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Malaysia, a primarily Muslim country located in peninsular and insular regions of Southeast Asia, has a government heavily influenced by Islamic law, which expresses anti-heretical and anti-atheist views. Notably, in 2017, the official Shahidan Kassim faced backlash for threatening to "hunt down" atheists in response to a meeting of members of Atheist Republic.
Based on government data, the Malaysian website Malaysiakini estimates a community of no more than 300,000 irreligious people in a population of 30 million. As censuses only allow participants to name Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and traditional Chinese religions as their faith, irreligious Malaysians end up with Sikhs (around 350,000) in the 2.1% who do not list any of the above. The remaining 300,000 could include atheists, animists, practitioners of folk religion, and other belief systems. However, it is possible that there are more in reality, and that these low numbers were caused by bias among census authorities or fear of repercussion toward participants. [1]
Blasphemy is a crime in Malaysia, although technically, atheism is not. Apostasy is also not a federal crime, however, the nation's state-run courts do not typically allow Muslims to officially leave the religion, and they can receive counseling, fines, or jail time. [2] Ethnic Malays are also legally required to identify as Muslim, and the law codes of Sharia are "developed and implemented at the state level", according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. [3] In 2016, Prime Minister Najib Razak, denounced atheism, secularism, liberalism, and humanism as threats to "Islam and the state". He also stated that "we will not tolerate any demands or right to apostasy by Muslims". [2] In response to an August 2017 meeting in Kuala Lumpur of members of the Malaysian chapter of the Canadian organization Atheist Republic, government official Shahidan Kassim declared that atheists would be "hunted down", attributing their beliefs to a lack of religious education. The Malaysian government started a crackdown not long afterwards to find if Muslims had any role in the incident. This response was criticized by both the founder of Atheist Republic, Armin Navabi, as well as some Malaysian Muslims. [4] [5]
The fear of such things occurring to Malaysian atheists is compounded by incidents of similar violence in Bangladesh, where atheist bloggers have been killed by extremists. [6] The Diplomat writer David Hutt claimed that he knew pro-democracy activists from Vietnam who were less hesitant to publicly criticize the Communist Party than atheist Malaysians to simply talk about religion in coffee shops. [2]
While Malaysia is often considered a secular state, the views of its population do not always reflect this, and it may be growing more conservative. A PEW survey asking if Sharia should become the basis of national law saw 86% of Muslim respond in favor. This is a higher positive response rate than in some other Islamic-majority countries that are typically considered more conservative. [2]
While a conservative nation, Malaysia's Muslim citizens do not necessarily reject scientific principles. Many view science as compatible with Islam, and 54% said that there was not any conflict between science and religion. Still, some objected to experiments involving non- halal substances, in vitro fertilization, and cloning. [7]
Sharia is a body of religious law that forms part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslim fundamentalists and modernists.
Blasphemy, as defined in some religions or religion-based laws, is an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable.
Freedom of religion is enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution. First, Article 11 provides that every person has the right to profess and to practice his or her religion and to propagate it. Second, the Constitution also provides that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and deportation. While no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence. According to the U.S. Department of State's 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom, there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' between 1913 and 2013.
Apostasy in Islam is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. An apostate from Islam is referred to by using the Arabic and Islamic term murtād (مرتدّ). It includes not only explicit renunciations of the Islamic faith by converting to another religion or abandoning religion altogether, but also blasphemy or heresy, through any action or utterance which implies unbelief, including those who deny a "fundamental tenet or creed" of Islam.
Some movements or sects within traditionally monotheistic or polytheistic religions recognize that it is possible to practice religious faith, spirituality and adherence to tenets without a belief in deities. People with what would be considered religious or spiritual belief in a supernatural controlling power are defined by some as adherents to a religion; the argument that atheism is a religion has been described as a contradiction in terms.
Discrimination against atheists, both at present and historically, includes persecution of and discrimination against people who are identified as atheists. Discrimination against atheists may also comprise negative attitudes, prejudice, hostility, hatred, fear, or intolerance towards atheists and atheism. Because atheism can be defined in various ways, those discriminated against or persecuted on the grounds of being atheists might not have been considered atheists in a different time or place. Thirteen Muslim countries officially punish atheism or apostasy by death and Humanists International asserts that "the overwhelming majority" of the 193 member states of the United Nations "at best discriminate against citizens who have no belief in a god and at worst can jail them for offences dubbed blasphemy".
In Islam, blasphemy is impious utterance or action concerning God, but is broader than in normal English usage, including not only the mocking or vilifying of attributes of Islam but denying any of the fundamental beliefs of the religion. Examples include denying that the Quran was divinely revealed, the Prophethood of one of the Islamic Prophets, insulting an angel, or maintaining God had a son.
