Is it Islamic to vilify other religions?

Irene Handono is an Indonesian religious speaker who claims to be a former Catholic nun. She has, on numerous occasions, been invited to speak in Malaysia.

However, her credentials as a Catholic nun had been revealed as false by the Bishops Conference of Indonesia several years ago. They claim Handono did not complete her education, and is thus, unqualified to call herself a nun.

Handono was scheduled to speak at the Selangor International Islamic University College (Kuis) on Dec 9 and 10 on the topic “Understanding Christology.” The event has since been cancelled.

Following the incident, a Majlis Dakwah Negara shariah expert, Nurul Haq Shahrir, urged organisers to always conduct background checks on the authenticity of invited speakers.

Nurul told Free Malaysia Today that this was necessary to “prevent Islamic authorities and Muslims in Malaysia from being conned by a person who may be in it for nothing more than a paycheque.”

But Irene was not the first fake religious authority invited to take part in a Christian-bashing seminar.

Last year, another Muslim preacher, Ayub Abdul Rahman, who claimed to be a former priest of the Church of St Augustine of Canterbury in “Frankfurter,” Germany, was also scheduled to speak at a convention in Sabah.

However, Ayub’s name was removed from the list of speakers, following a testimony by the St Augustine of Canterbury Church, who claimed he was an impostor....