conversion gone wrong

For the first time in my 20-plus years of living in the UAE, I felt a sense of worry over what religion I was born into.

Gulf News' front page article today sent a uneasy feeling through my body when I picked up the paper this morning. I'd read about this story throughout the past couple of days, but the fact that Muslim scholars from the country I've called home for so long could be making such statements and possibly siding with the execution of a man based on his religion is frightening.

If those scholars got one thing right, it's that Bush needs to butt out of everyone's business. I hate him whole-heartedly. But the world, West, East, South and North, needs to stand up and do something about this.

I'm not religious and generally don't care about these issues because they are nothing but trouble, but to execute a man on the basis of converting to Christianity is pure madness. Everyday, thousands of Christians convert to Islam, and the world does not bat an eyelid. You don't see the Pope calling for these human beings looking for something to believe in to be put down.

I may not know much about religion, but the one thing I know is that in order to faithfully adhere to one of the three monotheistic religions, you must accept and be tolerant of the two others. So why on earth does the Shari'a law punish apostasy? Muslims are always preaching that their religion is one of tolerance, but this case is intolerance at its best.

Sadly, I know that the completely insane people of Afghanistan who want to execute this man for converting to Christianity are not a representation of the Muslim world or the religion itself. These people are barbaric and ignorant, and wouldn't know what faith or religion was if it hit them in their bearded faces.

Islamic scholars in the UAE are now seemingly supporting the execution, or at least punishment, of this man. I thought the UAE was more understanding, but religious fanaticism is rampant, and is now very much in our faces in the comfort of this country.

I hope the real and tolerant Muslims of this world can rally behind the rest of the world who thinks that executing this man is an act of intolerance, and more importantly, an act that defies the very thing that their God preaches.

With every fiber of my non-religious being, I pray that this man, and any other person judged or persecuted on the basis of their religion, will be spared. This is not faith, it's a complete joke. And if there's a god out there, he's definitely not knocking sense into the people that use his name as a pitiful excuse for pure madness.

Once again, I'll offer you another take on the matter, by someone much more eloquent and expressive than my little self. Thanks Fouad :)