He was accused of blasphemy for saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, you can’t vote for me because you’re being lied to by Al Maidah verse 51 and so on.” But he apparently didn’t really say that the Qur’an was lying to Muslims; rather, he said that certain people were lying to Muslim voters by invoking a passage of the Qur’an: “So don’t believe people – deep down ladies and gentlemen, you can’t vote for me because [these people] are lying to you using Al Maidah verse 51 and so on.”

Lost in the controversy is the substance of the Qur’an passages he mentions. Here is Al Maidah verse 51: “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you — then indeed, he is of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.” (Qur’an 5:51)

Does that passage indeed lead some Muslims not to vote for or support Jewish or Christian candidates? It is a question worth asking, but when the subject is raised, as in this instance, it is immediately hijacked by claims of Muslim victimhood on the one hand, and Islamic supremacist menace on the other.

“Ahok denies saying the Quran tricks people against voting for him, says his words were edited out of context,” Coconuts Jakarta, October 7, 2016: