Real apostates believe in human rights
What’s John Kerry doing bashing IS for being “apostates”?
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, sparked controversy on Tuesday after referring to Daesh as “apostates” while speaking in Rome. His unusual word choice did not go unnoticed, and it was not long before both Muslims and non-Muslim scholars, journalists and political commentators were voicing their opinions on why it was problematic.
“Daesh is in fact nothing more than a mixture of killers, of kidnappers, of criminals, of thugs, of adventurers, of smugglers and thieves,” Kerry said. “And they are also above all apostates, people who have hijacked a great religion and lie about its real meaning and lie about its purpose and deceive people in order to fight for their purposes.”
Oh really? What are the rulers and clerics of Saudi Arabia then? They must be apostates too.
Charges of apostasy are often used by Daesh—the very group Kerry was referring to in his comments—to justify the killing of those who disagree with them.
Some have argued that Kerry ought to stay away from the word as it is used often by extremists, while others have suggested that he may have called them “apostates” in order to justify US military action against them—so as not to be accused of killing Muslims.
He shouldn’t use the word that way for any reason, because the government he represents is supposed to believe in and support freedom of religion, which of course can’t exist without freedom to leave. The US shouldn’t talk as if apostasy is a meaningful concept.
Former Muslims often face extreme persecution for leaving the Islamic faith, with some suffering ostracization by their family, and even death threats. So perhaps it is understandable that they are not best pleased at being compared to an extremist group such as Daesh.
We reached out to some of those former Muslims to see what they had to say about John Kerry’s controversial word choice.
Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born former Muslim. She is an author, campaigner for human rights and secularism, and spokesperson for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.
“The use of the term […] legitimises the concept of apostasy that leads to the murder and imprisonment of so many freethinkers (ex-Muslim, Muslim and non-Muslim) not just in Syria and Iraq but also Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere,” she told Al Bawaba, via email.
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Imad Iddine Habib is the founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco.
“Al-Azhar, the well-known Sunni religious authority, refused to consider them Kuffars/Apostates and for once I agree with them,” he said.
“Calling DEASH (sic) apostates is absurd. We, real apostates, believe in Universal Human Rights, secular democracy and stand up for enlightenment values against the religious-right. Many of us have been jailed and even killed for merely advocating and expressing our views.”
IS are fanatics, not apostates.
The article refers to the group as Daesh, and there is a good argument for using that name: it denies them the dignity of pretending they are a “state”.
I see great merit in refusing to refer to them as a state in order to deny them any legitimacy.
For “Daesh” in particular there is added benfit: they consider it a great insult and hate that it’s so widespread.
So I’m leaning pretty strongly against using any of the names that imply they’re a state, and twoard using this accurate (it’s just an acronym) and apparently provocative name for a group that needs to be ridiculed and thrown out like any bully.
Ophelia, you used “IS” to name this group even though the article used “Daesh”. What’s your position on the name?
In the efforts to quell the theocratic death cult, the Arab groups in the thick of it positively favour the name Daesh. Other names which grant it legitimacy as a caliphate; they want to avoid giving that impression. They ask the US and other westerners to do the same.
I’ve used both. I guess I’ve settled on IS recently by default, as being the most recognizable. Nothing I ever say about Daesh is likely to help boost its veneer of legitimacy.
It’s standard doubletalk for the space. Bad thing was done? Couldn’t have been because of religion. Clearly, however explicitly the very perpetrators say otherwise, it was exactly the opposite. They’re awful. Therefore, they must be unbelievers. Remember also when the September 11 atrocities were called ‘acts of atheistic horror’? This is how deep the conditioning goes, this reflex the world is given, that so many feel so free to so slander those who (frequently bravely) leave their faith, that so many can hardly use the word without spitting.
Me, I have great respect for actual apostates. The world needs several billion more. Kerry should apologize, but he won’t. No one ever lost votes throwing apostates under the bus.
No leading Western politician can unambiguously state the obvious, it’s that members of IS are pious Muslims, they’re behaving as Muhammed and his followers behaved.
Ben Finney,
I doubt that refusing to refer to IS as a ‘state’ really denies them any legitimacy, that seems to be projecting Western concepts onto 7th century ideology, there’s only the Ummah.
Kerry, another “useful idiot”.
As for “IS”, like Ophelia I’ve used it (along with ISIS and ISIL depending on the discussion) by default; it’s more common and recognizable. I can’t see how it gives them any legitimacy. On the contrary. But I have made a point occasionally, for sardonic purposes, of using Daesh with some Muslim interlocutors, including a few of my own family… since they already know of my own, real “apostatsy”!
John Kerry, world’s foremost Muslim theologian.
And Saudi Arabia’s biggest friend.
It’s good propaganda, though. Kerry gives zero shits about Islam, nor probably about any religion. Calling them “apostates” is a message to other Muslims that they can reject IS without compromising their religious position, which is what propaganda is all about.
Whether any Muslim gives nonzero shits about who an unbeliever like Kerry considers “apostate,” is a separate question. If they really wanted to catapult the propaganda (as Bush would say), they should be getting friendly imams to say that.