Apostasy in Islam

Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ارتداد, irtidād or ridda‎) is commonly defined as the rejection in word or deed of their former religion (apostasy) by a person who was previously a follower of Islam.

The traditional schools of Islamic jurisprudence are unanimous in holding that apostasy by a male Muslim is punishable by death. They differ on whether to execute the apostate immediately or grant the apostate a temporary reprieve in order to allow him to repent and avoid the penalty. The schools also differ on whether a female apostate is to be killed, or only imprisoned until she re-embraces the faith.[1] The four major Sunni schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Madh'hab) differentiate between harmful apostasy and harmless apostasy (also known as major and minor apostasy) in accepting repentance.[2]

According to Wael Hallaq apostasy laws are not derived from the Qur'an[3], and Quran Alone Muslims do not support apostasy penalty, many of them openly condemned it.

In addition to Quran Alone Muslims, some other Islamic scholars such as Gamal Al-Banna also opposes clearly any penalty for apostasy[4]. Other scholars who disagree or claimed to express disagreement include Shafi`i Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa[5][6], Shabir Ally, and Maliki jurist Abu al-Walid al-Baji and Shi'a Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri,[7] argued or issued fatwas that the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances.[8][9][10][11] Abu-Hanifa and his followers like the jurist Sarakhsi refused death penalty for women[12] supporting jail for them till re-embracing islam.

Some prominent recent examples of writers and activists killed because of apostasy claims include Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, Faraj Foda, Rashad Khalifa, Ghorban Tourani, Necati Aydin, Uğur Yüksel, and the Egyptian Noble prize winner Najib Mahfouz has been injured in an Attempted assassination.

Some prominent recent examples of death sentences threatened or issued for apostasy include non-religious authors and activists such as Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Maryam Namazie, Mina Ahadi, Arzu Toker, and the blogger Kareem Amer, as well as Converts to Christianity such as the Egyptian Mohammed Hegazy and the Afghanian Abdul Rahman[13].

Many Contemporary reform Muslim intellectuals have been accused of Apostasy, such as Ahmed Subhy Mansour, Edip Yuksel, and Mohammed Shahrour.

Contents

Scriptural references

Qur'an

The Qur'an states that God (in Arabic, Allah) despises apostasy, with severe punishment to be imposed in the hereafter. Except 16:106-109, the verses that discuss apostasy all appear in surahs identified as Madinan and belong to the period when the Islamic state had been established so they are not there because of any "need of time". Islam put this death penalty in order to stop misconceptions spread by those apostates who have no knowledge about Islam and they would love to misguide others by saying they were Muslims and left Islam because of this and that.

Sunni hadith

Some Sunni scholars claim that the Hadith sanction the death penalty for apostasy, thereby explicitly condemning the act. Examples of such passages in the Sahih al-Bukhari include Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:17, Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:260, Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:57, Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:58 and Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:89:271.

"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."Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:17

What constitutes apostasy in Islam

The traditional view sees that every person who disbelieves something that is "necessarily known to be part of Islam" by Islamic Traditional scholars, leads to apostasy, for instance, rejecting any sentence of the Quran and the Sunna considered to be "certainly told" by the prophet Mohammed, or considering some secular laws superior to islamic law. [14]

However, some Contemporary Muslim Scholars ascribe additional requirements to disbelief to constitute apostasy, that is, an act against Islam, i.e. joining the enemies who are at war with Muslims, or as in Quran (Qur'an [Qur'an 5:33]) "those who wage war against God and His Apostle"[2], however, what constitutes "war against Allah and His Apostle" for those Islamic Scholars vary widely, for many of them it can be as simple as declaring disbelief in Islam or explaining their reasons and arguments for that disbelief.

Punishment for apostasy

Execution

Legal opinion on apostasy by the Fatwa committee at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the highest Islamic institution in the world, concerning the case of a man who converted to Christianity: "Since he left the Islam, he will be invited to express his regret. If he does not regret, he will be killed pertaining to rights and obligations of the Islamic law."

