Apostasy Those who turn their back on Islam are to be executed. This is confirmed by the words and deeds of Muhammad. The only freedom of belief in Islam is the freedom to become Muslim. While the rest of the world generally believes that if God wanted people dead over their religious beliefs then he would do the job himself, apostasy is taken so seriously by Muslims that it spawned the first of many major internal wars. Immediately after Muhammads death, several tribes wanted to leave Islam and return to their preferred religion. In a conflict known as the Riddah (apostasy) Wars, they were slaughtered in such places remembered as Garden of Death and Gulley of Blood during the first caliph Abu Bakrs aggressive and violent campaign to force submission (and keep the tribute payments flowing back to Mecca, of course). Within months, a great many people were dead, including Muslims who had memorized the Quran by heart. As Abu Bakr, Muhammads closest companion, explained in a letter at the time, his prophet struck whoever turned his back to Him until he came to Islam, willingly or grudgingly. Thus did Abu Bakr promise to burn them with fire, slaughter them by any means, and take women and children captive any who left Islam. (al-Tabari v10 p.55-57) Ali, the fourth Rightly Guided Caliph was Muhammads son-in-law and one of the first converts to Islam. He also had people burned alive for wanting to follow their conscience. An old man named Rumahis b. Mansur, who regretted leaving Christianity and vowed not to remain a Muslim, was beheaded by Ali. (al-Tabari v.17 p.191). In 1400 years, there has never been a system of Islamic law that did not prescribe the death penalty for any Muslim choosing to leave Islam. Even in modern, ostensibly secular Islamic countries with constitutions guaranteeing freedom of religion, there is de facto enforcement of this law with intimidation and the occasional murder of apostates. A sound philosophy never requires violence or threats to retain believers. Contemporary Muslim apologists sometimes find it embarrassing that their religion - and theirs alone - endorses killing over a change in opinion (as critic Geert Wilders puts it, Any religion that invites you in but then will not let you out is no longer a religion). As such there are various tricks played to deny or explain away this weak and draconian which is so well-ensconced in Islamic tradition. Such defenders usually quote verse 2:256 to Western audiences. The verse states Let there be no compulsion in religion, for truth stands out from error. They may also include a fragment of verse 10:99-100, Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers? What they dont say is that Muslim scholars agree that both verses were spoken by Muhammad during an earlier time in his teachings, when he did not have the power to compel others. They are abrogated by later verses, such as verse 9:29, which clearly commands Muslims to fight unbelievers until they relent and either accept Islam or a state of humiliation under Islamic rule (an obvious illustration of compulsion). These apologists also ignore the actions of Muhammad at Mecca and those of his companions following his death, particularly the bloody Ridda Wars. How could those closest to him have felt that there should be no compulsion in religion if they were instructed to kill anyone who wanted to leave Islam? How could the mandated killing of apostates have become a part of Islamic law? The Religion of Peace expanded across the globe by conquering people of other religions and then making life miserable for those who didnt embrace Islam. Once spoken, a person was locked into the faith. Any sign of false witness - such as raising their children in another faith - was punished with death. Thus did Islam gradually supplant other religions. One of the worlds most respected Sunni scholars, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, admitted in 2012 that if Muslims had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldnt exist today. (Astonishingly enough, he was not apologizing for the beheading, torture, burning and murder of millions but rather trying to justify it). And, while some apologists bend the truth in order to distance Islam from one of its most draconian rules, one of the worlds most popular recently affirmed that the death penalty should be applied to those who leave Islam and share their faith with others. (Ironically Zakir Naik made his comments on a British television channel called Peace TV). At the end of the day, even Muslims who insist that the mandate to kill apostates from Islam isnt a part of the true religion, never appear all that bothered when it does happen, nor do they champion the right of other religions to evangelize in Muslim countries; In fact, they discourage it. They know as well as anyone that Islam cannot compete within the arena of free ideas and must rely on brute force at some level to retain believers. Islamic Law: There is also a consensus by all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (i.e., Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi, and Shafii), as well as classical Shiite jurists, that apostates from Islam must be put to death. The process of declaring a person to be an apostate is known as takfir and the disbeliever is called a murtad. Averroes (d. 1198), the renowned philosopher and scholar of the natural sciences, who was also an important Maliki jurist, provided this typical Muslim legal opinion on the punishment for apostasy: An apostate...is to be executed by agreement in the case of a man, because of the words of the Prophet, Slay those who change their din [religion]...Asking the apostate to repent was stipulated as a condition...prior to his execution. The contemporary (i.e., 1991) Al-Azhar (Cairo) Islamic Research Academy endorsed manual of Islamic Law, Umdat al-Salik (pp. 595-96) states: Leaving Islam is the ugliest form of unbelief (kufr) and the worst.... When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostasizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed. In such a case, it is obligatory...to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed. The equivalent, gravely negative implications of the OICs Sharia-based Cairo Declaration are most apparent in its transparent rejection of freedom of conscience in Article 10, which proclaims: Islam is the religion of unspoiled nature. It is prohibited to exercise any form of compulsion on man or to exploit his poverty or ignorance in order to convert him to another religion, or to atheism. Ominously, articles 19 and 22 reiterate a principle stated elsewhere throughout the document, which clearly applies to the punishment of so-called apostates from Islam: [19d] There shall be no crime or punishment except as provided for in the Sharia.; [22a] Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Sharia.; [22b] Everyone shall have the right to advocate what is right, and propagate what is good, and warn against what is wrong and evil according to the norms of Islamic Sharia.; [22c] Information is a vital necessity to society. It may not be exploited or misused in such a way as may violate sanctities and the dignity of Prophets, undermine moral and ethical values or disintegrate, corrupt or harm society or weaken its faith. From Andrew Bostoms CAIRs Silence on Pastors Apostasy Death Sentence is Deafening americanthinker/blog/2011/10/cairs_silence_on_pastors_apostasy_death_sentence_is_deafening.html Quran (4:89) - They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them, until they emigrate in the way of God; then, if they turn their backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to yourselves any one of them as friend or helper. Quran (9:11-12) - But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then are they your brethren in religion. We detail Our revelations for a people who have knowledge. And if they break their pledges after their treaty (hath been made with you) and assail your religion, then fight the heads of disbelief - Lo! they have no binding oaths - in order that they may desist. Other verses that seem to support the many Hadith demanding death for apostates are Quran verses 2:217, 9:73-74, 88:21, 5:54, and 9:66.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 17:00:01 +0000
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