Saifuddin Ibrahim case: The cat and mouse game continues!
the cat and mouse game continues!
In March 2022, Saifuddin Ibrahim, a former Muslim cleric turned Christian preacher, posted a video on Youtube, proposing that the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs remove 300 verses from the Koran. According to Saifuddin, these verses cause some Muslims to become intolerant of their non-Muslim compatriots.
His video went viral. Soon after, Saifuddin was sought by the Indonesian police. However, so far, they have not been able to arrest him. Saifuddin is currently in exile in the United States. In a video posted online this January 21, 2023, Saifuddin stated that he was willing to surrender to Indonesian authorities under two conditions:
1. That the Indonesian government guarantees his safety: Saifuddin is aware of the mistreatment of a Christian blasphemer. He experienced this himself when in 2017 he was arrested and then thrown in jail on charges of insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
2. That the Indonesian court allow the media, especially television, to cover his trial live. Indeed, the demand for the removal of the 300 Quranic verses is not a provocation, but an appeal to the Indonesian government to seriously address the root causes of the intolerance and depravity that has plagued Indonesia for decades.
Earlier, Saifuddin said he was prepared to be put to death if his argument was proven wrong. According to him, a scientific study of the violent verses of the Koran is an extreme necessity. For 1400 years, these verses have driven jihadists to fight against everyone: against Jews, Christians, polytheists and Muslims themselves.
Since the creation of the Indonesian state in 1945, many Islamist organizations have been declared illegal. But this does not solve the problem: these Islamist groups always end up reappearing under new names. Although all the members of these groups die, a new generation emerges to repeat the same horror.
Will the Indonesian government accept Saifuddin's proposal? It is a safe bet that they will not. In 2017, a certain Apollinaris Darmawan made a similar proposal. This one earned him two convictions. To this day, the 73-year-old scholar still languishes in prison.
Saifuddin Ibrahim: The cat and mouse game continues! - † Chrétiens en Indonésie † (over-blog.com)