In Islamic law (sharia), the consensus view is that a male apostate must be put to death unless he suffers from a mental disorder or converted under duress, for example, due to an imminent danger of being killed. A female apostate must be either executed, according to Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), or imprisoned until she reverts to Islam as advocated by the Sunni Hanafi school and by Shi'a scholars.[15]

A minority of medieval Islamic jurists, notably the Hanafi jurist Sarakhsi (d. 1090),[12] Maliki jurist Ibn al-Walid al-Baji (d. 494 AH) and Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328), held that apostasy carries no legal punishment.[16] Some contemporary Islamic Shafi`i jurists, such as the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa,[5][6] some Shi'a jurists such as Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri,[7] and some jurists, scholars and writers of other Islamic sects, have argued or issued fatwas that either the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances, but these minority opinions have not found broad acceptance among the majority of Islamic scholars.[8][9][10][11]

Applying law in the Muslim world

Most countries of the Middle East and North Africa maintain a dual system of secular courts and religious courts, in which the religious courts mainly regulate marriage and inheritance. Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain religious courts for all aspects of jurisprudence, and religious police assert social compliance. Sharia is also used in Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Some states in northern Nigeria have reintroduced Sharia courts. In practice the new Sharia courts in Nigeria have most often meant the reintroduction of relatively harsh punishments without respecting the much tougher rules of evidence and testimony of regular courts. The punishments include amputation of one/both hand(s) for theft, stoning for adultery, and execution for apostasy. In 1980, Pakistan, under the leadership of President Zia-ul-Haq, the Federal Shariat Court was created and given jurisdiction to examine any existing law to ensure it was not repugnant to Islam[17] and in its early acts it passed ordinances that included five that explicitly targeted religious minorities: a law against blasphemy; a law punishing the defiling of the Qur'an; a prohibition against insulting the wives, family, or companions of the Prophet of Islam; and two laws specifically restricting the activities of Ahmadis, who were declared non-Muslims.

Under traditional Islamic law[18] an apostate may be given up to three days while in incarceration to repent and accept Islam again and if not the apostate is to be killed without any reservations.

Opposition to execution

"Execution of a Moroccan Jewess (Sol Hachuel)" a painting by Alfred Dehodencq

While mainstream scholars uphold capital punishment for apostates for Islam,[15] a number of scholars argue the punishment is reserved for those who have committed treason against the Muslim community, or who rejected Islam during the time of the prophet Muhammad.

In a book on the issue, Abdullah Saeed and Hassan Saeed argue that Islamic law that calls for death for apostasy is in conflict with a variety of fundamentals of Islam. They contend that the early development of the law of apostasy was essentially a religio-political tool, and that there was a large diversity of opinion among early Muslims on the punishment.[19]

Medieval Muslim scholars (e.g. Sufyan al-Thawri) and modern (e.g. Hasan at-Turabi), also have argued that the hadith used to justify execution of apostates (see below) should be taken to apply only to political betrayal of the Muslim community, rather than to apostasy in general.[20] These scholars argue for the freedom to convert to and from Islam without legal penalty.

Other prominent Islamic scholars like the Grand Mufti of Cairo Sheikh Ali Gomaa have stated that while God will punish apostates in the afterlife they should not be executed by human beings.[21]

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, an Islamic scholar, writes that punishment for apostasy was part of Divine punishment for only those who denied the truth even after clarification in its ultimate form by Muhammad (see Itmaam-i-hujjat), hence, he considers it a time-bound command and no longer punishable.[22]

In Morocco in 1834 17-years old Jewish girl Sol Hachuel was beheaded for the alleged "apostasy" from Islam. In reality Hachuel had never converted to Islam. She said: " A Jewess I was born, a Jewess I wish to die[23]

Qur'an

S. A. Rahman, a former Chief Justice of Pakistan, argues that there is no indication of the death penalty for apostasy in the Qur'an.[24]

W. Heffening states that in Qur'an "the apostate is threatened with punishment in the next world only," adding that Shafi'is interpret verse [Qur'an 2:217] as adducing the main evidence for the death penalty in the Qur'an.[25] Wael Hallaq holds that "nothing in the law governing apostate and apostasy derives from the letter of the holy text."[3] The late dissenting Shia jurist Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a significant Shi'a religious authority, stated that the Quranic verses do not prescribe an earthly penalty for apostasy.[7]

Popular Islamist author Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi argued that verses [Qur'an 9:11] of the Qur'an sanction death for apostasy. However, some scholars reject Mawdudi's interpretation. S. A. Rahman concluded "that not only is there no punishment for apostasy provided in the Book but that the Word of God clearly envisages the natural death of the apostate. He will be punished only in the Hereafter…"[26] He continues and says that there is no reference to the death penalty in any of the 20 instances of apostasy mentioned in the Qur'an.

