Most readers will already be aware of the plight of Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger accused of apostasy. More recently, a Mauritanian man, Cheikh Ould Mohamed M’Kheitir, was arrested for showing a ‘lack of respect’ to Muhammad and for apostasy. This latter ‘crime’ is punishable by death in Mauritania.
[A COMMENT] The underlying logic behind the idea of apostasy (and blasphemy and honor) in the Islamic world is to protect Islam, conceived as a "social thing".
In the Islamic world, there is no concept of "individualism" as we understand it in the West. Religion is not, for the Muslim, an individual thing--but a social thing.
In order to be a Muslim, one has to live in a Muslim society. Anyone in the society who speaks against Islam, harms Islam--and thus, harms society as well. [Harry’s Place] Read more
