Abdul Rahman, 41, an Afghan medical aid worker, is on trial for his life. He
is charged with rejecting Islam by converting to Christianity 16 years ago.
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The current status of Islamic hearts and minds has been much on display lately. Between
the Cartoon Jihad fiasco throughout the Middle East and Europe plus the apostasy trial in Afghanistan of Abdul
Rahman, the international community has gotten a measure of the Islamic world's prevailing thought process.
What we have is clearly not a clash of civilizations. It takes two civilizations to clash. What we have is much
more akin to is the historic tale of a vigorous barbarian attack on a decadent civilization. Except this time the
civilization may be more vital than it is portrayed and the barbarians may be nearer to extinction than they think.
That, at least, is the thesis of the Syrian poet Ali Ahmad Sa'id, who writes under the pseudonym "Adonis."
In a March 11th interview for Dubai TV translated by Memri.org,
The Arab intellectual "Adonis" made the following relevant points:
- If the Arabs are so inept that they cannot be democratic by themselves, they can never be democratic through
the intervention of others.
The preconditions for democracy do not exist in Arab society, and cannot exist unless religion is reexamined in
a new and accurate way, and unless religion becomes a personal and spiritual experience which must be respected.
I would have to say that we Arabs are in a phase of extinction, in the sense that we have no creative presence
in the world. … a people becomes extinct when it no longer has a creative capacity, and the capacity to change
its world.
This is our real intellectual crisis. We are facing a new world with ideas that no
longer exist and in a context that is obsolete.
Was our investment of $70bn, 300 killed and 800 wounded worth while? Just how far apart are the West and the
Middle East?
On Friday the 24th, a group will gather at noon in front of the Afghan Embassy (2341 Wyoming Ave. NW) to call
for the release of the man pictured above - Abdul Rahman.
His story is very much an "Everyman" tale. Rahman spent virtually all his adult life working for an unidentified
Christian medical aid organization. Much of the time he lived in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. He
also spent a number of years in Germany. When the Taliban fell in 2002, he returned to rejoin his family and rebuild
a new Afghanistan.
A few months ago, Rahman and his wife were divorced. His two teenage daughters lived with his parents so Rahman
sought legal help in establishing custody. His father turned him into authorities on the grounds that he was a
Christian and thus unsuited to raise Muslim girls. Rahman was arrested.
In a one-day preliminary hearing with no defense attorney present, Rahman was found to be a self-admitted Christian
carrying a translation of the Bible. He had a television interview in which he stated that he was a Christian.
While much of the press has said that Rahman was charged with converting to Christianity, the opposite is true.
Under Shar'ia law, he is charged with denying Islam, not accepting Christianity. The penalty prescribed in the
Hadith (commentaries on the Koran) for a former believer to deny Islam is death, usually by hanging. Since he admitted
his Christianity on television, there is no question of Rahman's guilt. The prosecutor has promised to drop the
case if Rahman recants. He has refused in public several times. The court has ordered an examination to see whether
Rahman is sane. If Rahman is found insane, he would be released.
Out of an Afghan population of 24 million, there are just a few Christians, perhaps 3,000. They all live in the
major cities because those who attempt to live in the villages are killed by the locals. Just how ready the average
citizen of Kabul is to accept religious tolerance as described in their new Constitution may be seen by the reaction
of some of the local senior Muslim clerics.
- Abdul Raoulf, a member of the nation's major Islamic organization, the Sunni Afghan Ulama Council, is
considered a moderate because he was jailed three times for his opposition to the Taliban. He said that if the
Western governments pressure the government to free Rahman, it will incite the people to pull him to pieces. "Cut
off his head," Raoulf said at the large and popular Herati Mosque, "We will call the people to pull him
to pieces so there is nothing left." Jailers in Kabul have already sworn to perform this deed.
Another cleric, Said Mirhossain Nasri, of the leading Shiite mosque in Kabul said that Rahman must not be
exiled or allowed to leave the country. "If he is allowed to live in the West then others will claim to be
Christian so they can, too. We must set an example. He must be hanged."
The chief cleric of the Sunni Haji Yacob Mosque announced that they would not be fooled by the subterfuge of declaring
Rahman insane and not fit to stand trial. "The government is scared of the international community,"
he said, "But the people will kill him if he is freed. There will be an uprising and the government will lose
the support of the people."
In the meantime, support for Abdul Rahman is building in the West. In addition to the Friday demonstration in
DC, phone brigades are sending messages throughout the day.
One blog site that keeps current on the issue is www.michellemalkin.com
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To give the leadership a sample of American hearts and minds, contact any or all of the numbers listed in bold.
Abdul Rahman
Rahman means "The Merciful"
The White House
202-456-1111
President@whitehouse.gov
Capitol Switchboard
202-224-3121
The State Department
202-647-4000
The Embassy of Afghanistan
202-483-6410
UPDATE March 26: Release Announced
Associated Press writer Daniel Cooney wrote Sunday, March 26, that the Afghan Supreme Court has dismissed the case
against Abdul Rahman because of a lack of evidence. A court official, Abdul Wakil Omeri, confirmed that the case
had been dismissed because of problems with the prosecutor's evidence. The case would be returned for more investigation
but Rahman would be released, possibly Monday,
The further investigation would focus on Rahman's sanity and whether he was mentally fit to stand trial.
No answer was given on the question of Rahman being allowed to go into exile. An unprotected release of Rahman
would expose him to great risk of assassination.
The State Department was not able to confirm these actions yet.
03/24/06
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