In his book on Punishment of Apostasy in Islam, Rahman declares the verse [Qur'an 2:256] which contains the explicit language, "Let there be no compulsion in religion...", to be "one of the most important verses of the Qur'an, containing a charter of freedom of conscience unparalleled in the religious annals of mankind…". He goes on to criticize the attempts by Muslim scholars over the ages to narrow its broad humanistic meaning and impose limits on its scope in their attempts to reconcile it with their interpretations of Muhammad's Sunna.

Hadith

Writing in the Encyclopedia of Islam, Heffening holds that contrary to the Qur'an, "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."[17] Wael Hallaq states the death penalty was a new element added later and "reflects a later reality and does not stand in accord with the deeds of the Prophet."[3]

Some hadith report that in some cases Muhammad allowed apostates to live:

Jabir ibn `Abdullah narrated that a Bedouin pledged allegiance to Muhammad for Islam (i.e. accepted Islam) and then the Bedouin got fever whereupon he said to Muhammad "cancel my pledge." But Muhammad refused. He (the Bedouin) came to him (again) saying, "Cancel my pledge." But Muhammad refused. Then he (the Bedouin) left (Medina). Muhammad said, "Madinah is like a pair of bellows (furnace): it expels its impurities and brightens and clear its good."[2]

Another hadith reports that Ubayd-Allah ibn Jahsh converted to Christianity and Muhammad also left him unharmed.[27][28]

Ayatollah Montazeri holds that it is probable that the punishment was prescribed by Muhammad during early Islam to combat political conspiracies against Islam and Muslims, and is not intended for those who simply change their belief or express a change in belief Montazeri defines different types of apostasy. He argues that capital punishment whould be reserved for those who desert Islam out of malice and enmity towards the Muslim community, and those who convert to another religion after investigation and research.[7]

Historic

According to Muslim Islamic scholar Cyril Glassé, death for apostasy was "not in practice enforced" in later times in the Muslim world, and was "completely abolished" by "a decree of the Ottoman government in 1260AH/1844AD."[29]

Justifications for the death penalty

Qur'an

There are no verses in the Quran explicitly dictating the death penalty for apostasy. However, more recently, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, a noted 20th century Islamic Scholar argued that verses [Qur'an 9:11] of the Qur'an sanction death for apostasy. The argument given by Mawdudi[30] for these verses is:

"The following is the occasion for the revelation of this verse: During the pilgrimage (hajj) in A.H. 9 God Most High ordered a proclamation of an immunity. By virtue of this proclamation all those who, up to that time, were fighting against God and His Apostle and were attempting to obstruct the way of God's religion through all kinds of excesses and false covenants, were granted from that time a maximum respite of four months. During this period they were to ponder their own situation. If they wanted to accept Islam, they could accept it and they would be forgiven. If they wanted to leave the country, they could leave. Within this fixed period nothing would hinder them from leaving. Thereafter those remaining, who would neither accept Islam nor leave the country, would be dealt with by the sword." In this connection it was said: "If they repent and uphold the practice of prayer and almsgiving, then they are your brothers in religion. If after this, however, they break their covenant, then war should be waged against the leaders of kufr (infidelity). Here "covenant breaking" in no way can be construed to mean "breaking of political covenants". Rather, the context clearly determines its meaning to be "confessing Islam and then renouncing it". Thereafter the meaning of "fight the heads of disbelief" ([Qur'an 9:11]) can only mean that war should be waged against the leaders instigating apostasy."

