Afghanistan's Rebirth: Religious Freedoms by C. Kerr

Religious freedoms in Afghanistan have been under scrutiny for many years.  With the arrival of a transitory government, there is a desire for greater religious freedoms.  The case of Abdul Rahman’s shows how Afghanistan’s present transitory government deals with such religious freedoms.  Exercising a fundamental form of Sharia law without change in societal values has brought complications.  Despite Sharia Law having good intentions, it has been abused by many politicians and governments for the benefit of their own.  This missive will explore the reason why Rahman’s case was significant.

ABDUL RAHMAN: Conversion by Faith and Ousted by Force

    Abdul Rahman converted to Christianity almost two decades before his arrest in Afghanistan.  His conversion is illegal under Sharia law and therefore punishable by death or excommunication.1  Even though the Constitution of Afghanistan states that people have freedom to exercise their faith, it is contradictory as the Sharia Law overrides the Constitution.  As ISN Security Watch notes

“in ‘Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.’ This confers extraordinary power on those interpreting the laws. And so, if an Afghan court decides that it is against the "beliefs" of Islam to have a church in the country, the constitution would -- if applied literally -- support such a decision.”2

    Rahman converted while working for a charity organization in Pakistan approximately sixteen years ago.3   This conversion experience was a choice that affected his family and others around him due to the nature of the collective culture in Afghanistan.  News about his conversion was not well received and his family used this to their advantage during a custody battle.  He was then taken to prison and charged with apostasy.4  The justice system opposed Rahman since “the prosecutor, Abdul Rasi, called Rahman a ‘traitor to Islam’ and told the court he was ‘like a cancer inside Afghanistan.’ Rasi explained to Associated Press that Rahman ‘would be forgiven if he changed back.’  Wasi said, ‘We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws.  He must get the death penalty.’”5   This legal action was expressed to nations assisting in Afghanistan’s rebuilding who then, supported the removal of Rahman to a safe country. 

HISTORY: AFGHANISTAN - Tribe to Theocracy

    Since Afghanistan is located in a strategic area of Asia, it was susceptible to various influences that ranged from early European invasions to different ethic and religious changes.  Islam spread from Arabia into other areas of the world by Muhammad’s predecessors and eventually brought the introduction of Islam to Afghanistan.  Sharia law became the cornerstone of governance in this nation.  The merging of Islam into the Afghan culture provided a sense of nationalism6  as it was theologically monotheistic (belief in one God) and streamlined faith and politics.  As the surrounding geography was influenced by the expansion of Islam, Afghanistan embraced it in fullness.
    The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was carried out “to prop up a Communist government and to suppress a growing Islamic fundamentalist movement [the Soviets] feared would spread to southern Soviet republics”.7  The Soviets were fearful of an ideology that would oppose Communism.  Afghanistan – under the Taliban – chose to defend themselves.  They fought the Soviets and drove them out of Afghanistan with the help of other countries opposing the former USSR.  The period after the Soviet retreat in 1989 and the rise of the Taliban was very short.  By the end of 1990 the Taliban had gained control of Kabul and most of the country.  This set the stage for an Islamic theocracy and its socialization of the Afghan people.

AFGHANISTAN: Religious Law

    Afghanistan follows Sharia law in addition to its Constitution.  The Constitution states in article 2 that “(1)The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam. (2) Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.”8   This above section highlights some complexities as Sharia Law limits other religious worldviews (by nature of Article 2) or ways of life as seen in the following statement,

“Any group that denies the right of its members to leave is in contravention of one of the most fundamental principles of human rights. Yet clearly, one of the reasons for the growth of Islam over the past century has been that becoming a Muslim is a one-way street. Whether by birth or conversion (historically likely to have been a forced conversion) once you are a Muslim the only way out, under the Sharia, is death.”9

In Afghanistan, who choose to leave Islam will be persecuted legally by the Afghan courts or unofficially by family and their communities, as the law is interpreted in a very extreme form (it should be noted that in many Islamic countries Sharia Law is practiced in a form that is open to non-Muslims and therefore does not experience the same issues of religious freedom as Afghanistan).  This interpretation has violated human rights and contributes to an Islamic theocracy in a nation that just came out one.  Sharia law in Afghanistan offers little protection for non-Muslims (including modernists and secularists).  Those who operate under Islam have freedom within set parameters.  Those outside of this faith have very little to no freedom of expression.  This is even furthered by the following statement on a Canadian Islamic youth website,

“a group of people or a society which consist of true Muslims can never break away from the Law of their Lord. Its political, its social organization, its culture, its economic policy, its legal system and its international strategy must all be in tuned with the Code of Guidance revealed by Allah and must, in no way, contravene it. And if ever, through error or omission, any contravention it committed, they must, on realizing this, correct this immediately and return forthwith to the state of subservience to the Law of God.”10

This statement highlights that Muslims are not allowed to break away from the law and its interpretation.  In the case of Afghanistan, Sharia law gives little room for other worldviews.  This is where the modernizing of Sharia law in Afghanistan becomes a imperative to the reconstruction of the nation.   

CONCLUSION:

    If western nations did not intervene, Rahman may not have lived to see his freedom.  Italy was blessed by having Rahmam come to their country so that he may practice his new found faith in freedom.  Sharia law, as practiced in Afghanistan, is a law that desires its adherents to remain within Islam.  Without the modernization of Sharia Law, religious freedoms of those outside Islam are limited to none.  For that matter those within Islam that choose to live a more liberal lifestyle are also at risk.  The modernization of Sharia Law will be a challenge as theological, cultural and social values will be reformed, which may unfortunately lead to more conflict in a nation that has seen much of this for many years.  Hopefully the opposite will be true and that the citizens of Afghanistan will taste a freedom that they have not had before.

1. Forum 18, Henrik Ertner Rasmussen, “Commentary: Religious Freedom Under Islam”, 2004, January 13, <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=227>
2. ISN Security Watch, “Afghan Case Shows Constitution Contradiction”, Amin Tarzi for RFE/RL, 2006, march 23, <http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=15217>
3. CBC News Online, “Afghan Christian Convert May be Freed”, 2006, March 26,
<http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/03/26/christian_afghan060326.html>
4. CBC News Online, “Afghan Christian Released from Prison”, 2006, March 27, <http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/03/27/christian_afghan060327.html>.
5. The Anglican Planet, “Apostasy Trial Wakes Up the World” 2006, May <http://www.anglicanplanet.net/TAPIntern0605d.html>
6. Neamatollah Nojumi, The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan (New York: Palgrave, 2002), 4.
7. CBC News Online, “Indepth: Afghanistan”, 2006, March 21, <http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/>
8. International Constitutional Law Project Information, “Afghanistan Constitution”, <http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/af00000_.html>
9.  No to Political Islam Petition, “Why Sharia Law Must be Opposed”, <http://www.ntpi.org/html/whyoppose.html>
10. Syed Abul A'ala Mawdudi, “The Islamic Way of Life”, <http://www.youngmuslims.ca/
online_library/books/islamic_way_of_life/index.htm#b15>