Identifying Misinterpretations of Islam through Facebook postings

This article aims to analyse the misinterpretations of an ex-Muslims’ postings on Facebook about Islam related issues in Malaysia. There are four selected issues: Islam’s attitude towards homosexuals, punishments for apostates, polygamy, and Muslim women’s hijab. Facebook postings in 2017 of an ex-Muslim, named Mary, have been analysed to identify the misinterpretations with regards to the selected issues. The finding reveals that homosexuality is contrary with the nature of human and animal beings. In the issue of punishment for apostates, death penalty is still unclear among legal practitioners in Malaysia. On the other hand, in polygamy issue, Sharia Law in Malaysia has allocation to protect abused women. Meanwhile, in the case of Muslim women’s hijab, there are significant differences between common practice and law. The common practice cannot be made as an argument for law.

Keywords:

Islam , LGBT , polygamy , Malaysia , apostate , hijab