மாற்றுமதத்தினரை கொல்லகூடாது என்று சொன்னவர்களுக்கு சவுதி அரேபிய இமாம் பத்வா

மாற்றுமதத்தினரை கொல்லவேண்டும் என்று இஸ்லாம் போதிப்பது தவறு என்று வாதிட்ட இரண்டு எழுத்தாளர்களை கொல்லவேண்டும் என்று சவுதி அரேபியாவின் இமாம் ஷேக் அப்துல் ரஹ்மான் அல் பராக் பத்வா விதித்துள்ளார்.

இந்த இரண்டு எழுத்தாளர்களும், (அப்துல்லா பின் பெஜாத் அல் ஒத்தேபி, யூசூப் அபா அல் காலில்) எழுதிய கட்டுரையில் முஸ்லீம்கள் வேறெந்த மதத்தையும் பின்பற்ற அவர்களுக்கு உரிமை உண்டு என்று வாதிட்டுள்ளது.

ஆன்மீகத்தை எந்நாளும் அடக்கி ஒடுக்கிவிடமுடியாது என்பது சவுதி அரேபிய அஞ்ஞானிகளுக்கு காலம் கடந்தே தெரியவரும்.


Top Saudi cleric calls for liberal writers' death
Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:22am EDT

RIYADH, March 15 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's most revered cleric said in a rare fatwa this week that two writers should be tried for apostasy and put to death if they do not repent.

Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak was responding to recent articles in al-Riyadh newspaper that questioned the mainstream Sunni Muslim view that adherents of other faiths should be considered unbelievers.

"Anyone who claims this has refuted Islam and should be tried in order to take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam," said the fatwa, or religious opinion, dated March 14 and published on Barrak's Web site (albarrak.islamlight.net).

"It is disgraceful that articles containing this kind of apostasy should be published in some papers of Saudi Arabia, the land of the two holy shrines," he said, referring to Muslim holy places in Mecca and Medina.

"The rulers should hold these papers to account ... and all those who took part in the publication should know they were involved in the sin of heretical articles." Barrak, who is thought to be around 75, is the leading authority of Saudi Arabia's hardline version of Sunni Islam, often termed Wahhabism.

He said the articles suggested Muslims were free to follow other religions. Rights groups have accused Wahhabism of a xenophobic attitude which demonises other religions.

The two writers, Abdullah bin Bejad al-Otaibi and Yousef Aba al-Khail, were not immediately available for comment.

Saudi Arabia regularly executes drug traffickers, rapists and murderers, but calls for people to be put to death for opinions expressed in public are rare.

Liberal reformers are engaged in a battle with religious hardliners over the direction of the country, a key U.S. ally and the world's biggest oil exporter.

Diplomats say powerful clerics allied to some key members of the Saudi royal family have prevented the government under King Abdullah from moving forward with social and political reforms. (Reporting by Andrew Hammond, editing by Tim Pearce)