Dr Omer El Hamdoon is the president of the Muslim Association of Britain.
Dr Omer El Hamdoon reflects on the loaded question that he was asked during a recent ITV documentary and the hypocrisy of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.
In July this year, I was approached by award-winning Deeyah Khan from Fuuse Productions who requested an interview in regards to the topic of apostates and how they are being treated.
Although this is a sensitive topic, I was hesitant to decline as I understood there was a need for a Muslim balancing voice to be heard, and I assumed that many Muslims would be reluctant to appear on such a program, having had bad experience with documentaries that target Muslims.
I did – however – proceed to meet Deeyah and record an approximately two-hour interview; and we discussed many issues related to the subject in hand. Most was edited out, except the parts in which I was smiling in an unusually comfortable interview.
As the time approached for the program to be aired, Maryam Namazie of the CEMB sought an opportunity to give the program an extra boost by seeking some sort of controversy from the only Muslim contributor (me). And she enlisted her seven dwarfs (fellow CEMB activists).
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This kind of PR was in the form of the question to me on social media: In an ideal Islam state, what would be the punishment of an apostate?
Having sensed the trap being laid, I sought to conduct a little social experiment to see the reality of the Council of Ex-Muslims; an organisation which has no identity of its own and has to resort to borrowing the identity of the world’s fastest growing population, Muslims.
This experiment was to see the real purpose of this council, who describe themselves as a volunteer support group for those who have left Islam and suffered because of their freedom of religion being denied.
So I proceeded to decline to answer the question. Reason being was it seemed to have no real relevance to the topic in hand, namely the treatment of those who leave Islam by the British Muslim community and their families in particular.
What would have been better for Maryam and her merry men was to build bridges with myself and my likes, who are very open to building a cohesive society based on peaceful respect of each other and their views, and formulate a constructive dialogue to promote tolerance of others’ beliefs.
However, what the experiment revealed was that Maryam Namazie and her seven dwarfs were in fact eight trolls, who proceeded to intimidate me by using profanity, abuse directed at me and at Islam and at whatever they thought may instigate a reaction. They even blatantly attributed words to me I never said; and some tried reverse psychology.
It was clear that they were fixated on this question, not because they wanted to deliver more support to ex-Muslims, but rather because they were on a witch-hunt, trying to associate me with a particular narrative.
It’s a shame they choose a confrontation route, instead of a reconciliation one. If they still believed in the Qur’an, they would have read: “The good action (reaction) cannot be equated with the bad action (reaction); repel that which is repulsive with that which is good, you will find the enemy becoming a close friend.”
So, you’ve read this far, and you have yet to read an answer to the CEMB question. Well, I suppose the social experiment hasn’t ended, and will continue to expose the nastiness and bitterness of the Ex-Muslims, who one would have thought would have learned to respect others’ rights, which includes the right to be silent!
The question shouldn’t be about how “the ideal state deals with apostates”, but rather what should be “the ideal state of apostates”?
The eight trolls are on a witch hunt. The irony of the matter was if they looked closely at their shepherd, they would realise she isn’t as white as snow, rather she IS the witch in their midst.
Happy Halloween…
You can follow Dr Hamdoon on Twitter @Omer_Elhamdoon
