Chaplain’s E-mail Sparks Controversy:
In a private e-mail to a student last week, Abdul-Basser wrote that there was “great wisdom (hikma) associated with the established and preserved position (capital punishment [for apostates]) and so, even if it makes some uncomfortable in the face of the hegemonic modern human rights discourse, one should not dismiss it out of hand.”
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“I believe he doesn’t belong as the official chaplain,” said one Islamic student, who asked that he not be named to avoid conflicts with Muslim religious authorities. “If the Christian ministers said that people who converted from Christianity should be killed, don’t you think the University should do something?”
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Abdul-Basser wrote in a later e-mailed statement that he “never expressed the position that individuals who leave Islam or convert from Islam to another religion must be killed. I do not hold this opinion personally.” He explained that he was not advocating for the positions mentioned in his e-mail, but rather “addressing them in the context of the evolution of an Islamic legal doctrine.”
Related: Harvard Muslim chaplain on the wisdom of killing apostates.
Hudaibiya.
Thanks for mentioning this. I’ve written to the Harvard chaplains’ office, from my Harvard work address, urging them to investigate the matter seriously and fairly, and to clear him if he really doesn’t support that position or to remove him if he does.
If his views weren’t relevant to his job (say if he were a physics professor) they wouldn’t matter. But for someone advising students on matters of religion to hold such a position is outrageous.