Appeal to all who support freedom of faith, free Farhan al-Maliki

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has condemned to death a man whose only crime was calling for freedom of religion, freedom of thought and conscience, and examining the Quran and Islam from a rational perspective. His real crime was using the literal words of the Quran itself to do this. This is Dr. Farhan al-Maliki, one of the most influential and yet little heard of Arab thinkers of this age. The man who dared to say that even some sincere Atheists and Agnostics seeking truth scientifically may go to Heaven while some practising Muslims may go to Hell in the after life. He is condemned to die.

For years Farhan Maliki has delivered a message of religious tolerance of non-Muslims and members of sects deemed heretical by the Saudi Government. He has called against superstitious interpretations of the Quran, and criticized the uncivilized desert nomadic Bedouin customs that infiltrated Islam but had no real base other than culture. Moreover he has dared to criticize some of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, showing how an organized clique conspired to assassinate him, seize power, and foist their Qureysh Arab customs in place of the Prophet’s own teachings. And he has powerfully and convincingly argued this from the very text of the Quran and the texts of many authentic Hadiths, narrative traditions, some of which have been suppressed or sidelines in obscure sources for years. Or even censored out of mainstream books by modern printing companies.

He has harshly criticized religious terrorism, and the funding of extremist elements by elite members of the Khaleeji Gulf oil states.

Much of the current Saudi reforms of MBS are indirectly inspired by men like Farhan Maliki whose underground influence in Saudi society cannot be understated. Millions know of him and listen to him. Powerful forces have tried to silence his message and prevent the larger non-Arabic

Moreover our American governments supports our Saudi puppet rulers in this. Nothing done in Riyadh happens without the approval of Washington, anything that does happen that has blowback, like the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, has ramifications. The irony is many in Washington didn’t really care what happened to Khashoggi because he was inconvenient and an embarrassment to the Saudis who are effectively our US clients. Any regime in the Gulf that falls out of step with what our government wants would be replaced overnight. The Saudi royal family could not retain power if not for our government’s explicit approval and support. I have American expat friends who work in Aramco’s IT department. You would have no idea how much of Aramco’s middle and even upper management are actually Americans.

Anyone out there, whether you hate Islam and Arabs, or couldn’t care less, if you want an end to Religious violence and extremism in the Middle East, people like Hassan Farhan al-Maliki should be supported, not ignored. Why has Amnesty International said nothing about this? International Human Rights organizations are ignoring a man whose message reaches Millions and is explicitly calling for reform of how Islam is practised and understood on the grounds of human rights an justice, using the explicitly texts of Islam. This is why he was ignored. If he was an apostate or atheist they would pay attention. But because he is a practising and devout Muslim calling for the rights of apostates, atheists, Christians, Jews, Shia, and non-Wahhabi Sunnis, and doing so using Islam;s very own texts, and this more likely to convincingly and effectively make this case; for this reason he is being ignored by the very people claiming to support the Human Rights of the people Farhan al-Maliki is defending.

He is condemned to death, under trumped up charges of contributing to a hateful environment – when his real message is Justice and Freedom. He is making appeals, please call the Saudi Embassy in your country and Amnesty International and Human Rights watch.