This comes after a planned book launch to feature prominent American academic Prof Asma Afsaruddin from the Indiana University in the US had to be called off, after she learnt about Akyol’s experience.
“He (Akyol) informed me about what had happened to him in Malaysia recently after he gave talks there and about his book being banned. If the circumstances were more reassuring I would have been honored to be your guest,” Afsaruddin wrote in an email to IRF sighted by FMT today.
“Given the current atmosphere, however, I regretfully will not be able to respond positively to your very kind invitation,” said the professor who is an expert on Islamic political thought, Islamic texts and gender studies, who had previously taught at Harvard and Johns Hopkins.
Afsaruddin, an expert in Arabic who was a consultant for Oxford’s authoritative Dictionary of Islam, was scheduled to speak on the subject of her book, “The First Muslims: History and Memory”.
The book, which is being translated into Malay by IRF to be published in time for her visit in March 2018, takes a fresh look at the early history of Islam, a topic close to her field of work.
Afsaruddin’s works have been published by top academic publishing houses including E.J. Brill in Leiden, Oxford University and Harvard University.
In 2015, she was honoured by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani for her work, “Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought”, which earned her Iran’s prestigious book prize, “Jayezeh Jahani”.
IRF director Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, who was also summoned by the Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi) over his role in hosting Akyol’s lecture tour in September, said Afsaruddin’s decision to cancel her trip showed the negative perception among prominent intellectuals about Malaysia.
“The extreme actions by these state-sponsored religious zealots have made some Muslim intellectuals to have the impression that this country is being governed by some of God’s modern agents in the form of Jawi’s religious police,” he told FMT.
“And this is bad for a country that wanted to portray herself as a moderate and progressive country.”
Jawi had accused Akyol and Farouk of violating a local shariah law requiring a person teaching Islam to have the official credentials or “tauliah” from religious authorities.
But Akyol had said he was not speaking as a religious authority.
“I don’t claim to be a mufti or imam with religious authority,” Akyol told FMT hours after his release on Sept 26. “I just had referred to the more liberal views in Islamic tradition, from an academic perspective, and the fact that even this raises alarm is puzzling to me.”
Days after he left, the government announced a ban on Akyol’s book, “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case For Liberty”, and its Malay translation published by IRF. The home ministry said the book was likely to “alarm the public” and could be “prejudicial to public interest”.
Farouk, who is contemplating taking the government to court over the ban, said it was normal for IRF to invite foreign academics on a lecture tour.
“It has been our culture to normally invite the author to launch the translated book and deliver a few talks and engage in a forum,” said the former surgeon who lectures at Monash University Malaysia.
In her email, Afsaruddin said she regretted her decision, but hoped the Malay translation of her work could still be published in the face of recent book bannings by the Malaysian government.
“In such times, knowledge and learning are our best defense against the forces of obscurantism,” she added.