: w4.3-4) (al-Hadiyya al-`Ala'iyya (y4), 423-24). )

There are others, for the subject is nearly limitless. May Allah Most High save us and all Muslims from it.)

    Previous resolutions demanded that member states pass & enforce legislation prohibiting and punishing violation of those rules.  They specify associating Islam with terrorism and implicitly condemn Fitna & the MoToons.

    The deadline for submitting draft resolutions is Thursday March 17; the 16^th session concludes March 25.   No draft resolutions have been listed in the extranet and none were listed in the email document release notice.  It is likely that the resolution will be introduced at the last moment and rammed through in a hurry.  It is possible that the OIC will follow the precedent set by withdrawing the draft resolution condemning International Burn the Koran Day and abort the resolution rather than see it defeated.

    Now is the time to strike, while the iron is hot.  Go to http://www.congress.org/ to send emails to President Obama, your Representative & Senators demanding a vote against the resolution.  HR 141 is still bottled up in committee with little hope of being voted out for a floor vote before the HRC votes on their resolution. Mention it to your Rep. and urge him to cosign it and push for its passage.