Mawdudi's interpretation is supported by other Muslim writers. For example, Afzal ur-Rahman in Muhammad, Blessing for Mankind, Seerah Foundation, London, Revised Second Edition, 1988, p. 218 under "Apostasy" states:

"People who turn away from Islam and do not repent but wage war and create mischief in the land are also considered as murderers. "But if they break their oaths after making compacts and taunt you for your faith, you should fight with these ringleaders of disbelief because their oaths are not trustworthy: it may be that the sword alone will restrain them" (Quran 9:12). And in Surah Al-Nahl, "But whosoever accepts disbelief willingly, he incurs God's Wrath, and there is severe torment for all such people"(Quran-usc 16:106)"

Hadith

In the Hadith the death penalty is mentioned in several passages. For example,

Narrated 'Abdullah: 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."
—Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:17

Other examples include Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:260, Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:57, Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:58 and Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:89:271.

Maududi

In the 20th Century, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi defended traditional views on apostasy against the idea of freedom of religion in Islam.[30] He summarized what he saw as the most likely objections by critics:

Maududi claims that the misunderstanding and criticism arises because of a "fundamental misconception" about Islam:

If Islam is truly a "religion" in the sense that religion is understood at present, surely it would be absurd to prescribe the penalty of execution for those people who wish to leave it because of their dissatisfaction with its principles. It is not only a "religion" in the modern technical sense of that term but a complete order of life. It relates not only to the metaphysical but also to nature and everything in nature. It discourses not only on the salvation of life after death but also on the questions of prosperity, improvement and the true ordering of life before death.

Maududi also declares:

Whatever objections the critics pose regarding the punishment of the apostate, they make them bearing in mind only a single "religion" (madhhab). In contrast, when we present our arguments to demonstrate the validity of this punishment, we have in view no mere "religion" but a state which is constructed on a religion (din) and the authority of its principles rather than on the authority of a family, clan or people.

And since it is a state, Maududi declares it "has the right to protect its own existence by declaring those acts wrong which undermine its order", and proceeds to equate apostasy to treason. He then discusses the difference between a kafir, a dhimmi, and the appropriateness of death for them if they apostatize after conversion, and for those born of Muslim parents he states:

In any case the heart of the matter is that children born of Muslim lineage will be considered Muslims and according to Islamic law the door of apostasy will never be opened to them. If anyone of them renounces Islam, he will be as deserving of execution as the person who has renounced kufr to become a Muslim and again has chosen the way of kufr. All the jurists of Islam agree with this decision. On this topic absolutely no difference exists among the experts of shari'ah.

Maududi considers the threat of execution as not forcing someone to stay within the fold of Islam, but as a way of keeping those who are not truly committed out of the community of Islam.

It is also wrong to interpret "the execution of the apostate" as our forcing a person, by threatening him with death, to adopt a hypocritical behaviour. In fact the matter is the opposite. We want to block entrance into our society of those people who are afflicted with the disease of capriciousness and keep on playing musical chairs with theories and ideas for their own amusement, and who lack totally the stability of belief and character which the building of an order of life requires. Constructing an order of life is a highly serious task. In the society which takes on this task, there can be no place for fickle and unstable people.

Maududi rejects the third criticism because unlike other religions which are free to exchange believers, Islam is "on whose ideas and actions society and state are constructed" cannot allow "to keep open its door that would spell its own ruin, the scattering of its own structure's parts, the stripping away of the bonds of its own existence", and he compares this to the treason penalty on the books of the U.S. and Britain. Maududi also rejects the charge of contradiction. In his words:

"There is no compulsion in religion" (la ikraha fi'd din: Qur'an [Qur'an 2:256]) means that we do not compel anyone to come into our religion. And this is truly our practice. But we initially warn whoever would come and go back that this door is not open to come and go. Therefore anyone who comes should decide before coming that there is no going back.

Others

Essentially the same arguments are sketched by the Shi'i Islamic author Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi in the brief article Apostasy (Irtidad) in Islam,[31] relying upon the opinions of some of the earlier scholars of Islam.

