when you submit to god, it’s through free will, not force

we all know that ‘islam’ means ‘submission to god’ in arabic, don’t we? you don’t? good. then now you are learning from me. 🙂

islam grants freedom to its adherents because submission to god cannot take place through force or compulsion.

freedom of expression and freedom of choice were the cornerstones of Islam.

if submission to allah involves free choice, then the same principle must apply if one wants to leave the faith.

if one leaves the religion out of free choice, let them become what they want.

muslims should be more confident. nothing will happen to islam if people leave the religion.

wahh! have i suddenly become an islam scholar and went into a preachy mood? nah, nothing like that of course. all the above 5 sentences does NOT come from me but from a visiting scholar, dr azzam tamimi, the director of the institute of islamic political thought in london.

if only the the perak mufti think likewise. he wouldn’t have been alarmed by the news that 100 children were going to be converted to christianity – because it’s their choice. nothing would happen to islam, dear mufti, if people choose to leave islam. if you think otherwise, then i guess i’ll have to chant “oh ye of little faith” (no confidence, as dr azzam pointed out).

if only all the fanatical muslim out there would think like dr azzam. then poor lina joy would have live happily now instead of in fear. then there wouldn’t have been a syariah court – where men decided on matters pertaining to god. ok ok i can just hear some people out there say to me “you are not a muslim. you have no right to talk about islam. you know nothing about islam so don’t talk about this is wrong or right.” ok, then in the matter of syariah court, i’ll only link it to apostasy matter (and wouldn’t say that syariah court should be done away with), as in regards to this ‘free will to submit to god’ matter, i feel, one should be allow to leave islam or (any other religion) if one wants to.

it’s good to note, however, there are quite a number of right-minded, matured muslim who does think like dr azzam. yes i did come across comments from some malays who had been saying stuffs like “what’s the use of forcing a person in a religion if she/he does not want to be in it anymore?”, and “if a person is in a religion out of force, not because she/he wants to, what’s the point?”.

go read further what the wise dr azzam had to say in sun2surf.