Afghanistan uses Sharia as its justification for punishing blasphemy. The punishments are among the harshest in the world. Afghanistan uses its law against blasphemy to persecute religious minorities, apostasy, dissenters, academics, and journalists.
Shahidan bin Kassim is a Malaysian politician who has served as Minister of Federal Territories in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob since August 2021, President of the Kuala Lumpur City F.C. since August 2022, Chairman of the Perbadanan Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA) and Chairman of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) since March 2021. He served as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in the BN administration under former Prime Minister Najib Razak from May 2013 to May 2018, Menteri Besar of Perlis from May 1995 to March 2008 and Member of the Perlis State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Tambun Tulang from April 1995 to May 2013. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Arau since May 2013 and from August 1986 to April 1995. He is a member of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition and was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the ruling BN coalition. He served as the Chairman of the PN Government Backbenchers Club (PNBBC) from May 2020 to the collapse of the PN government in August 2021.
Irreligion is present among a minority of mainly young people in Pakistan. Atheists in Pakistan face discrimination, persecution, and prejudice in society. Pakistan is reported by some sources to be among the thirteen countries where atheism can attract capital punishment, but according to the Library of Congress of the United States, "there is no specific statutory law that criminalizes apostasy in Pakistan." On the other hand, the Pakistani government can impose the death penalty for blasphemy.
Irreligion in Egypt is controversial due to the largely conservative nature of the country and the religious establishments in the country. It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists or agnostics in Egypt, as the stigma attached to being one makes it hard for irreligious Egyptians to publicly profess their views and beliefs.
Irreligion in Iran has a long historical background, non-religious citizens are officially unrecognized by the Iranian government. In official 2011 census, 265,899 persons did not state any religion. However, according to a 2020 online survey by Gamaan found a much larger percentage of Iranians identifying as atheist (8.8%), and a large fraction (22.2%) identifying as not following an organized religion, and 60% not identifying as Muslim.
Irreligion in Nigeria is measured at less than one percent of the population. As in many parts of Africa, there is a great amount of stigma attached to being an atheist.
According to a study by Humanists International (HI), Afghanistan is one of the seven countries in the world where being an atheist or a convert can lead to a death sentence. According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, Afghanistan ranks among the countries where people are least likely to admit to being an atheist.
Irreligion in the Middle East refers to the lack of religion in the Middle East. Though atheists in the Middle East are rarely public about their lack of belief, as they are persecuted in many countries, including Saudi Arabia where they are classified as terrorists, there are some atheist organizations in the Middle East. Islam dominates public and private life in most Middle East countries. Nonetheless, there reside small numbers of irreligious individuals within those countries who often face serious formal and, in some cases, informal legal and social consequences.
Capital punishment for non-violent offenses is allowed by law in some countries. Such offenses include adultery, apostasy, blasphemy, corruption, drug trafficking, espionage, fraud, homosexuality and sodomy, perjury, prostitution, sorcery and witchcraft, theft, and treason.
Armin Navabi is an Iranian-Canadian ex-Muslim atheist, author and podcaster, currently living in Vancouver, Canada. In 2012, he founded the online freethought community Atheist Republic, a Canada-based non-profit organisation which now has hundreds of branches called "consulates" in several countries around the world such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, enabling non-believers to interact in societies where irreligion, apostasy and blasphemy are often criminalised and repressed. As an author, he debuted with the book Why There Is No God (2014), and in 2017 he became a co-host of the Secular Jihadists from the Middle East podcast with Ali A. Rizvi, Yasmine Mohammad and Faisal Saeed Al Mutar. In January 2018, the show was renamed Secular Jihadists for a Muslim Enlightenment, with Rizvi and Navabi as co-hosts.
Ex-Muslims are people who were raised as Muslims or converted to Islam and later renounced the Islamic religion. Leaving Islam is a uniquely individual experience and a growing social phenomenon facing its challenges due to the conditions and history of Islam, Islamic culture and jurisprudence, and—depending upon the context—the local culture, which leads to ex-Muslims' increasingly organized literary and social activism. Ex-Muslims also organize groups to build mutual support networks in order to raise awareness on the human rights of ex-Muslims and meet life's challenges after abandoning religious beliefs and practices previously associated with Islam.
The situation for apostates from Islam varies markedly between Muslim-minority and Muslim-majority regions. In Muslim-minority countries, "any violence against those who abandon Islam is already illegal". But in some Muslim-majority countries, religious violence is "institutionalised", and "hundreds and thousands of closet apostates" live in fear of violence and are compelled to live lives of "extreme duplicity and mental stress."