Three religious reformers were put on trial in Bahrain for allegedly questioning the foundations of Islam, further deepening divisions between the country’s Shia majority and its ruling Sunni royal family.
The three accused are members of Tajdeed, a local Shia cultural and religious organization that advocates for open discussion of religion. Its members have questioned Islamic jurisprudence and the opinions of Islamic legal scholars, a taboo in much of the Muslim world, where political and religious authorities often endorse and enforce doctrine.
Bahrain charges religious reformers for questioning Islam https://t.co/iJNWaj0VAz
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) February 22, 2023
Two of the accused persons were identified in a Tweet from Tajdeed’s founding member Nader Rajab. They were Reda Rajab, the organization’s president, and Jalal al-Qassab, a researcher for the association. The third was not publicly identified.
According to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, the defendants stand accused of "deliberately undermining the basics of the Islamic religion on which all Muslims and sects agree.” State prosecutors specializing in cybercrime referred the three to a criminal court. The three individuals could face a year in prison if found guilty.
The organization is said to have uploaded a series of videos on YouTube that have angered several prominent Shia clerics in the Shia-majority country. They described Tajdeed’s work as an attack on Islam and called on believers to ostracize them.
Tajdeed released a statement in response to the accusations, explaining that the organization doesn’t question the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Instead, they claim to challenge the opinions of scholars who came after the Prophet Muhammad, including modern-day clerics.
"Al-Tajdeed Society will plead to reject the charges against it because it is a charge based on a misunderstanding as a result of a campaign of truncating and distorting the content it broadcasts, which aims, in particular, to sanctify the book of God from invalidation and criticize the illogical interpretations that have been added to it.” the statement read.
A jailed prominent Bahraini pro-democracy activist, Nabeel Rajab, described the incident as a “systematic incitement” against Tajdeed and called it a “flagrant violation of human rights.”
“Human rights are legislated for all, and we cannot highlight them in one place and overlook them in another,” Nabeel said in a Tweet.
Bahrain was previously rocked by massive pro-democracy demonstrations led by the Shia majority against the country’s Suni monarchy during the Arab Spring protests in 2011. With the help of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Bahraini authorities suppressed the protests with force, although low-level unrest still remains.
