Apostasy as a Tool to Suppress Dissent – Indonesian Perspective Gábor Takacs, Agaw Lexicon and Its Cushitic and Afro-Asiatic Background

Abstract

Accusation of apostasy in the Muslim majority countries has the potential of becoming a dangerous tool against the dissenting voices. When it is used by those with religious authority and appears in a form of a fatwa it is likely to be interpreted as a concession for persecution. In the legal processes following the incidents of religiously motivated violence it seems rare for the perpetrators to be punished. Instead the victims of religious violence are accused of inciting hatred. This article discusses two respective cases of apostasy fatwa in Indonesia: the death fatwa on the leaders of the Liberal Islam Network, and a fatwa which rendered apostate the members of the Indonesian Ahmadiyya religious movement.