However, Ibn Warraq points out some earlier scholars of Islam who found support in the Qur'an for the death penalty for apostasy.[32] He quotes al-Shafi (died 820 C.E.), the founder of one of the four orthodox schools of law of Sunni Islam that verse [Qur'an 2:217] meant that the death penalty should be prescribed for apostates, and Al-Thalabi and Al-Khazan concurred, and states that Al-Razi in his commentary on 2:217 says an apostate should be killed. Ibn Warraq also quotes commentaries by Baydawi (died c. 1315-1316) on [Qur'an 4:89] as "Whosoever turns back from his belief (irtada), openly or secretly, take him and kill him wheresoever ye find him, like any other infidel". Verse ([Qur'an 4:88]) reads:

Why should ye be divided into two parties about the Hypocrites? ... They wish if you disbelieve as they disbelieved so that you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate in the way of Allah. But if they turn back, seize them and kill them wherever you find them. And do not take from among them any ally or helper, Except those who join a group between whom and you there is a treaty or those who come to you with hearts restraining them from fighting you or fighting their people. And if Allah had willed, surely He would have given them power over you, so that they would have taken arms against you. Therefore, if they keep away from you and cease their hostility and offer you peace, God bids you not to harm them.

Effects on Islamic learning

The English historian C. E. Bosworth argues that while the organizational form of the Christian university allowed them to develop and flourish into the modern university, "the Muslim ones remained constricted by the doctrine of waqf alone, with their physical plant often deteriorating hopelessly and their curricula narrowed by the exclusion of the non-traditional religious sciences like philosophy and natural science," out of fear that these could evolve into potential toe-holds for kufr, those people who reject Allah.[33]

Apostasy in the recent past

Background

The violence or threats of violence against apostates in the Muslim world usually derives not from government authorities but from individuals or groups operating with impunity from the government.[34] An example is the stabbing of a Bangladeshi Murtad Fitri Christian evangelist while returning home from a film version of the Gospel of Luke.[35] Bangladesh does not have a law against apostasy, but some Imams encourage the killing of converts from Islam. Many ex-Muslims in Great Britain have faced abuse, violence, and even murder at the hands of Muslims.[36] There are similar reports of violent intimidation of those electing to reject Islam in other Western countries.[37]

Other examples of persecution of apostates converting to Christianity have been given by the Barnabas Fund:

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.[38]

Similar views are expressed by the 'non-religious' International Humanist and Ethical Union.[39]

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

In March 2006, an Afghan citizen Abdul Rahman was charged with apostasy and could have faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity. His case attracted much international attention with Western countries condemning Afghanistan for persecuting a convert. Charges against Abdul Rahman were dismissed on technical grounds by the Afghan court after intervention by the president Hamid Karzai. He was released and left the country to find refuge in Italy.[34]

Two other Afghan converts to Christianity were arrested in March and their fate is unknown. In February, yet other converts had their homes raided by police.[34]

Islamic Republic of Iran

Salman Rushdie is a prominent contemporary figure accused of apostasy. In 1989 the killing of that author was urged in a fatwa by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the ruler of Iran at the time, for the blasphemy of authoring the book The Satanic Verses.

According to US thinktank Freedom House, since the 1990s the Islamic Republic of Iran has sometimes used death squads against converts, including major Protestant leaders. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the regime has engaged in a systematic campaign to track down and reconvert or kill those who have changed their religion from Islam.[34]

15 Ex-Muslim Christians[40] were incarcerated on May 15, 2008 under charges of apostasy. They may face the death penalty if convicted. A new penal code is being proposed in Iran that would require the death penalty in cases of Apostasy on the Internet.[41]

At least two Iranians - Hashem Aghajari and Hassan Youssefi Eshkevari - have been arrested and charged with apostasy in the Islamic Republic (though not executed), not for self-professed conversion to another faith, but for statements and/or activities deemed by courts of the Islamic Republic to be in violation of Islam, and that appear to outsiders to be Islamic reformist political expression.[42] Hashem Aghajari, was found guilty of apostasy for a speech urging Iranians to "not blindly follow" Islamic clerics;[43] Hassan Youssefi Eshkevari was charged with apostasy for attending the 'Iran After the Elections' Conference in Berlin Germany which was disrupted by anti-regime demonstrators.[44]

Bahá'ís

Bahá'ís in Iran, the nation of origin of the Bahá'í Faith and Iran's largest religious minority, are considered apostates by the Shi'a clergy because of their claim to a valid religious revelation subsequent to that of Muhammad. Iranian law therefore treats Bahá'ís as heretics rather than members of an independent religion, as they describe themselves. Bahá'ís have therefore been subjected to much persecution (documented by various third party entities such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and the European Union) including beatings, torture, unjustified executions, false imprisonment, confiscation and destruction of property owned by individuals and the Bahá'í community, denial of employment, denial of government benefits, denial of civil rights and liberties, and denial of access to higher education.[45]

In April 2006, after a court case in Egypt recognized the Bahá'í Faith, members of the clergy convinced the government to appeal the court decision. One member of parliament, Gamal Akl of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, said the Bahá'ís were infidels who should be killed on the grounds that they had changed their religion, thus ignoring the historical nature of the conversion and the fact that most living Bahá'í have not, in fact, ever been Muslim.[46]

Saudi-arabia

According to the "Online Saudi-arabian Curriculum مناهج السعودية الألكترونية"[47], taught at schools, we read under the title "Judgements on Apostates أحكام المرتدين" the following (in Arabic):[48]

"An Apostate will be suppressed three days in prison in order that he may repent ..... otherwise, he should be killed, because he has changed his true religion, therefore, there is no use from his living, regardless of being a man or a woman, as Mohammed said: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him", nerrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim."

Algeria

On March 21, 2006, the Algerian parliament approved a new law requiring imprisonment for two to five years and a fine between five and ten thousand euros for anyone "trying to call on a Muslim to embrace another religion." The same penalty applies to anyone who "stores or circulates publications or audio-visual or other means aiming at destabilizing attachment to Islam."[34]

Turkey

More recently, on 21 January 2007, the Central Council of Ex-Muslims was founded in Germany, an association led by Iranian exile Mina Ahadi and Turkish-German immigrant Arzu Toker. The association stands up for former Muslims who chose to abandon Islam. Shortly after going public on February 28, 2007, the group received death threats by radical islamists.[49]

On 18 April 2007, two Turkish converts to Christianity, Necati Aydin and Uğur Yüksel, were killed in the Malatya bible publishing firm murders. Having tortured them for several hours, the attackers then slit their throats. The attackers stated that they did it in order to defend the state and their religion. The government and other officials in Turkey had in the past criticized Christian missionary work, while the European Union has called for more freedom for the Christian minority.[50][51][52]

Egypt

The Mohammed Hegazy case, shows the huge problems in that country for those wishing to leave Islam and be recognised as a member of another religion — where Hegazy has suffered death threats from family and prominent Islamic figures alike. A Judge ruled "He (Hegazy) can believe whatever he wants in his heart, but on paper he can't convert." He is the first Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity to seek official recognition of his conversion from the Egyptian Government.[53]

In February 2009, a second case came to court, of convert to Christianity Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary, whose effort to officially convert to Christianity, faced opposing lawyers who advocated he be convicted of "apostasy," or leaving Islam, and sentenced to death.

"Our rights in Egypt, as Christians or converts, are less than the rights of animals," El-Gohary said. "We are deprived of social and civil rights, deprived of our inheritance and left to the fundamentalists to be killed. Nobody bothers to investigate or care about us."

El-Gohary, 56, has been attacked in the street, spat at and knocked down in his effort to win the right to officially convert. He said he and his 14-year-old daughter continue to receive death threats by text message and phone call.[54]

In 1992 Islamist militants gunned down Egyptian secularist Farag Foda. Before his death he had been declared an apostate and foe of Islam. During the trial of the murderers, Azhari scholar Muhammad al-Ghazali testified that when the state fails to punish apostates, somebody else has to do it.[55]

Other countries

Vigilantes have killed, beaten, and threatened converts in Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Turkey, Nigeria, Somalia, and Kenya. In November 2005, Iranian convert Ghorban Tourani was stabbed to death by a group of fanatical Muslims. In December 2005, Nigerian pastor Zacheous Habu Bu Ngwenche was attacked for allegedly hiding a convert. In January 2006, in Turkey, Kamil Kiroglu was beaten unconscious and threatened with death if he refused to deny his Christian faith and return to Islam.[34]

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Laws prohibiting religious conversion run contrary to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief."

Islamic scholar Dr. Fathi Osman has stated that in modern times, leaving the religion of Islam is within the rights of an individual.[56] Dr. Osman is a representative of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement.[Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Abdullah Ahmed An-Na'im. "The Islamic Law of Apostasy and Its Modern Applicability: A Case from the Sudan." Religion (1986) p. 211.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Badawi, Jamal A. (26 April 2006). "Is Apostasy a Capital Crime in Islam?". Contemporary Issues. IslamOnline. http://www.islamonline.net/English/contemporary/2006/04/article02.shtml. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jane Dammen McAuliffe, general editor (2001). "Apostasy". In McAuliffe, Jane Dammen. Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an. 1. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11465-4. 
  4. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTmmVQxd2-U
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, Gomaa's Statement on Apostasy, The Washington Post, July 25, 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nashwa Abdel-Tawab, 'Whosoever will, let him disbelieve', Al-Ahram Weekly, Issue No. 857, 9–15 August 2007.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Jami, Mahdi (2 February 2005). "آيت الله منتظری: هر تغيير مذهبی ارتداد نيست [Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri: 'Not Every Conversion is Apostasy']" (in Persian). BBC Persian. http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2005/02/050202_mj-montzari-renegade.shtml. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Abdelhadi, Magdi (27 March 2006). "What Islam says on religious freedom". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4850080.stm. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf (24 March 2003). "Fatwa on Intellectual Apostasy". IslamOnline. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503545098&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Rahman, S. A. (1972). Punishment of Apostasy in Islam. Lahore: Institute of Islamic Culture. pp. 10–13. OCLC 708470. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Shafaat, Ahmad (February 2006). "The punishment of apostasy in Islam". http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Apostasy1.htm. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Saeed, Abdullah; Saeed, Hassan (2004). Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam. Ashgate Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7546-3082-1. OCLC 49531008. 
  13. ↑ "Afghan convert freed from prison". BBC News. 28 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4851666.stm. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  14. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTmmVQxd2-U
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  16. ↑ Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (1998). "Punishment in Islamic Law: a Critique of The Hudud Bill of Kelantan, Malaysia". Arab Law Quarterly 13 (3): 203–234. doi:10.1163/026805598125826102. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=info:2og1-0ORE-gJ:scholar.google.com/&output=viewport&pg=1&hl=en. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 W. Heffening, in Encyclopedia of Islam
  18. ↑ according to Abdurrahmani'l-Djaziri's Kitabul'l-fiqh 'ala'l-madhahibi'l-'arba'a i.e. Apostasy in Islam according to the Four Schools of Islamic Law (Vol. 5, pp. 422-440) First English Edition (Villach): 1997
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  22. ↑ Ghamidi, Javed Ahmad (November 1996). "The Punishment for Apostasy". Renaissance 6 (11). http://www.renaissance.com.pk/novsps966.html. 
  23. ↑ Andrew G. Bostom. "A Note on the Cover Art". http://www.andrewbostom.org/content/view/26/48/. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 
  24. ↑ S. A. Rahman (1986). Punishment of apostasy in Islam. Kazi. ISBN 978-0-686-18551-2. 
  25. ↑ Heffening W., art. Murtadd, in: EI2, p. 635
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  27. ↑ Farooq, Mohammad Omar (2 April 2007). "On Apostasy and Islam: 100+ Notable Islamic Voices affirming the Freedom of Faith". Apostasy and Islam. http://apostasyandislam.blogspot.com/2007/04/apostasy-and-islamic-voices-affirming.html. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  28. ↑ Ahmed, A. A. (2006). The Hidden Life of the Prophet Muhammad. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4259-0571-2. http://www.scribd.com/doc/16055814/The-Hidden-Life-of-the-Prophet-Muhammad. 
  29. ↑ Glassé, Cyril (2001). The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7591-0189-0. OCLC 48553252. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Mawdudi, Abul Ala (1994). "The Punishment of the Apostate According to Islamic Law". In Husain, