Apostasy in Islamic Laws
Many Ijtihad based scholars hold the view that it is that the punishment in Islam for apostasy was prescribed by Prophet Muhammad(puh) during early Islam to combat political conspiracies against Islam and Muslims, when he was fighting a war of survival and
Many Ijtihad based scholars hold the view that it is that the punishment in Islam for apostasy was prescribed by Prophet Muhammad(puh) during early Islam to combat political conspiracies against Islam and Muslims, when he was fighting a war of survival and
is not intended for those who simply change their belief or express a change in belief.
It is similar to treason in modern laws Imagine an American soldier in Iraq says he has become a Muslim and resigns from U.S. defence and joins the rebels and fight against American soldiers He is considered an apostate or traitor. Same thing in Islam
There are different types of apostasy; and capital punishment should be reserved for those who desert Islam out of malice and enmity towards the Muslim community and take part in war against the Muslims not those who convert to another religion after investigation and research
This point has been kept away by scholars who were living a long time ago and hence many misconceptions
Ubaidullah bin Jash was the first apostate from Islam. He converted to Christianity in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and died there.
This was during the life time of the Prophet(puh)
Ubaidullah became a Muslim and married Umm Habiba, daughter of Abu Sufyan. Both he and his wife joined the first band of persecuted Muslims who sought refuge under the Christian King of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 615AD.
This was during the life time of the Prophet(puh)
Ubaidullah became a Muslim and married Umm Habiba, daughter of Abu Sufyan. Both he and his wife joined the first band of persecuted Muslims who sought refuge under the Christian King of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 615AD.
Some time after coming to Ethiopia, he gave up Islam and became a Christian, and testified his new faith to the other Muslim refugees. Ubaidullah lived and died a Christian in Ethiopia. The Prophet (puh)_ married his widow.
He was not punished by death
Can someone give statistics on how many Muslims and non-Muslims had been executed for blasphemy in Pakistan since its independence in 1947 People exaggerate
In Indonesia over 200,000 Malay Muslims get converted to Christianity every year
Have they been put to death?
Have they been put to death?
Please do not make a mountain out of molehills
Categorically, there is not a single verse in the Qur’an which prescribes an earthly punishment for apostasy.
Verses about apostasy in the Qur’an speak only about God’s punishment of the apostate in the Hereafter.
Following are two examples:
“ …[your enemies] will not cease to fight against you till they have turned you away from your faith, if they can. But if any of you should turn away from his or her faith and die as a denier [of the truth] – these it is whose works will bear no fruit in this world and in the life to come; and these it is who are destined for the fire, therein to abide”
Quran 72:217
“Behold, as for those who come to believe, and then deny the truth, and again come to believe, and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of truth - God will not forgive them, nor will guide them in any way”
Quran 4:137.
It is notable in the above verse that had the Qur’an prescribed capital punishment for apostasy, the apostate would have been killed after the first instance of apostasy.
As such there would be no opportunity to “ again come to believe and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of truth” .
It is also notable that in spite of these acts of repeated apostasy described in the above verse, capital punishment is not alluded to nor is it prescribed or sanctioned as a morally or legally valid consequence of apostasy
The silence of the Qur’an on any prescribed mandatory capital punishment for apostasy is quite revealing.
More revealing is the fact that there is overwhelming evidence in the Qur’an of freedom of conscience, belief and worship. Following are a few examples:
“And say [O Muhammad]: ‘the truth [has now come] from your Sustainer: let, then, him or her who wills, believe in it, and let him or her who wills, reject it”
Quran 18:29
There shall be no coercion in matters of faith…
Quran 2:256
“ And so, [O Prophet] exhort them; your task is only to exhort. You can not compel them [to believe]”
Quran 88:21-22
Non Muslims can have their own interpretation but they should allow others to have their explanation too
Apostasy is treason rather than exercise of freedom of religion is not so much part of Islam, as part of the pre-modern era when classical Islamic fiqh was developed, and when "every religion was a `religion of the sword`". when religions were fighting wars
"This was also an era in which religion and the state were one unified entity. ... no Jew, Christian, Zoroastrian, or Muslim of this time would have considered his or her religion to be rooted in the personal confessional experiences of individuals. ... Your religion was your ethnicity, your culture, and your social identity... your religion was your citizenship, your nation
So when Muhammad was fighting war of survival a member of his army crossing to the enemy line and fighting Muslims is of course treason
