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Western colonialism is the key issue in the case of Abdul Rahman
The decision by the Afghan Supreme Court Judge to free Abdul Rahman, the man alleged to have converted to Christianity, whilst his case is reviewed is not surprising considering the world wide pressure that has been brought to bear upon Afghanistan in recent days.
The case of Abdul Rahman has never been about the intricacies of Islamic jurisprudence on the position of apostasy or the conditions that Islamic law places upon the one accused of changing his religion. It has been used, however, by opponents of Islam in the West to attack the Shariah and its applicability in the modern world. This is a moot point since the introduction of Islamic judicial system requires a holistic implementation of Islam in all areas of society as well as their being a governing authority that has genuine authority; neither of these exists in Afghanistan. The security of Afghanistan remains in the hands of thousands of American and ISAF forces; the country's infrastructure remains decimated after years of occupation, first by the Russians and then the US after 2001; lawlessness prevails over much of the country with the Karzai government's writ not running beyond Kabul. It is laughable to suggest that Afghanistan is a functioning State, let alone a State implementing Shariah.
Rather, the central point that has been missed is the Wests colonial mentality and interference as it seeks to dominate the Islamic world as part of the War on Terror (WoT). In the recent controversy over the publication of the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a number of European newspapers, governments were adamant in stating that a 'free press' meant that they could not and would not interfere in the right of newspapers to publish whatever they liked. Even those countries that did not print the cartoons, such as Britain and the USA, were vocal in maintaining this principle. However, in the case of Abdul Rahman, this position has been completely reversed. We have seen the US President, US Secretary of State, Australian Prime Minister, European Union and the Pope all put pressure upon President Karzai to intervene in the judicial process by urging clemency. In doing so, the West has clearly violated its own principles of maintaining a separation between the executive and judiciary by asking a supposedly sovereign country to do this.
Secondly, this issue highlights the abject failure of the WoT in the very first country it was applied to. It exposes the WoT as a war to create US friendly client states throughout the world with US backed rulers. The US after defeating the Taliban regime imposed a secular constitution in Afghanistan and the puppet Karzai regime were clearly made aware of the strings that come attached with this. The West feeling it has an eternal right to shape Afghanistan's future such that it can interfere in the country's judiciary at will. George W Bush's statement "It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another", indicates that the war to 'liberate' Afghanistan was never about simply removing terror, and every bit about a new era of colonialism which will see the Islamic world physically occupied for years to come.
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