I’ve lost count of how many blasphemy prosecutions I’ve written about in the Muslim world. The latest is from Malaysia, where a bookstore manager has been arrested and faces two years in prison for selling an unapproved book to a customer. The Star, a Malaysian newspaper, reports:
A bookstore manager was charged in the Syariah High Court here with distributing a banned book by Canadian author Irshad Manji.
Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz, 36, was accused of distributing the book titled Allah, Liberty and Love, which had been translated into Bahasa Malaysia.
She allegedly committed the offence at Borders bookshop at Level 3, The Gardens Mall in Mid Valley City here on May 23.
She faces a RM3,000 fine or maximum two years’ jail or both under Section 13(1) Syariah Criminal Offences Act (Federal Territories) 1997, if convicted.
Madness, as always.
10 comments
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grumpyoldfart
June 26, 2012 at 12:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just like England in the good old days.
slc1
June 26, 2012 at 12:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Christofascists like David Barton only wish they had this kind of power.
augustpamplona
June 26, 2012 at 1:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You realize that, in this case, it is legal for that Borders to sell this book, Right? The claim of illegality lies with one particular manager not being able to sell this book (due to the manager being Muslim).
So there’s one set of laws for Muslim people and another set for the rest and you occasionally have religious police doing such things as going into nightclubs to check the ID cards of patrons to make sure no Muslims are patronizing such locales (or drinking a beer or whatever). Such is the parallel track Sharia legal system in Malaysia.
According to the article, the defense rests on the fact that this fatwa had not even been issued when the raid was conducted so I don’t know what is going on here. Could it be that this “raid” was really some religious police finding the book, before it was even on their radar screen, and considering it offensive and making the charge on the basis of that with the subsequent fatwa being a reaction to this rather than the cause of this?
d cwilson
June 26, 2012 at 2:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wow. So, whenever someone wants to buy a forbidden book, they have to have a non-Muslim ring them up? What if there are no non-Muslims working that day? Do they tell the customer to come back later? Are Muslims allowed to shelve the book, or is it only illegal when money changes hands? What about the corporate buyer? The truck driver who delivered the books? Do they have to make sure they aren’t delivering forbidden books if they’re Muslim? Can they handle it if they wear gloves?
The mind boggles.
Marcus Ranum
June 26, 2012 at 3:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The “it’s only a law that applies to muslims” argument doesn’t carry any weight because, under islamic law, the penalty for apostasy is death. So they’re laws that apply to you if you were born into the faith; there’s no social contract there at all.
augustpamplona
June 26, 2012 at 3:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s not an “argument”, it’s just a description of how it works. As to the penalty for apostasy from Islam, in Malaysia it is something like getting sent to a religious re-education camp, I believe.
But yeah, the point is that you are not supposed to leave the faith. In fact, In Malaysia anyone who is in the Malay ethnic group is considered to be Muslim by definition (your ID card includes race and the choices are, if I remember correctly, something like Indian, Chinese, Malay, Bumiputra* (sp?) & other).
* That’s a catch all term to refer to various indigenous groups.
Wes
June 26, 2012 at 6:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Wait. They still have Borders bookstores in Malaysia?
Dr X
June 26, 2012 at 8:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Maybe they could let the non-Muslim customer actually scan the book at checkout. At one small grocery store where they know me, the underage checkout people sometimes have me scan just the beer or wine when they’re handling my checkout and an over 21-employee isn’t readily available to scan it the alcohol.
d cwilson
June 26, 2012 at 10:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Dr X
June 26, 2012 at 10:25 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Are women in Pennsylvania still required to wear the traditional bonnet or Kapp?