Peace, freedom of religion must come before hudud, says Tunisian Islamist leader

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — Ensuring peace and freedom of religion should be the priority in politics, especially among Islamists, even more than implementing hudud, Tunisian Islamist leader Said Ferjani said today.

Ferjani, who is a key figure in Tunisian party Ennahda, refuted assertions that the Islamic penal code should be a prerequisite of faith, relating that even Prophet Muhammad did not implement hudud during his time as a state ruler.

“Muhammad for 13 years didn’t have neither hudud nor system of punishment or nothing (sic). If this hudud is a prerequisite of faith in Islam, then those who lived in the 13 years were not Muslims,” Ferjani said in a meeting with DAP leaders at the opposition party’s headquarters here.

“The issue is the main thing is not hudud, even if it’s the best system of punishment. This is not the issue. The issue is when you bring peace, how you’re free to cherish whatever belief you have.”

Ferjani reminded Muslims that the Quran states that there should not be any compulsion in embracing Islam, and freedom of religion would ensure peace among worshippers.

“If even religion, the most sacred thing is not imposed, how come you want to impose anything on your fellow human being?” asked Ferjani, a member of Ennahda’s political bureau.

Ferjani also gave a warning that once Muslims refuse to work with non-

Muslims because of the latter’s lack of faith, it would spread distrust and lead to a rift among the two communities.

National laureate and new DAP recruit Datuk A. Samad Said has pointed out that Malaysian politics is in turmoil between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially after local Islamists PAS severed ties with DAP over matter regarding Islam.

Ferjani, 60, met with DAP leaders, including its parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang and strategists Liew Chin Tong and Ong Kian Ming today to share his experience in Ennahda and offer his view on post-Islamist politics.

The meeting came months after DAP visited Egypt and Jordan in April this year, purportedly to understand Islamist politics at its birthplace and the Abrahamic faith that forms the core of its ideology.

PAS and DAP have long been at loggerheads over the issue of hudud, resulting in the former severing ties with the latter in June, subsequently causing the dissolution of the federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat which also included PKR.

Harapan Baru, the precursor to a new party by PAS’s ousted progressive faction, has also defended the right to push for hudud law in the country, but said it will not be its main priority for the time being as