AN Islamic scholar from the United States has cancelled her trip to Malaysia after learning of the recent detention of a Turkish author in Kuala Lumpur by religious authorities.

Academic and author Asma Afsaruddin was scheduled to launch the Bahasa Malaysia translation of her book “The First Muslims: History and Memory”, in Kuala Lumpur in March next year.

The event is organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), which had previously hosted a series of talks by Turkish author and journalist Mustafa Akyol in late September.

Mustafa was detained by the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) on September 25 as he attempted to board a return flight to the US.

In an email sent over the weekend, Asma told organisers that she has decided not to attend the event, said IRF chairman Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa.

“Asma said she would not be able to attend the launch after she learnt of Mustafa’s ordeal,” Ahmad Farouk told The Malaysian Insight.

“I am disappointed, not with her, but with the situation in our country that causes such actions by Muslim intellectuals coming from abroad,” he said.

“To me it portrays a very gloomy picture of the country and how intellectualism is not celebrated.”

Mustafa was released after being held for 18 hours and questioned for allegedly teaching Islam without tauliah or “proper accreditation” – an offence under Syariah law.

Mustafa had criticised his treatment by Jawi, saying that it reflected a major problem with Muslim countries where Islam is imposed.

A month after Mustafa’s detention, the Bahasa Malaysia version of his book “Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty”, was banned in Malaysia by the Home Ministry.

Farouk, who is also being probed by Jawi for organising the talks, said the launch of Asma’s book would go on, but IRF would look for an alternative speaker.

“(The book) has already been translated. We are in the midst of editing it, getting the type set and sending it to the printers. It will be ready in February.”

Asma’s book was first published in 2007, when she was teaching at the Notre Dame University in the US. It re-examines the history of the first three generations of Muslims, including the life of Prophet
Muhammad.

Asma is now a professor at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University in the US.

Farouk said a another book launch in December, by US-based Muslim scholar Dr Nader Hashemi, would go on as scheduled.

Nader, who had criticised Mustafa’s detention, is scheduled to launch the Bahasa Malaysia translation of “What I believe” by British author and academic Dr Tariq Ramadan. – November 8, 2017.