Look, my being a Muslim is not in order to satisfy some deep-seated itch to chop people's heads off.
In fact, what originally attracted me to Islam was what I perceived in it as a vehicle to securing human rights. At least that's what I understood from my first Muslim influence,Malcolm X.
This is how he saw it, this is what he put in his open letter to the American people from the Hajj, and this is how I see it to this day.
But it is the spiritual dimension of Islam that enables it to be that universal system to secure and defend human well-being. This is what touches the heart of an activist and inspires her or him. It is the spiritual coupled with a framework for right and wrong that steels her resolve, no matter what end of the Earth she comes from. It talks to her soul and asks her about courage.
But at the very same time, Islam is meant to be free of ideology; it is about truth, soul, and balance.
When people get an opportunity to encounter an Islam that is ideology-free, it tends to strike a chord. After all, everyone has a soul; and balance is symmetry, and symmetry is the essence of beauty: we all find ourselves drawn to the beautiful.
But it's when Islam is "ideologised" - used for political gain - that it turns to extremes, as any religion does. Extremes of violence and intolerance can be found in the Christianity of Northern Ireland or the Inquisition, or the messianism of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, or the Zionist fringe of Judaism.
Leaving Islam, however, is also seriously frowned upon; but so is the invasion of privacy. Gossip and neighbourhood espionage was soundly reproached by the Prophet. Allow me to think well of my neighbours, as we are taught.
Peoples' private convictions are none of my business, nor should they be fodder for the One Hour News Hour. One can't help but shudder to think of the dangerous outcomes of Western hyper-tech governments that would insist on conditioning their populace to accept privacy as an endangered species. You, too, can become a reality television star in all the wrong ways.
But the infamously "dire" apostasy policies of Islam are exclusively governed by the "rule of law" and remain the sole purview of the state. They are none of our business as citizens.
The source literature is explicit that they apply to prisoners of war who have denounced the religion and joined an armed force intent on visiting suffering and destruction on the Muslim community. Not the standard breakfast table fare for most of us.
At the heart of this prohibition and penalty is a deterrence for anyone who would be crude enough to politicise their conversion out of Islam. The politicisation of faith is never an act of conscience; it is a shameless utilitarian ploy to manipulate hearts and minds for opportunistic or otherwise political advantage.
Just as using religion for ideological gain is wrong and dangerous (because it toys with things dearest to peoples' hearts), so, too, is the politicisation of conversion out of Islam.
It's just dirty, and simply base. It's informed by the same motivation of the extremists. And it belies an inability of the person to commit themselves to the neutrality of the secularism that they claim.
Jihad Hashim Brown is director of research at the Tabah Foundation. He delivers the Friday sermon at the Maryam bint Sultan Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
The bio
Academics: Phd in strategic management in University of Wales
Number one caps: His best-seller caps are in shades of grey, blue, black and yellow
Reading: Is immersed in books on colours to understand more about the usage of different shades
Sport: Started playing polo two years ago. Helps him relax, plus he enjoys the speed and focus
Cars: Loves exotic cars and currently drives a Bentley Bentayga
Holiday: Favourite travel destinations are London and St Tropez
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
'Project Power'
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback
Director: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.
more from Janine di Giovanni
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia