This article is about a general description and examination of apostasy from Islam. For the situation of those accused of apostasy from Islam (ex-Muslims) by country, seeApostasy in Islam by country. For the sociological perspectives of ex-Muslims, seeEx-Muslims. For organisations by and for ex-Muslims, seeList of ex-Muslim organisations.
As of 2021, there were tenMuslim-majority countries where apostasy from Islam was punishable by death,[26] but legal executions are rare.[a] Most punishment is extrajudicial/vigilante,[28][29] and most executions are perpetrated byjihadist andtakfiri insurgents (al-Qaeda, theIslamic State, theGIA, and theTaliban).[11][30][31][32] Another thirteen countries have penal or civil penalties for apostates[29] – such as imprisonment, the annulment of their marriages, the loss of their rights of inheritance and the loss of custody of their children.[29]
Apostasy is calledirtidād orridda (which means "relapse" or "regress") inIslamic literature.[2] An apostate is calledmurtadd, which means "one who turns back" from Islam.[43] TheOxford Islamic Studies Online definesmurtadd as "not just anykāfir (non-believer)" but "a particularly heinous type".[44]Ridda can also refer to "secession" in apolitical context.[45] A person born to a Muslim father who later rejects Islam is called amurtadd fitri, and a person who converted to Islam and later rejects the religion is called amurtadd milli.[46][47][48]Takfīr (Arabic:تكفير) is the act of oneMuslim excommunicating another, declaring them akāfir, an apostate.[11][30][32] The act which precipitatestakfīr is termedmukaffir.[11][30][32]
TheQuran references apostasy[49] (2:108,66;10:73;3:90;4:89,137;5:54;9:11–12,66;16:06;88:22–24) in the context of attitudes associated with impending punishment, divine anger, and the rejection of repentance for individuals who commit this act. Traditionally, these verses are thought to "appear to justify coercion and severe punishment" for apostates (according toDale F. Eickelman),[50] including the traditional capital punishment.[51] Other scholars, by contrast, have pointed to a lack of any Quranic passage requiring the implementation of force to return apostates to Islam, nor any specific corporal punishment to apply to apostates inthis world[52][53][54][d] – let alone commands to kill apostates – either explicitly or implicitly.[56][57][58][59] Some verses have been cited as emphasizing mercy and a lack of compulsion with respect to religious belief (2:256;4:137;10:99;11:28;18:29;88:21–22).[60]
The verse (ayah) 256 ofAl-Baqara is a famous verse in theIslamic scripture, theQuran.[61] The verse includes the phrase that "there is no compulsion in religion".[62] Immediately after making this statement, the Quran offers a rationale for it: Since the revelation has, through explanation, clarification, and repetition, clearly distinguished the path of guidance from the path of misguidance, it is now up to people to choose the one or the other path.[61] This verse comes right after theThrone Verse.[63][64]
The classical shariah punishment for apostasy comes fromSahih ("authentic")Hadith rather than the Quran.[65][66] Writing in theEncyclopedia of Islam, Heffening holds that contrary to the Quran, "in traditions [i.e. hadith], there is little echo of these punishments in the next world... and instead, we have in many traditions a new element, the death penalty."[43]
Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims."
Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn 'Abbas, who said, "Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, 'Don't punish (anybody) with Allah's Punishment.' No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.'"
A man embraced Islam and then reverted back to Judaism. Mu'adh bin Jabal came and saw the man with Abu Musa. Mu'adh asked, "What is wrong with this (man)?" Abu Musa replied, "He embraced Islam and then reverted back to Judaism." Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down unless you kill him (as it is) the verdict of Allah and His Apostle."
Other hadith give differing statements about the fate of apostates;[37][67] that they were spared execution by repenting, by dying of natural causes or by leaving their community (the last case sometimes cited as an example of open apostasy that was left unpunished).[68]
A man from among the Ansar accepted Islam, then he apostatized and went back to Shirk. Then he regretted that, and sent word to his people (saying): 'Ask the Messenger of Allah [SAW], is there any repentance for me?' His people came to the Messenger of Allah [SAW] and said: 'So and so regrets (what he did), and he has told us to ask you if there is any repentance for him?' Then the Verses: 'How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their Belief up to His saying: Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful' was revealed. So he sent word to him, and he accepted Islam.
There was a Christian who became Muslim and read the Baqarah and the Al Imran, and he used to write for the Prophet. He then went over to Christianity again, and he used to say, Muhammad does not know anything except what I wrote for him. Then Allah caused him to die and they buried him.
A bedouin gave the Pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle for Islam and the bedouin got a fever where upon he said to the Prophet "Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused. He came to him (again) saying, "Cancel my Pledge.' But the Prophet refused. Then (the bedouin) left (Medina). Allah's Apostle said: "Medina is like a pair of bellows (furnace): It expels its impurities and brightens and clears its good."
TheMuwatta ofImam Malik offers a case wereRashidun (rightly guide) CaliphUmar admonishes a Muslim leader for not giving an apostate the opportunity to repent before being executed:
Malik related to me from Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Qari that his father said, "A man came to Umar ibn al-Khattab from Abu Musa al-Ashari. Umar asked after various people, and he informed him. Then Umar inquired, 'Do you have any recent news?' He said, 'Yes. A man has become a kafir after his Islam.' Umar asked, 'What have you done with him?' He said, 'We let him approach and struck off his head.' Umar said, 'Didn't you imprison him for three days and feed him a loaf of bread every day and call on him to tawba that he might turn in tawba and return to the command of Allah?' Then Umar said, 'O Allah! I was not present and I did not order it and I am not pleased since it has come to me!'
The argument has been made (by theFiqh Council of North America, among others) that the hadiths above – traditionally cited as proof that apostates from Islam should be punished by death – have been misunderstood. In fact (the council argues), the victims were executed for changing their allegiances to the armies fighting the Muslims (i.e. for treason), not for their personal beliefs.[70] As evidence, they point to two hadith, each from a different "authentic" (sahih) Sunni hadith collection[e] where Muhammad calls for the death of apostates or traitors. The wording of the hadith are almost identical, but in one, the hadith ends with the phrase "one who reverts from Islam and leaves the Muslims", and in the other it ends with "one who goes forth to fight Allah and His Apostle" (in other words, the council argues the hadith were likely reports of the same incident but had different wording because "reverting from Islam" was another way of saying "fighting Allah and His Apostle"):
Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims."
Allah's Apostle said: "The blood of a Muslim man who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle should not lawfully be shed except only for one of three reasons: a man who committed fornication after marriage, in which case he should be stoned; one who goes forth to fight Allah and His Apostle, in which case he should be killed or crucified or exiled from the land; or one who commits murder for which he is killed."
Al-Shafi'i listed three necessary conditions to pass capital punishment on a Muslim for apostasy in hisKitab al-Umm. (In the words of Frank Griffel) these are:
"first, the apostate had to once have had faith (which, according to Al-Shafi'i's definition, means publicly professing all tenets of Islam);
secondly, there had to follow unbelief (meaning the public declaration of a breaking-away from Islam), (having done these two the Muslim is now an unbeliever but not yet an apostate and thus not eligible for punishment);[f]
"third, there had to be the omission or failure to repent after the apostate was asked to do so."[72][71]
Three centuries later,Al-Ghazali wrote that one group, known as "secret apostates" or "permanent unbelievers" (akazandaqa), should not be given a chance to repent, eliminating Al-Shafi'i's third condition for them although his view was not accepted by his Shafi'i madhhab.[73][71]
Describing what qualifies as apostasy or unbelief in Islam,religion scholar Christine Schirrmacher writes:
[...] there is widespread consensus that apostasy undoubtedly exists where the truth ofthe Koran is denied, whereblasphemy is committed against God, Islam, or Muhammad, and where breaking away from the Islamic faith in word or deed occurs. The lasting, willful non-observance of thefive pillars of Islam, in particular theduty to pray, clearly count as apostasy for most [Muslim] theologians. Additional distinguishing features are achange of religion, confessingatheism, nullifying theSharia as well as judging what is allowed to be forbidden and judging what is forbidden to be allowed. Fighting against Muslims and Islam (Arabic:muḥāraba) also counts as unbelief or apostasy;[2]
Kamran Hashemi classifies apostasy or unbelief in Islam into three different "phenomena":[74]
Blaspheming (sabb)[74] (by a Muslim) against God, Islam, its laws or its prophet,[2][4][78] which can be defined, in practice, as any objection to the authenticity of Islam, its laws or its prophet.[74][79]
Caricature of theCrimean Tatar educator and intellectualIsmail Gasprinsky (on the right), leader of theJadid movement, depicted holding the newspaperTerjuman ("The Translator") and the textbookKhoja-i-Sübyan ("The Teacher of Children") in his hand. Two men, respectively Tatar and AzerbaijaniMuslim clerics, are threatening him withtakfīr andsharīʿah decrees (on the left). From the satirical magazineMolla Nasreddin, N. 17, 28 April 1908,Tbilisi (illustrator:Oskar Schmerling).
While identifying someone who publicly converted to another religion as an apostate was straightforward, determining whether a diversion from orthodox doctrine qualified as heresy, blasphemy, or something permitted by God could be less so. Traditionally,Islamic jurists did not formulate general rules for establishing unbelief, instead, compiled sometimes lengthy lists of statements and actions which in their view implied apostasy or were incompatible with Islamic "theological consensus".[4]Al-Ghazali,[82] for example, devoting "chapters to dealing with takfir and the reasons for which one can be accused of unbelief" in his workFaysal al-Tafriqa bayn al-Islam wa-l-Zandaqa ("The Criterion of Distinction between Islam and Clandestine Unbelief").[83][84]
Some heretical or blasphemous acts or beliefs listed in classical manuals ofIslamic jurisprudence and other scholarly works (i.e. works written by Islamic scholars) that allegedly demonstrate apostasy include:
to deny the obligatory character of something considered obligatory byijma (legal consensus of Islamic scholars);[85][86]
While there are numerous requirements for a Muslim to avoid being an apostate, it is also an act of apostasy, inShāfiʿī te doctrine and other schools of Islamic jurisprudence, for a Muslimto accuse or describe another devout Muslim of being an unbeliever,[92] based on the hadith where Muhammad is reported to have said: "If a man says to his brother, 'You are an infidel,' then one of them is right."[93][94] HistorianBernard Lewis writes that in "religious polemic" of early Islamic times, it was common for one scholar to accuse another of apostasy, but attempts to bring an alleged apostate to justice (have them executed) were very rare.[95]
The tension between desire to cleanse Islam of heresy and fear of inaccurate takfir is suggested in the writings of some of the leading Islamic scholars.Al-Ghazali "is often credited with having persuaded theologians", in hisFayal al-tafriqa, "that takfir is not a fruitful path and that utmost caution is to taken in applying it", but in other writing, he made sure to condemn as beyond the pale of Islam "philosophers and Ismaili esotericists".Ibn Hazm andIbn Taymiyyah also "warned against unbridled takfir" while takfiring "specific categories" of theological opponents as "unbelievers".[96]Gilles Kepel writes that "used wrongly or unrestrainedly, this sanction would quickly lead to discord and sedition in the ranks of the faithful. Muslims might resort to mutually excommunicating one another and thus propel theUmmah to complete disaster."[97]
TheIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), for example, takfired all those who opposed its policy ofexterminating and enslaving members of theYazidi religion. According to one source, Jamileh Kadivar, the majority of the "27,947 terrorist deaths" ISIL has been responsible for (as of 2020) have been Muslims it regards "as kafir",[g] as ISIL gives fighting alleged apostates a higher priority than fighting self-professed non-Muslims – Jews, Christians, Hindus, etc.[99] An open letter to ISIL by 126 Islamic scholars includes as one of its points of opposition to ISIL: "It is forbidden in Islam to declare people non-Muslim unless he (or she) openly declares disbelief".[100]
There is general agreement among Muslims that the takfir and mass killings of alleged apostates perpetrated not only by ISIL but also by theArmed Islamic Group of Algeria andAbu Musab al-Zarqawi's jihadis[81] were wrong, but there is less unanimity in other cases, such as what to do in a situation where self-professed Muslim(s) – post-modernist academicNasr Abu Zayd or theAhmadiyya movement – disagree with their accusers on an important doctrinal point. (Ahmadis quote a Muslim journalist, Abdul-Majeed Salik, claiming that, "all great and eminent Muslims" as well as "all the sects in the Muslim world", at sometime in the history of Islam were "considered to be disbelievers, apostates, and outside the pale of Islam, according to one or the other group of religious leaders".)[h] In the case of theAhmadiyya – who are accused by mainstream Sunni and Shia of denying the basic tenet ofthe Finality of Prophethood (Ahmadis state they believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is amahdi and amessiah)[102] – the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has declared inOrdinance XX of theSecond Amendment to its Constitution, that Ahmadis are non-Muslims and deprived them of religious rights. Several large riots (1953 Lahore riots,1974 Anti-Ahmadiyya riots) and a bombing (2010 Ahmadiyya mosques massacre) have killed hundreds of Ahmadis in that country. Whether this is unjust takfir or applying sharia to collective apostasy is disputed.[103]
The three types (conversion, blasphemy and heresy) of apostasy may overlap – for example some "heretics" were alleged not to be actual self-professed Muslims, but (secret) members of another religion, seeking to destroy Islam from within. (Abdullah ibn Mayun al-Qaddah, for example, "fathered the whole complex development of the Ismaili religion and organisation up to Fatimid times," was accused by his different detractors of being (variously) "a Jew, a Bardesanian and most commonly as an Iranian dualist")[104] In Islamic literature, the term "blasphemy" sometimes also overlaps withkufr ("unbelief"),fisq (depravity),isa'ah (insult), andridda (apostasy).[105][106] Because blasphemy in Islam included rejection of fundamental doctrines,[49] blasphemy has historically been seen as an evidence of rejection of Islam, that is, the religious crime ofapostasy. Some jurists believe that blasphemy automatically implies a Muslim has left the fold of Islam.[107] A Muslim may find himself accused of being a blasphemer, and thus an apostate on the basis of one action or utterance.[108][109]
In collective apostasy, a self-proclaimed Islamic group/sect are declared to be heretics/apostates. Groups treated as collective apostates includezindiq, sometimesSufis, and more recentlyAhmadis andBaháʼís (although Baháʼís do not consider themselves Muslims but members of a new religion).[110] As described above, the difference between legitimate Muslim sects and illegitimate apostate groups can be subtle and Muslims have not agreed on where the line dividing them lies. According to Gianluca Parolin, "collective apostasy has always been declared on a case-by-case basis".[110]
Among AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini and others inJa'fari fiqh, a distinction is made between "fetri" or "innate" apostates who grew up Muslim and remained Muslim after puberty until converting to another religion, and "national apostates" – essentially people who grew up non-Muslim and converted to Islam. "National apostates" are given a chance to repent, but "innate apostates are not.[111]
Orthodox apostasy fiqh can be problematic for someone who was raised by a non-Muslim(s) but has an absentee Muslim parent, or was raised by an apostate(s) from Islam. A woman born to a Muslim parent is considered an apostate if she marries a non-Muslim,[112][113] even if her Muslim parent did not raise her andshe has always practiced another religion; and even if they know nothing about Islam. A person with an absentee Muslim parent but brought up non-Muslim can also become an apostate simply by practicing the (new) religion of their non-Muslim parent(s) (according to the committee of fatwa scholars at Islamweb.net).[114]
In the 19th, 20th and 21 century issues affecting shariʿah on apostasy include modern norms of freedom of religion,[4] the status of members ofBaháʼí (considered unbeliever/apostates in Iran) andAhmadi faiths (considered appostates from Islam in Pakistan and elsewhere),[4] those who "refuse to judge or be judged according to theshariʿah,"[4] and more recently the status of Muslims authorities and governments that do not implement classicalshariʿah law in its completeness.
There are differences of opinion among Islamic scholars about whether, when and especially how apostasy in Islam should be punished.[12][4][43]
From 11th century onwards, apostasy from Islam was forbidden by Islamic law; earlier apostasy law was only applicable if a certain number of witnesses testified that there was apostasy, which for the most part was impractical.[115][116][117] Apostasy was punishable by death and also by civil liabilities such as seizure of property, children, annulment of marriage, loss of inheritance rights.[4] (A subsidiary law, also applied throughout the history of Islam, forbade non-Muslims from proselytizing Muslims to leave Islam and join another religion,[118][119][115][116][117] since it meant encouraging Muslims to commit a crime.) With Western colonial influence, starting in the 19th century, the legal code of many Muslim states no longer included apostasy as a capital crime; very much disapproving of this change, Islamic scholars called for vigilante justice ofhisbah to execute the offenders (seeApostasy in Islam#Colonial era and after).
Still others support a "centrist or moderate position" of executing only those whose apostasy is "unambiguously provable" such as if two just Muslim eyewitnesses testify; and/or reserving the death penalty for those who make their apostacy public. According to Christine Schirrmacher, "a majority of theologians" embrace this stance.[120]
Who qualifies for judgement for the crime of apostasy
As mentionedabove, there are numerous doctrinal fine points outlined in fiqh manuals whose violation should render a (self-proclaimed) Muslim an apostate, but there are also hurdles and exacting requirements that spare violators of doctrine a conviction for apostasy in classicalfiqh.
One motive for caution is that it is an act of apostasy (in Shafi'i and other fiqh) for a Muslim to accuse or describe another innocent Muslim of being an unbeliever,[92] based on the hadith where Muhammad is reported to have said: "If a man says to his brother, 'You are an infidel,' then one of them is right."[121][122]
According to sharia, to be found guilty the accused must at the time of apostasizing be exercising free will (that is did not convert to or from Islam under duress),[123][124] an adult, and of sound mind,[4] and have refused to repent when given a period of time to do so (not all schools include this last requirement). Some of these requirements have served as "loopholes" to exonerate apostates (apostasy charges againstAbdul Rahman, were dropped on the grounds he was "mentally unfit").[125]
Traditional Sunnī and ShīʿaIslamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and their respectiveschools (maḏāhib) agree on some issues – that male apostates should be executed, and that most but not all perpetrators should not be given a chance to repent; among the excluded are those who practicesorcery (subhar),treacherous heretics (zanādiqa), and "recidivists".[4] They disagree on issues such as whetherwomen can be executed,[126][127][128] whether apostasy is a violation of "the rights of God",[4][129] whether apostates who were born Muslims may be spared if they repent,[4] whether conviction requires the accused be a practicing Muslim,[4] or whether it is enough to simply intend to commit apostasy rather than actually doing it.[4]
Ḥanafī school – recommends three days ofimprisonment before theexecution, although the delay before killing the apostates is not mandatory. Apostasy from Islam is not considered ahudud crime.[130] Unlike in other schools, it is not obligatory to call on the apostate to repent.[4] Apostate males are to be killed, while apostate females are to be held insolitary confinement andbeaten every three days till they recant and return to Islam.[131]Apostasy from Islam is not sufficient grounds for execution in the Ḥanafī school. Apostates must also be guilty of causingaggravated robbery or grand larceny (ḥirābah).[132]
Mālikī school – allows up to ten days for recantation, after which the apostates must be killed. Apostasy from Islam is considered ahudud crime.[130] Both male and female apostates deserve thedeath penalty for leaving Islam, according to the traditional view of the Mālikī school.[128] Unlike other schools, the apostates must have a history of being "good" (i.e., practicing) Muslims.[4]
Shāfiʿī school – waiting period of three days is required to allow the apostates time to repent and return to Islam. Failing repentance,death penalty is the recommended form of punishment for both male and female apostates for leaving Islam.[128] Apostasy from Islam is not considered ahudud crime.[130]
Jaʿfari or Imāmī school – Male apostates must be executed, while female apostates must be held insolitary confinement until they repent and return to Islam.[128][131] Apostasy from Islam is considered ahudud crime.[130] The "mere intention of unbelief" without expression, also qualifies as apostasy.[4] Unlike the other schools, repentance will not save a defendant fromexecution, unless they are "national apostates" who were not born Muslims but converted to Islam before apostasizing, although it is disputed by someMuslim scholars. "Innate" apostates, who grew up Muslims and remained Muslim after puberty and until converting to another religion, should be executed.[4][111]
In contemporary situations where apostates, (or alleged apostates), have ended up being killed, it is usually not be through the formal criminal justice system, especially when "a country's law does not punish apostasy." It is not uncommon in some countries for "vigilante" Muslims to kill or attempt to kill apostates or alleged apostates (or force them to flee the country).[16] In at least one case, the high-profile execution ofMahmud Muhammad Taha, the victim was legally executed and the government made clear he was being executed for apostasy, but the technical "legal basis" for his killing was another crime or crimes,[16] namely "heresy, opposing the application of Islamic law, disturbing public security, provoking opposition against the government, and re-establishing a banned political party."[133] When post-modernist professorNasr Abu Zayd was found to be an apostate by an Egyptian court, it meant only an involuntary divorce from his wife (who did not want to divorce), but it put the proverbial target on his back and he fled to Europe.[16][134]
In Islam, apostasy has traditionally had both criminal and civil penalties. In the late 19th century, when the use of criminal penalties for apostasy fell into disuse, civil penalties were still applied.[4] The punishment for the criminal penalties such as murder includes death or prison, while[4][135] In allmadhhabs of Islam, the civil penalties include:
(a) the property of the apostate is seized and distributed to his or her Muslim relatives;
(1) if they were not married at the time of apostasy they could not get married[136]
(c) any children removed and considered ward of the Islamic state.[4]
(d) In case the entire family has left Islam, or there are no surviving Muslim relatives recognized by Sharia, the apostate's inheritance rights are lost and property is liquidated by the Islamic state (part offay, الْفيء).
(e) In case the apostate is not executed – such as in case of women apostates in Hanafi school – the person also loses all inheritance rights.[37][38][not specific enough to verify] Hanafi Sunni school of jurisprudence allows waiting till execution, before children and property are seized; other schools do not consider this wait as mandatory but mandates time for repentance.[4]
Social liabilities
The conversion of a Muslim to another faith is often considered a "disgrace" and "scandal" as well as a sin,[137] so in addition to penal and civil penalties, loss of employment,[137] ostracism and proclamations by family members that they are "dead", is not at all "unusual".[138] For those who wish to remain in the Muslim community but who are considered unbelievers by other Muslims, there are also "serious forms of ostracism". These include the refusal of other Muslims to pray together with or behind a person accused of kufr, the denial of the prayer for the dead and burial in a Muslim cemetery, boycott of whatever books they have written, etc.[139]
Legal opinion on apostasy by theFatwa committee atAl-Azhar University inCairo, concerning the case of a man whoconverted to Christianity: "Since he left Islam, he will be invited to express his regret. If he does not regret, he will be killed according to rights and obligations of the Islamic law." The Fatwa also mentions that the same applies to hischildren if they entered Islam and left it after they reachmaturity.[140]
"The vast majority of Muslim scholars both past as well as present" consider apostasy "a crime deserving the death penalty", according to Abdul Rashided Omar, writing circa 2007.[20] Some notable contemporary proponents include:
Abul A'la Maududi (1903–1979), who "by the time of his death had become the most widely read Muslim author of our time", according to one source.
Mohammed al-Ghazali (1917–1996), considered an Islamic "moderate"[143] and "preeminent" faculty member of Egypt's preeminent Islamic institution –Al Azhar University − as well as a valuable ally of the Egyptian government in its struggle against the "growing tide of Islamic fundamentalism",[144] was "widely credited" with contributing to the 20th century Islamic revival in the largest Arabic country,Egypt.[145] (Al-Ghazali was on record as declaring all those who opposed the implementation ofsharia law to be apostates who should ideally be punished by the state, but "when the state fails to punish apostates, somebody else has to do it".[146][145]
Zakir Naik, IndianIslamic televangelist andpreacher,[152] whosePeace TV channel, reaches a reported 100 million viewers,[153][154] and whose debates and talks are widely distributed,[155][156][154] supports the death penalty only for those apostates who "propagate the non-Islamic faith and speak against Islam" as he considers it treason.[157][155]
Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid, a Syrian Islamic scholar, considered a respected scholar in theSalafi movement (according toAl Jazeera);[158] and founder of thefatwa websiteIslamQA,[159] one of the most popular Islamic websites, and (as of November 2015 and according to Alexa.com) the world's most popular website on the topic of Islam generally (apart from the website of an Islamic bank).[160][161][162]
Mohsen Kadivar, Director of Department of Philosophy and Theology – Center of Scientific and Cultural Publishing, Tehran (1998–2003) andProfessor Duke University (2009–).[166][167]
The question of whether apostates should be killed, has been "a matter for contentious dispute throughout Islamic history".[171]
For the death penalty
Throughout Islamic history the Muslim community, scholars, and schools of fiqh have agreed that scripture prescribes this penalty; scripture must take precedence over reason or modern norms of human rights, as Islam is the one true religion; "no compulsion in religion" (Q.2:256) does not apply to this punishment; apostasy is "spiritual and cultural" treason; it hardly ever happens and so is not worth talking about.
Abul A'la Maududi said that among early Muslims, among theschools of fiqh bothSunni andShia, among scholars of shari'ah "of every century ... available on record", there is unanimous agreement that the punishment for apostate is death, and that "no room whatever remains to suggest" that this penalty has not "been continuously and uninterruptedly operative" through Islamic history; evidence from early texts that Muhammad called for apostates to be killed, and that companions of the Prophet and early caliphs ordered beheadings and crucifixions of apostates and has never been declared invalid over the course of the history of Islamic theology (Christine Schirrmacher).[137]
Verse Q.2:217 – "hindering ˹others˺ from the Path of Allah, rejecting Him, and expelling the worshippers from the Sacred Mosque is ˹a˺ greater ˹sin˺ in the sight of Allah" – indicates the punishment for apostasy from Islam is death (Mohammad Iqbal Siddiqi),[174] Quranic verses in general "appear to justify coercion and severe punishment" for apostates (Dale F. Eickelman).[50]
If this doctrine is called into question, what's next? Ritual prayer (salat)? Fasting (sawm)? Even Muhammad's mission? (Abul A'la Maududi).[175]
It "does not merit discussion" because [the advocates maintain] apostasy from Islam is so rare (Ali Kettani),[176] (Mahmud Brelvi);[177][178] before the modern era, there was virtually no apostasy from Islam (Syed Barakat Ahmad).[179]
The punishment is "rarely invoked" because there are numerous qualifications or ways for the apostate to avoid death (to be found guilty they must openly reject Islam, have made their decision without coercion, be aware of the nature of their statements, be an adult, be completely sane, refused to repent, etc.) (Religious Tolerance website).[180]
The verse only forbids compulsion to believe "things that are wrong", when it comes to accepting the truth, compulsion is allowed (Peters and Vries explaining a traditional view).[i]
Others maintain that verse Q.2:256 has been "abrogated", i.e. according to classical Quranic scholars it has been overruled/cancelled by verses of Quran revealed later, (in other words, compulsion was not allowed in the very earliest days of Islam but this was changed by divine revelation a few years later) (Peters and Vries explaining traditional view).[182]
Because "the social order of every Moslem society is Islam", apostasy constitutes "an offense" against that social order, "that may lead in the end to the destruction of this order" (Muhammad Muhiy al-Din al-Masiri).[183]
Apostasy is usually "a psychological pretext for rebellion against worship, traditions and laws and even against the foundations of the state", and so "is often synonymous with the crime of high treason ... " (Muhammad al-Ghazali).[184]
Against death penalty
Arguments against the death penalty include: that some scholars throughout Islamic history have opposed that punishment for apostasy; that it constitutes a form of compulsion in faith, which the Quran explicitly forbids in Q.2.256 and other verses, and that these override any other scriptural arguments; and especially that the death penalty in hadith and applied by Muhammad was for treasonous/seditious behavior, not for a change in personal belief.
How can it be claimed that there was a consensus among scholars or community (ijma) from the beginning of Islam in favor of capital punishment when a number ofcompanions of Muhammad and early Islamic scholars (Ibn al-Humam, al-Marghinani,Ibn Abbas, Sarakhsi, Ibrahim al-Nakh'i) opposed the execution ofmurtadd? (Mirza Tahir Ahmad)[185]
In addition there have been a number of prominentulema (though a minority) over the centuries who argued against the death penalty for apostasy in some way, such as ...
The Maliki juristAbu al-Walid al-Baji (d. 474AH) held that apostasy was liable only to a discretionary punishment (known asta'zir) and so might not require execution.[163]
The Hanafi juristAl-Sarakhsi (d. 483 AH/ 1090 CE)[186][187] and Imam Ibnul Humam (d. 681AH/ 1388 CE)[188] andAbd al-Rahman al-Awza'i (707–774 CE),[189] all distinguished between non-seditious religious apostasy on the one hand and treason on the other, with execution reserved for treason.
Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿī (50AH/670 – 95/96 AH/717 CE) andSufyan al-Thawri (97 AH/716 CE – 161 AH/778 CE) as well as the Hanafi juristSarakhsi (d. 1090), believed that an apostate should be asked to repent indefinitely (which would be incompatible with being sentenced to death).[163][190]
There are problems with the scriptural basis for sharia commanding the execution of apostates.
Compulsion in faith is "explicitly" forbidden by the Quran ('Abd al-Muta'ali al-Sa'idi);[191] Quranic statements on freedom of religion – 'There is no compulsion in religion. The right path has been distinguished from error' (Q.2:256) (and also 'Whoever wants, let him believe, and whoever wants, let him disbelieve,' (Q.18:29) – are "absolute and universal" statement(s) (Jonathan A.C. Brown),[57] (Grand MuftiAli Gomaa),[164] "general, overriding principle(s)" (Khaled Abou El Fadl)[192] of Islam, and not abrogated by hadith or theSword Verse (Q.9:5), and there can be little doubt capital punishment for apostasy is incompatible with this principle – after all, if someone has the threat of death hanging over their head in a matter of faith, it cannot be said that there is "no compulsion or coercion" in their belief (Tariq Ramadan).[193]
Neither verse Q.2:217, (Mirza Tahir Ahmad),[194] nor any other Quranic verse say anything to indicate an apostate should be punishedin the temporal world, akadunyā (S. A. Rahman),[195] (W. Heffening),[196] (Wael Hallaq),[197][55] (Grand AyatollahHussein-Ali Montazeri);[168] the verses only indicate that dangerous, aggressive apostates should be killed (Mahmud Shaltut)[163] (e.g. "If they do not withdraw from you, and offer you peace, and restrain their hands, take them and kill them wherever ye come upon them" Q.4:90), (Peters and Vries describing argument of Islamic Modernists).[198][199]
Another verse condemning apostasy – Q.4:137, "Those who believe then disbelieve, then believe again, then disbelieve and then increase in their disbelief – God will never forgive them nor guide them to the path" – makes no sense if apostasy is punished by death, because killing apostates "would not permit repeated conversion from and to Islam" (Louay M. Safi),[60] (Sisters in Islam).[200]
"According to most established juristic schools, a hadith can limit the application of a general Qur'anic statement, but can never negate it", so the hadith calling for execution cannot abrogate the "There is no compulsion in religion" verse (Q.2:256) (Louay M. Safi).[j]
The Prophet Muhammad did not call for the deaths of contemporaries who left Islam (Mohamed Ghilan)[201] – for example, apostates like "Hishâm and 'Ayyash", or converts to Christianity, such as "Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh" – and since what The Prophet did is by definition part of theSunnah of Islam, this indicates "that one who changes her/his religion should not be killed" (Tariq Ramadan).[193]
another reason not to use the hadith(s) stating "whoever changes his religion kill him" as the basis for law is that it is not among the class of hadith eligible to be used as the basis for "legal rulings binding upon all Muslims for all times" (Muhammadal-Shawkani (1759–1834 CE));[201] as their authenticity is not certain (Wael Hallaq);[197] the hadith are in a category relying "on only one authority (khadar al-ahad) and were not widely known amongst the Companions of the Prophet," and so ought not abrogate Quranic verses of tolerance (Peters and Vries describing argument of Islamic Modernists).[202]
The hadith(s) "calling for apostates to be killed" are actually referring to "what can be considered in modern terms political treason", not change in personal belief (Mohamed Ghilan),[201] (Adil Salahi),[k] or collective conspiracy and treason against the government (Enayatullah Subhani),[204] (Mahmud Shaltut);[l] and in fact, translating the Islamic termridda as simply "apostasy" – a standard practice – is really an error, asridda should be defined as "the public act of political secession from the Muslim community" (Jonathan Brown).[205]
The punishment or lack for apostasy should reflect the circumstances of the Muslim community which is very different now then when the death penalty was established;
Unlike some other sharia laws, those on how to deal with apostates from Islam are not set in stone but should be adjusted according to circumstances based on what best serves the interests of society. In the past, the death penalty for leaving Islam "protected the integrity of the Muslim community", but today this goal is no longer met by punishing apostasy (Jonathan Brown).[205]
The "premise and reasoning underlying the sunna rule of death penalty for apostasy were valid in the historical context" where 'disbelief is equated with high treason' because citizenship was 'based on belief in Islam', but doesn't apply today (Abdullahi An-Na'im, et al.);[206][207] the prescription of death penalty for apostasy found in hadith was aimed at prevention of aggression against Muslims and sedition against the state (Mahmud Shaltut);[163] it's a man-made rule enacted in the early Islamic community to prevent and punish the equivalent of desertion or treason (John Esposito);[40] it is probable that the punishment was prescribed by Muhammad during early Islam to combat political conspiracies against Islam and Muslims, those who desert Islam out of malice and enmity towards the Muslim community, and is not intended for those who simply change their belief, converting to another religion after investigation and research (AyatollahHussein-Ali Montazeri).[168]
The concept of apostasy as treason is not so much part of Islam, as part of the pre-modern era when classical Islamicfiqh was developed, and when "every religion was a 'religion of the sword'" (Reza Aslan);[208] and every religion "underpinned the political and social order within ... the states they established" (Jonathan Brown);[205] "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."[208]
For example, theHoly Roman Empire had its officially sanctioned and legally enforced version of Christianity; theSasanian Empire had its officially sanctioned and legally enforced version ofZoroastrianism; in China at that time,Buddhist rulers foughtTaoist rulers for political ascendancy (Reza Aslan);[208] Jews who abandoned the God of Israel to worship other deities "were condemned to stoning" (Jonathan Brown).[205]
Transcending tribalism with religious (Islamic) unity could mean prevention of civil war in Muhammad's era, so to violate religious unity meant violating civil peace (Mohamed Ghilan).[201]
Capital punishment for apostasy is a time-bound command, applying only to those Arabs who denied the truth even after having Muhammad himself explain and clarify it to them (Javed Ahmad Ghamidi).[209]
Now the only reason to kill an apostate is to eliminate the danger of war, not because of their disbelief (Al-Kamal ibn al-Humam 861 AH/1457 CE);[188] these days, the number of apostates is small, and does not politically threaten the Islamic community (Christine Schirrmacher describing the "liberal" position on apostasy);[120] it should be enforced only if apostasy becomes a mechanism of public disobedience and disorder (fitna) (Ahmet Albayrak).[41]
In Islamic history, laws calling for severe penalties against apostasy (and blasphemy) have not been used to protect Islam, but "almost exclusively" to either eliminate "political dissidents" or target "vulnerable religious minorities" (Javaid Rehman),[210] which is hardly something worthy of imitating.
Executing apostates is a violation of the human right to freedom of religion, and somewhat hypocritical for a religion that enthusiastically encourages non-Muslims to apostatize from their current faith and convert to Islam (Non-Muslims and liberal Muslims).
At least some conservative jurists and preachers have attempted to reconcile following the traditional doctrine of death for apostasy while addressing the principle of freedom of religion. Some of whom argue apostasy should have a lesser penalty than death.[35][36][37][38]
At a 2009-human rights conference at Mofid University inQom, Iran, AyatollahMohsen Araki, stated that "if an individual doubts Islam, he does not become the subject of punishment, but if the doubt is openlyexpressed, this is not permissible." As one observer (Sadakat Kadri) noted, this "freedom" has the advantage that "state officials could not punish an unmanifested belief even if they wanted to".[211]
Zakir Naik, the IndianIslamic televangelist andpreacher[152] takes a less strict line (mentioned above), stating that only those Muslims who "propagate the non-Islamic faith and speak against Islam" after converting from Islam should be put to death.[157][155]
While not speaking to the issue of executing apostates,Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, an Egyptian Islamic advisory, justiciary and governmental body, issued a fatwa in the case of an Egyptian Christian convert to Islam but "sought to return to Christianity", stating: "Those who embraced Islam voluntarily and without coercion cannot later deviate from the public order of society by revealing their act of apostasy because such behavior would discourage other people from embracing Islam." (The Egyptian court followed the fatwa.)[212]
The charge of apostasy has often been used by religious authorities to condemn and punish skeptics, dissidents, and minorities in their communities.[53] From the earliest times of thehistory of Islam, the crime of apostasy and execution for apostasy has driven major events in the development of the Islamic religion. For example, theRidda wars (civil wars of apostasy) shook the Muslim community in 632–633 AD, immediately after thedeath of Muhammad.[53][213] Later,sectarian wars caused thesplit between the two major sects of Islam:Sunnis andShias, and numerous deaths on both sides.[214][215] Sunni and Shia sects of Islam have long accused each other of apostasy.[216]
The charge of apostasy dates back to theearly history of Islam with the emergence of theKharijites in the 7th century CE.[217] The original schism betweenKharijites,Sunnis, andShias amongMuslims was disputed over thepolitical and religious succession to the guidance of theMuslim community (Ummah) after the death of Muhammad.[217] From their essentially political position, the Kharijites developed extreme religious doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunni and Shia Muslims.[217] Shias believeʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib is the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnis considerAbu Bakr to hold that position. The Kharijites broke away from both the Shias and the Sunnis during theFirst Fitna (the first Islamic Civil War);[217] they were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach totakfīr (excommunication), whereby they declared both Sunni and Shia Muslims to be eitherinfidels (kuffār) orfalse Muslims (munāfiḳūn), and therefore deemed themworthy of death for their perceived apostasy (ridda).[217][218][219]
HistorianDavid Cook writes that "it is only with the'Abbasi caliphs al-Mu'taṣim (218–28 AH/833–42 CE) and al-Mutawakkil (233–47 /847–61) that we find detailed accounts" of apostates and what was done with them. Prior to that, in theUmayyad and early Abbasid periods, measures to defend Islam from apostasy "appear to have mostly remained limited to intellectual debates".[226] He also states that "the most common category of apostates" – at least of apostates who converted to another religion – "from the very first days of Islam" were "Christians and Jews who converted to Islam and after some time" reconverted back to their former faith.[227]
Some sources emphasize that executions of apostates have been "rare in Islamic history".[27] According to historianBernard Lewis, in "religious polemic" in the "early times" of Islam, "charges of apostasy were not unusual", but the accused were seldom prosecuted, and "some even held high offices in the Muslim state". Later, "as the rules and penalties of the Muslim law were systematized and more regularly enforced, charges of apostasy became rarer."[95] When action was taken against an alleged apostate, it was much more likely to be "quarantine" than execution, unless the innovation was "extreme, persistent and aggressive".[95] Another source, legal historianSadakat Kadri, argues execution was rare because "it was widely believed" that any accused apostate "who repented by articulating theshahada [...] had to be forgiven" and their punishment delayed until after Judgement Day. This principle was upheld "even in extreme situations", such as when an offender adopted Islam "only for fear of death" and their sincerity seemed highly implausible. It was based on the hadith that Muhammad had upbraided a follower for killing a raider who had uttered theshahada.[m]
The New Encyclopedia of Islam also states that after the early period, with some notable exceptions, the practice in Islam regarding atheism or various forms of heresy, grew more tolerant as long as it was a private matter. However heresy and atheism expressed in public may well be considered a scandal and a menace to a society; in some societies they are punishable, at least to the extent the perpetrator is silenced. In particular, blasphemy against God and insultingMuhammad are major crimes.[230]
In contrast, historian David Cook maintains the issue of apostasy and punishment for it was not uncommon in Islamic history. However, he also states that prior to 11th century execution seems rare. He gives an example of a Jew who had converted to Islam and used the threat of reverting to Judaism in order to gain better treatment and privilege.[231]
Zindīq (often a "blanket phrase" for "intellectuals" under suspicion of having abandoned Islam", or forfreethinkers, atheists or heretics who conceal their religion),[232] experienced a wave of persecutions from 779 to 786. A history of those times states:[230]
"Tolerance is laudable", the Spiller (the CaliphAbu al-Abbās) had once said, "except in matters dangerous to religious beliefs, or to the Sovereign's dignity."[230]Al-Mahdi (d. 169/785) persecuted Freethinkers, and executed them in large numbers. He was the first Caliph to order a composition of polemical works in refutation of Freethinkers and other heretics; and for years he tried to exterminate them absolutely, hunting them down throughout all provinces and putting accused persons to death on mere suspicion.[230]
The famous Sufi mystic of 10th-century Iraq,Mansur Al-Hallaj was officially executed for possessing a heretical document suggestinghajj pilgrimage was not required of a pure Muslim (i.e. killed for heresy which made him an apostate), but it is thought he would have been spared execution except that theCaliph at the timeAl-Muqtadir wished to discredit "certain figures who had associated themselves" with al-Hallaj.[233] (Previously al-Hallaj had been punished for talking about being at one with God by being shaved, pilloried and beaten with the flat of a sword. He was not executed because theShafi'ite judge had ruled that his words were not "proof of disbelief.")[233]
In 12th-century Iran,al-Suhrawardi along with followers ofIsmaili sect of Islam were killed on charges of being apostates;[53] in 14th-century Syria,Ibn Taymiyyah declared Central Asian Turko-Mongol Muslims as apostates due to the invasion of Ghazan Khan;[234] in 17th-century India,Dara Shikoh and other sons ofShah Jahan were captured and executed on charges of apostasy from Islam by his brother Aurangzeb although historians agree it was more political than a religious execution.[235]
From around 1800 up until 1970, there were only a few cases ofexecutions of apostates in the Muslim world, including the strangling of a woman inOttoman Egypt (sometime between 1825 and 1835), and the beheading of an Armenian youth in theOttoman Empire in 1843.[4]Western powers campaigned intensely for a prohibition on the execution of apostates in the Ottoman Empire.[4] British envoy to the court of SultanAbdulmejid I (1839–1861), Stratford Canning, led diplomatic representatives from Austria, Russia, Prussia, and France in a "tug of war" with the Ottoman government.[236] In the end (following the execution of the Armenian), the Sublime Porte agreed to allow "complete freedom of Christian missionaries" to try to convert Muslims in the Empire.[4] The death sentence for apostasy from Islam was abolished by theEdict of Toleration, and substituted with other forms of punishment by theOttoman government in 1844. The implementation of this ban was resisted by religious officials and proved difficult.[237][238] A series of edicts followed during theOttoman Reformist period, such as the1856 Reform Edict.
This was also the time that Islamic modernists likeMuhammad Abduh (d. 1905) argued that to be executed, it was not enough to be an apostate, the perpetrator had to pose a real threat to public safety.[171] Islamic scholars likeMuhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1935) andMuhammad al-Ghazzali (d. 1996), on the other hand, asserted that public, explicit apostasy automatically threatened public order, and hence should be punishable by death.[239] These scholars reconciled the Qur'anic verse"There is no compulsion in religion" by arguing that freedom of religion in Islam doesn't extend for Muslims who seek to change their religion.[239] Other authors like 'Abd al-Muta'ali al-Sa'idi,S. A. Rahman, etc. assert that capital punishment for apostasy is contradictory to freedom of religion and need to be banished.[239]
Despite these edicts on apostasy, there was constant pressure on non-Muslims to convert to Islam, and apostates from Islam continued to be persecuted, punished and threatened with execution, particularly in eastern andLevant parts of the thenOttoman Empire.[237] The Edict of Toleration ultimately failed when Sultan Abdul Hamid II assumed power, re-asserted pan-Islamism with sharia as Ottoman state philosophy, and initiated theHamidian massacres andlate Ottoman genocides in 1894 against Christians,[249] particularly thegenocides ofArmenians,Greeks,Assyrians, andcrypto-Christian apostates from Islam in Turkey.[250][251][252][253]
In the colonial era, the death penalty for apostasy was abolished in Islamic countries that had come under Western rule or in places, such as the Ottoman Empire, Western powers could apply enough pressure to abolish it.[4] Writing in the mid-1970s, Rudolph Peters and Gert J. J. De Vries stated that "apostasy no longer falls under criminal law"[4] in the Muslim world, but that some Muslims (such as 'Adb al-Qadir 'Awdah) were preaching that "the killing of an apostate" had "become a duty of individual Moslems" (rather than a less important collective duty inhisbah doctrine) and giving advice on how to plead in court after being arrested for such a murder to avoid punishment.[254]
Some (Louay M. Safi), have argued that this situation, with the adoption of "European legal codes ... enforced by state elites without any public debate", created an identification of tolerance with foreign/alien control in the mind of the Muslim public, and rigid literalist interpretations (such as the execution of apostates), with authenticity and legitimacy. Autocratic rulers "often align themselves with traditional religious scholars" to deflect grassroots discontent, which took the form of angry pious traditionalists.[60]
While as of 2004 apostasy from Islam is a capital offence in only eight majority-Muslim states,[255] in other states that do not directly execute apostates, apostate killing is sometimes facilitated throughextrajudicial killings performed by the apostate's family, particularly if the apostate is vocal.[n] In some countries, it is not uncommon for "vigilante" Muslims to kill or attempt to kill apostates or alleged apostates, in the belief they are enforcing sharia law that the government has failed to.
Penalties for apostasy in Muslim-majority countries as of 2020.[255] Many other Muslim countries impose a prison term for apostasy or they prosecute it underblasphemy or other laws.[257]
More than 20 Muslim-majority states have laws that punish apostasy by Muslims to be a crime some de facto other de jure.[255] As of 2014, apostasy was a capital offense in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.[255] Executions for religious conversion have been infrequent in recent times, with four cases reported since 1985: one in Sudan in 1985; two in Iran, in 1989 and 1998; and one in Saudi Arabia in 1992.[255][27] In Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen apostasy laws have been used to charge persons for acts other than conversion.[255] In addition, some predominantly Islamic countries without laws specifically addressing apostasy have prosecuted individuals or minorities for apostasy using broadly defined blasphemy laws.[258] In many nations, theHisbah doctrine of Islam has traditionally allowed any Muslim to accuse another Muslim or ex-Muslim for beliefs that may harm Islamic society, i.e. violate the norms ofsharia (Islamic law). This principle has been used in countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and others to bring blasphemy charges against apostates.[259][260]
The source of most violence or threats of violence against apostate has come from outside of state judicial systems in the Muslim world in recent years, either from extralegal acts by government authorities or from other individuals or groups operating unrestricted by the government.[261][page needed] There has also been social persecution for Muslims converting to Christianity. For example, the Christian organisationBarnabas Fund reports:
The field of apostasy and blasphemy and related "crimes" is thus obviously a complex syndrome within all Muslim societies which touches a raw nerve and always arouses great emotional outbursts against the perceived acts of treason, betrayal and attacks on Islam and its honour. While there are a few brave dissenting voices within Muslim societies, the threat of the application of the apostasy and blasphemy laws against any who criticize its application is an efficient weapon used to intimidate opponents, silence criticism, punish rivals, reject innovations and reform, and keep non-Muslim communities in their place.[262][unreliable source?]
Similar views are expressed by the non-theisticInternational Humanist and Ethical Union.[263] AuthorMohsin Hamid points out that the logic of widely accepted claim that anyone helping an apostate is themselves an apostate, is a powerful weapon in spreading fear among those who oppose the killings (in at least the country of Pakistan). It means that a doctor who agrees to treat an apostate wounded by attacker(s), or a police officer who has agreed to protect that doctor after they have been threatened is also an apostate – "and on and on".[264]
Regarding Muslim converts to Christianity, Duane Alexander Miller (2016) identified two different categories:
'Muslims followers of Jesus Christ', 'Jesus Muslims' or 'Messianic Muslims' (analogous toMessianic Jews), who continue to self-identify as 'Muslims', or at least say Islam is (part of) their 'culture' rather than religion, but "understand themselves to be following Jesus as he is portrayed in the Bible".
'Christians from a Muslim background' (abbreviated CMBs), also known as 'ex-Muslim Christians', who have completely abandoned Islam in favour of Christianity.
Miller introduced the term 'Muslim-background believers' (MBBs) to encompass both groups, adding that the latter group are generally regarded as apostates from Islam, but orthodox Muslims' opinions on the former group is more mixed (either that 'Muslim followers of Jesus' are 'heterodox Muslims', 'heretical Muslims' or 'crypto-Christian liars').[267]
Atheist apostates from Islam
Writing in 2015, Ahmed Benchemsi argued that while Westerners have great difficulty even conceiving of the existence of an Arab atheist, "a generational dynamic" is underway with "large numbers" of young people brought up as Muslims "tilting away from ... rote religiosity" after having "personal doubts" about the "illogicalities" of the Quran and Sunnah.[268] Immigrant apostates from Islam in Western countries "converting" to Atheism have often gathered for comfort ingroups such as Women in Secularism,Ex-Muslims of North America,Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain,[269] sharing tales of the tension and anxieties of "leaving a close-knit belief-based community" and confronting "parental disappointment", "rejection by friends and relatives", and charges of "trying to assimilate into a Western culture that despises them", often using terminology first uttered by the LGBT community – "'coming out,' and leaving 'the closet'".[269] Atheists in the Muslim world maintain a lower profile, but according to the Editor-in-chief of FreeArabs.com:
When I recently searched Facebook in both Arabic and English, combining the word 'atheist' with names of different Arab countries I turned up over 250 pages or groups, with memberships ranging from a few individuals to more than 11,000. And these numbers only pertain to Arab atheists (or Arabs concerned with the topic of atheism) who are committed enough to leave a trace online.[268]
A survey based on face-to-face interviews conducted in 80 languages by thePew Research Center between 2008 and 2012 among thousands of Muslims in many countries, found varied views on the death penalty for those who leave Islam to become an atheist or to convert to another religion.[33] In some countries (especially in Central Asia, Southeast Europe, and Turkey), support for the death penalty for apostasy was confined to a tiny fringe; in other countries (especially in the Arab world and South Asia) majorities and large minorities support the death penalty.
In the survey, Muslims who favored makingSharia the law of the land were asked for their views on the death penalty for apostasy from Islam.[33] The results are summarized in the table below. (Note that values forGroup C have been derived from the values for the other two groups and are not part of the Pew report.)[33]
Middle East and North Africa
Country
Group A: % Muslims support sharia
Group B: Support death for apostasy as a % of Group A
Visualisation of the total % of Muslims per country who support the death penalty for apostasy according to the 2013 Pew report's values.
Overall, the figures in the 2012 survey suggest that the percentage of Muslims in the countries surveyed who approve the death penalty for Muslims who leave Islam to become an atheist or convert to another religion varies widely, from 0.4% (in Kazakhstan) to 78.2% (in Afghanistan).[33] The Governments of theGulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait) did not permit Pew Research to survey nationwide public opinion on apostasy in 2010 or 2012. The survey also did not includeChina,India,Syria, orWest African countries such asNigeria.
The situation for apostates from Islam varies markedly between Muslim-minority and Muslim-majority regions. In Muslim-minority countries "any violence against those who abandon Islam is already illegal". But in Muslim-majority countries, violence is sometimes "institutionalised", and (at least in 2007) "hundreds and thousands of closet apostates" live in fear of violence and are compelled to live lives of "extreme duplicity and mental stress."[270]
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.[272]
Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria voted in favor of the Declaration.[272] The governments of other Muslim-majority countries have responded by criticizing the Declaration as an attempt by the non-Muslim world to impose their values on Muslims, with a presumption of cultural superiority,[273][274] and by issuing theCairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam – a joint declaration of the member states of theOrganisation of the Islamic Conference made in 1990 inCairo, Egypt.[275][276] The Cairo Declaration differs from the Universal Declaration in affirmingSharia as the sole source of rights, and in limits of equality and behavior[277][page needed][278][279] inreligion,gender,sexuality, etc.[276][280] Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Rashid Rida in Tafsir al-Minar, argue that the "freedom to apostatize", is different fromfreedom of religion on the grounds that apostasy from Islam infringes on the freedom of others and therespect due the religion of Islam.[4]
^From 1985 to 2006, only four individuals were officially executed for apostasy from Islam by governments, "one in Sudan in 1985; two in Iran, in 1989 and 1998; and one in Saudi Arabia in 1992."[27] These were sometimes charged with unrelated political crimes.
^According to the interpretation ofTurkish Muslimscholar Ahmet Albayrak regarding apostasy from Islam as a form of wrongdoing, punishment for leaving Islam is not a sign ofintolerance towards other religions, and it is not aimed at one's freedom to leave Islam andto choose a different faith. In his opinion, it is more correct to say that the punishment is imposed as a safety precaution when conditions warrant the imposition of it; for example, the punishment is imposed if apostasy from Islam becomes a mechanism ofpublic disobedience and disorder (fitna).[41]
^Legal historianWael Hallaq writes that "nothing in the law governing apostates and apostasy derives from the letter" of the Quran.[55]
^(two of theKutub al-Sittah or the six most important collections of hadith for Sunni Muslims)
^for exampleIbn Taymiyya wrote "not everyone who falls into unbelief becomes an unbeliever"Laysa kull man waqaʿa fi l-kufr ṣāra kāfir.[71]
^killings have been directly by ISIL or through affiliated groups, from its inception in 2014 to 2020 according to Jamileh Kadivar based on estimates from Global Terrorism Database, 2020; Herrera, 2019; Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights & United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Human Rights Office, 2014; Ibrahim, 2017; Obeidallah, 2014; 2015[98]
^according to one "well known Muslim journalist of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, Maulana Abdul-Majeed Salik", "All great and eminent Muslims in the history of Islam as well as all the sects in the Muslim world are considered to be disbelievers, apostates, and outside the pale of Islam according to one or the other group of religious leaders. In the realm of theShariah [religious law] andtariqat [path of devotion], not a single sect or a single family has been spared the accusations of apostasy."[101]
^"Finally the argument is put forward that killing an apostate must be considered as compulsion in religion, which has been forbidden in K 2:256, though this verse was traditionally interpreted in a different way." Footnote 38: "According to some classical scholars this verse had been abrograted by later verses. The current interpretation of this verse, however, was that it forbids compulsion to things that are wrong (batil) but not compulsion to accept the truth"[181]
^See for example al-Shatibi, al-Muafaqat (Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Ma'rifah, n.d.), vol. 3, pp. 15–26; quoted in[60]
^"The sunnah, which is consistent with the Qur'an, reserves the death penalty for those who apostatisedand treasonously fought against the Muslims"[203]
^the prescription of death penalty for apostasy found in hadith was aimed at prevention of aggression against Muslims and sedition against the state[163]
^Muhammad had been unimpressed by claims that the dead man had adopted Islam only for fear of death. 'Who will absolve you, Usama,` he asked the killer repeatedly, for ignoring the confession of faith?`" source: ibn Ishaq,Life of Muhammad, p. 667; al-Bukhari, 5.59.568; Muslim 1.176[228][229]
^ examples of countries where the government does not facilitate extra-judicial killings areTurkey,Israel, and parts ofIndia.[256]
^Frank Griffel, "Apostasy", in (Editor: Gerhard Bowering et al.)The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought,ISBN978-0691134840, pp. 40–41
^Diane Morgan (2009),Essential Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice,ISBN978-0313360251, pp. 182–183
^Ghali, Hebatallah (December 2006)."Rights of Muslim Converts to Christianity"(PhD Thesis).Department of Law, School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The American University in Cairo, Egypt. p. 2.Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 September 2014.Whereas anapostate (murtad) is the person who commits apostasy('rtidad), that is the conscious abandonment of allegiance or ... renunciation of a religious faith or abandonment of a previous loyalty.
^Friedmann, Yohanan (2003)."4: Apostasy".Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–159.ISBN978-1139440790.
^Gerhard Bowering, ed. (2013).The Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic political thought. associate editors Patricia Crone, Wadid Kadi, Devin J. Stewart and Muhammad Qasim Zaman; assistant editor Mahan Mirza. Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press. p. 40.ISBN978-0691134840.
^ab"Sudan woman faces death for apostasy".BBC News. 15 May 2014.Archived from the original on 19 May 2014.There is a long-running debate in Islam over whether apostasy is a crime. Some liberal scholars hold the view that it is not (...), Others say that apostasy is (...). The latter is the dominant view in conservative Muslim states such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (...).
^Adams, Charles; Reinhart, A. Kevin."Kufr".Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Archived fromthe original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved2 January 2021.
^Lindholm, Charles.The Islamic Middle East. p. xxvi.
^Mousavian, S. A. A. (2005), "A Discussion on the Apostate's Repentance in Shi'a Jurisprudence",Modarres Human Sciences, 8, Tome 37, pp. 187–210, Mofid University (Iran), quote: "Shi'a jurisprudence makes a distinction between an apostate who is born to Muslim parents (murtad-i fitri) and an apostate who is born to non-Muslim parents (murtad-i milli)." (section 1.3)
^abDale F. Eickelman (2005). "Social sciences". In Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.).Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Vol. 5. p. 68.Other verses nonetheless appear to justify coercion and severe punishment for apostates, renegades and unbelievers...
^abcdCampo, Juan Eduardo (2009).Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 48, 174.ISBN978-0816054541.
^Asma Afsaruddin (2013),Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought, p. 242.Oxford University Press.ISBN0199730938. Quote: "He [Al-Banna] notes that the Qur'ān itself does not mandate any this-worldly punishment for religious apostasy but defers punishment until the next (cf. Qur'ān 2:217)."
^Sherazad Hamit (2006), "Apostasy and the Notion of Religious Freedom in Islam",Macalester Islam Journal, Volume 1, Spring 2006 Issue 2, pp. 32–38
^David Forte (1994), "Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan",Conn. Journal Int'l Law, Vol. 10, pp. 43–45, 27–47
^Frank Griffel (2007), '"Apostasy", inEncyclopedia of Islam, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, Eds: Gudrun Kramer et al, Vol. 1, p. 132
^Dr. M. E. Subhani (2005),Apostasy in Islam, pp. 23–24. New Delhi, India: Global Media Publications. Quote: "This was an open case of apostasy. But the Prophet neither punished the Bedouin nor asked anyone to do it. He allowed him to leave Madina. Nobody harmed him."
^Ess, Josef (2006).The flowering of Muslim theology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 40.ISBN978-0674022089.But, added al-Ghazali, that applies only to Muslim apostates, and one commits apostasy only when one denies the essential dogmas: monotheism, Muhammad's prophecy, and the Last Judgment.
^Al-Ghazali,Faysal al-Tafriqa bayn al-Islam wa-l-Zandaqa, pp. 53–67
^abcShaykhzadeh,Madjma' al-anhur (1, pp. 629–637); cited inPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4):1–25.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^abSiddiq & Ahmad (1995), "Enforced Apostasy: Zaheeruddin v. State and the Official Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan",Law & Inequality, Vol. 14, pp. 275–289, 321–324
^Minahan, James (2012).Ethnic groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 6, 8.ISBN978-1598846591.
^Burhani A. N. (2013), "Treating minorities with fatwas: a study of the Ahmadiyya community in Indonesia",Contemporary Islam, Vol. 8, Issue 3, pp. 286–288, 285–301
^abNuh Ha Mim Keller (1997), Umdat as-Salik by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri,Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law,ISBN978-0915957729, pp. 596–598, Section O-8.7
^"The Book of the Prohibited actions. Sunnah.com reference: Book 18, Hadith 222".Sunnah.com.Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, 'When a person calls his brother (in Islam) a disbeliever, one of them will certainly deserve the title. If the addressee is so as he has asserted, the disbelief of the man is confirmed, but if it is untrue, then it will revert to him.'
^In Saheeh al-Bukhaari (6104) and Saheeh Muslim (60) it is narrated from 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Umar ... that the Prophet ... said: "If a man declares his brother to be a kaafir, it will apply to one of them." According to another report: "Either it is as he said, otherwise it will come back to him."
^abcLewis, Bernard (1995).The Middle East: a Brief History of the Last 2000 Years. Touchstone. p. 229.ISBN978-0684832807.
^(Musalmanon ki Takfir ka Mas'alah, by Maulana Abdul-Majeed Salik, pp. 7–8, printed by Naqoosh Press Lahore, Anjuman Tahaffuz-e-Pakistan Lahore); quoted inMusa, A.S. (2016).Are Ahmadis Not True Muslims?(PDF). Islam International Publications LTD.ISBN978-1848800700.Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved12 February 2021.
^abKhomeini, Ruhollah (2014). "The Modern Period: Sources. Theological and Philosophical Texts. On Apostasy and Non-Muslims Author: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: 1981 Source: J. Borujerdi, trans., A Clarification of Questions: An Unabridged Translation of Resaleh Towzih al-Masael". In Anderson, Matthew; Taliaferro, Karen (eds.).Islam and Religious Freedom: A Sourcebook of Scriptural, Theological, and Legal Texts. The Religious Freedom Project Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs Georgetown University. pp. 77–78.
^abHackett, Rosalind (2008).Proselytization revisited. London: Routledge. pp. 139–140.ISBN978-1845532284.
^J. Sperber (2000),Christians and Muslims: The Dialogue Activities, Theologische Bibliothek Topelmann, Walter de Gruyter, p. 66
^David Kerr (2000), "Islamic Da 'wa and Christian Mission: Towards a comparative analysis",International Review of Mission, Volume 89, Issue 353, pp. 150–171
^abSchirrmacher, Christine (2020). "Leaving Islam". In Enstedt, Daniel; Larsson, Göran; Mantsinen, Teemu T. (eds.).Handbook of Leaving Religion(PDF). Brill. p. 86.Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved6 January 2021.
^"The Book of the Prohibited actions. Sunnah.com reference: Book 18, Hadith 222".Sunnah.com.Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved10 February 2021.The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, 'When a person calls his brother (in Islam) a disbeliever, one of them will certainly deserve the title. If the addressee is so as he has asserted, the disbelief of the man is confirmed, but if it is untrue, then it will revert to him.'
^Ibrahim, R. (2009). Gallagher, J.; Patterson, E. (eds.).Debating the War of Ideas. Springer. p. 68.ISBN978-0230101982.Muslims who were forced to choose between recanting Islam or suffering persecution were, and still are, permitted to lie by feigning apostasy
^J.T. Munroe (2004),Hispano-Arabic Poetry, Gorgias Press,ISBN978-1593331153, p. 69.
^Frank Griffel (2001), "Toleration and exclusion: al-Shafi 'i and al-Ghazali on the treatment of apostates",Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 64(03), pp. 348–349
^Zwemer, Samuel M. "The Law of Apostasy".The Muslim World.14 (4):41–42, Chapter 2.ISSN0027-4909.
^Marie-Luisa Frick, Andreas Th. MüllerIslam and International Law: Engaging Self-Centrism from a Plurality of Perspectives Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 2013ISBN978-9004233362 p. 95
^Wright, Robin.Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam. p. 203.
^abcSchirrmacher, Christine (2020). "Leaving Islam". In Enstedt, Daniel; Larsson, Göran; Mantsinen, Teemu T. (eds.).Handbook of Leaving Religion(PDF). Brill. p. 85.Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved6 January 2021.
^No.9 Sheikh Dr Yusuf al Qaradawi, Head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars – "The 500 most influential Muslims in the world 2009", Prof John Esposito and Prof Ibrahim Kalin – Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
^Product Description: The Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (Paperback)by Bettina Graf (Author, Editor), Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (Editor) C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. 2009.ASIN1850659397.
^Raymond William Baker,Islam Without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists (2003), p. 4
^Minivan NewsArchived 8 September 2013 at theWayback Machine 's response to Mohamed Nazim; Location: Maafaanu stadium, Male', 10:30 pm Friday 28 May 2010, p. 4.
^Gauvain, Richard (2012).Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God. Routledge. p. 335.ISBN978-0710313560....participants generally refer to the established Saudi scholars. In this case, the most common source of reference was Muhammad Salih al-Munajid's well-known website: Islam Question and Answer which provides normative Saudi Arabian Salafi responses.
^"Whosoever will, let him disbelieve". Archived fromthe original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved7 September 2017....the essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can because the Quran says, 'Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion,' [Quran, 109:6], and, 'Whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve,' [Quran, 18:29], and, 'There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is distinct from error,' [Quran, 2:256].... [thus] the matter is left until the Day of Judgement, and it is not to be dealt with in the life of this world. It is an issue of conscience, and it is between the individual and Allah.
^Kadivar, Mohsen."Biography".Kadivar.com English.Archived from the original on 21 October 2023. Retrieved27 October 2023.
^Kadīvar, Moḥsen (2021).Blasphemy and apostasy in Islam: debates on Shi'a jurisprudence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.ISBN9781474457576.
^"Report – Definition of Islamic Law and the Crime of Apostasy in Islam". 19 May 2015.Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved7 September 2017.Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Sadr, a Shi'a cleric based in Iraq, has also stated that Verse 2:256 was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad regarding Muslims who had converted to Christianity, and that the Prophet Mohammad advised against forcing them to return to Islam.
^"Apostasy in Islam"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 8 September 2017. Retrieved7 September 2017."Freedom of belief is protected and preserved in the Qur'an. Moreover, given that this is the stance of the Qur'an, it is likewise the stance of the Sunnah. The Qur'an makes clear that the punishment for a change in belief is one that will take effect in the life to come, while the Sunnah likewise makes clear that although a change in belief unaccompanied by anything else may have been interpreted to imply hostility against the Ummah and as a threat to its citizens and interests, there is, never-theless, no prescribed punishment for it in this earthly life
^Kendal, Elizabeth (2016). "Hasten to Success".After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East. Wipf and Stock. p. 36.ISBN978-1498239868.
^Syed Barakat Ahmad, "Conversion from Islam," in C.E. Bosworth, ed.The Islamic World from Classical to Modern Times: Essays in honor of Bernard Lewis (Princeton, 1989), pp. 3–25; cited inCook, David (2006)."Apostasy from Islam – A Historical Perspective"(PDF).Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies.31: 250.Archived(PDF) from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved6 January 2021.
^Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn 'Abd Allah Ibn al-'Arabi,Ahkam al-Qura'an. Tahqiq 'Ali Muhammad al-Badjawi, 2nd imprint al-Qahirah: 'Isa al-Babi al-Halabi, 1387–88/1967–68, 4 volumes; v. 1 p. 233; quoted inPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4): 15, note 38.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^Peters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4):1–25.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.Finally the argument is put forward that killing an apostate must be considered as compulsion in religion, which has been forbidden in K 2:256, though this verse was traditionally interpreted in a different way. Footnote 38: According to some classical scholars this verse had been abrograted by later verses. The current interpretation of this verse, however, was that it forbids compulsion to things that are wrong (batil) but not compulsion to accept the truth" (p. 15).
^Muhammad Muhiy al-Din al-Masiri,al-Nuzum allati yaqum 'alayha kiyan al-mudhtama' al-Islami. Madjallat al-Azhar, 1374, pp. 859–868; quoted inPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4): 17.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^Muhammad al-Ghazali,Huquq al-Insan bayn ta'alim al-ISlam wa-i'lan al-Umam al-Muttahidah. al-Qahirah: al-Maktabah al-Tidjariyyah. 1383/1963, 272 p. 102; quoted inPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4): 17.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^Saeed, Abdullah; Hassan Saeed (2004).Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 85.ISBN978-0754630838.
^Saeed, Abdullah (2005). "Ridda and the case for decriminalization of apostasy". In Oliver Leaman; et al. (eds.).The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 551.ISBN978-0415775298.
^'Abd al-Muta'ali al-Sa'idi,al-Hurriyyah al-diniyyah fi al-Islam, 2nd imprint al-Qahirah: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi, [circa 1955–1959], pp. 158–160; quoted inPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4): 14.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^Peters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4): 14.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^1 Samuel M. Zwemer,The Law of Apostasy in Islam: Answering the Question Why There are so Few Moslem Converts, and Giving Examples of Their Moral Courage and Martyrdom, (Amarko Book Agency, New Delhi: 1975. First edn. published by Marshall Bros. Ltd., London: 1924) p. 9. Zwemer cites from 'Apostasy and its Consequences under Islam and Christianity' inIslamic Review, November 1916, pp. 485ff, in his own Bibliography p.163. cited inO'Sullivan, Declan (2001)."The Interpretation of Qur'anic Text to Promote or Negate the Death Penalty for Apostates and Blasphemers".Journal of Qur'anic Studies.3 (2): 63.doi:10.3366/jqs.2001.3.2.63.JSTOR25728038.Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved21 January 2021.
^An-Na'im, Abdullahi Ahmed (1996)."Islamic Foundations of Religious Human Rights". In John Witte; Johan D. Van Der Vyver (eds.).Religious Human Rights in global perspective: religious perspectives. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. pp. 356–357.ISBN9041116184.Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved21 February 2021.
^Silverman, A. L. (2002), "Just War, jihad, and terrorism: a comparison of Western and Islamic norms for the use of political violence", Journal Ch. & State, 44, pp. 73–89
^Wilferd Madelung,The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0521646963
^Barnaby Rogerson (2007),The Heirs of Muhammad: Islam's First Century and the Origins of the Sunni-Shia Split,ISBN978-1585678969
^Lesley Hazleton,After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam,ISBN978-0385523943, pp. 76–78
^abcdKhoury, Adel Theodoro. 1994. Christen unterm Halbmond. Religiöse Minderheiten unter der Herrschaft des Islams. Freiburg: Herder, pp. 101–192; quoted inSchirrmacher, Christine (2020)."7: Leaving Islam"(PDF). In Enstedt, Daniel; Larsson, Göran; Mantsinen, Teemu T. (eds.).Handbook of Leaving Religion. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Vol. 18.Leiden andBoston:Brill Publishers. pp. 81–95.doi:10.1163/9789004331471_008.ISBN978-9004330924.ISSN1874-6691.Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved6 January 2021.
^Robert Burns (2011),Christianity, Islam, and the West, University Press,ISBN978-0761855590, pp. 61–67
^Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009).Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. p. 183.ISBN978-0816054541.
^Schirrmacher, Christine (2020). "Leaving Islam". In Enstedt, Daniel; Larsson, Göran; Mantsinen, Teemu T. (eds.).Handbook of Leaving Religion(PDF). Brill. p. 83.Archived(PDF) from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved6 January 2021.
^abSelim Deringi (2012),Conversion and Apostasy in the Late Ottoman Empire, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-1107004559, Chapter 1 and 2
^abcPeters, J. J. De Vries, Rudolph, Gert (1976–1977)."Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4). Brill Publishers:21–22.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved29 August 2014.The first method is used by those who are of the opinion that freedom of religion, as guaranteed by Islam, is embodied in the right of unbelievers to practise their religion freely without being forced to give it up or change it, excluding,....the freedom for Moslems to change their religion. Muhammad Rashid Rida excludes freedom to apostatize expressis verbis with the argument that apostasy infringes on the freedom of others and on the respect due to the religion of the State. Muhammad al-Ghazali does the same, using the reductio ad absurdum as an argument: "Must Islam allow rebellion against itself? No religion of a similar nature will readily answer in the affirmative... 'Abd al-Muta'ali al-Sa'idi and S.A. Rahman, follow the other method of escaping from the contradiction. They state unequivocally that capital punishment for the apostate is not compatible with freedom of religion and... must therefore be abolished{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Angold, Michael (2006), "Eastern Christianity", in Editor: O'Mahony,Cambridge History of Christianity, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0521811132, pp. 510–517
^William Cleveland (2000),A History of the Modern Middle East (2nd ed.),ISBN0813334896, pp. 108–127
^'Abd al-Qadir 'Awdah,al-tashri al-djina'i al-Islam muqaran bi-al-qanun al-wadi, Bayrut: Dar al-Kitab al-'Arabi, n.d. 2 volumes; v. 1 pp. 535–538; quoted inPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam".Die Welt des Islams.17 (1/4): 17.doi:10.2307/1570336.JSTOR1570336.
^Miller, Duane Alexander (2014),Living among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-Making and Ex-Muslim Christians, Edinburg, UK: PhD Thesis, School of Divinity, University of Edingburg, p. 59.
^Nancy Gallagher (2005),Apostasy, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures: Family, Law and Politics, Editors: Suad Joseph and Afsāna Naǧmābādī,ISBN978-9004128187, pp. 7–9
^Paul Marshall and Nina Shea (2011),Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy codes are choking freedom worldwide, Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0199812288
^Nisrine Abiad (2008),Sharia, Muslim States and International Human Rights Treaty Obligations, British Institute of International Comparative Law,ISBN978-1905221417, pp. 25–31
^Monteiro, A (2014).Ethics of human rights. Springer. pp. 414–416.ISBN978-3319035666.
^Said, Abdul Aziz (1979). "Precept and Practice of Human Rights in Islam".Universal Human Rights.1 (1):63–79.doi:10.2307/761831.JSTOR761831.
^Brems, E (2001). "Islamic Declarations of Human Rights".Human rights: universality and diversity: Volume 66 of International studies in human rights. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 241–242, 259,260–263.ISBN978-9041116185.
^abCismas, Ioana (2014).Religious actors and international law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 254, 258.ISBN978-0198712824.
^David Boersema,Philosophy of Human Rights: Theory and Practice, Westview Press,ISBN978-0813344928
^Denny F. M. (2005)," Muslim ethical trajectories in the contemporary period", inThe Blackwell companion to religious ethics (Editor: William Schweiker),ISBN978-1405177580, Chapter 28, pp. 268–269, 272–277
^Monshipouri (1998), "Muslim World Half a Century after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Progress and Obstacles", The Netherlands Quarterly Hum. Rts., 16(3), pp. 289–290, 287–314
^Cotran, Eugene (2006).Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern law, Volume 10. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers. p. 17.ISBN978-9004144446.
Ham, Boris van der; Benhammou, Rachid (2018).Nieuwe Vrijdenkers: 12 voormalige moslims vertellen hun verhaal (New Freethinkers: 12 Former Muslims Tell Their Story). Amsterdam: Prometheus. p. 209.ISBN978-9044636840.
Al-Husseini, Waleed (2017).The Blasphemer: The Price I Paid for Rejecting Islam (Blasphémateur ! : les prisons d'Allah). New York: Skyhorse Publishing.ISBN978-1628726756.
Jami, Ehsan (2007).Het recht om ex-moslim te zijn (The Right to Be an Ex-Muslim). Kampen: Uitgeverij Ten Have.ISBN978-9025958367.
Saleem, Aliyah; Mughal, Fiyaz (2018).Leaving Faith Behind: The journeys and perspectives of people who have chosen to leave Islam. London: Darton, Longman & Todd. p. 192.ISBN978-0232533644.
Sultan, Harris (2018).The Curse of God: Why I Left Islam. Gordon Centre, Australia: Xilbris.ISBN978-1984502124.[2]
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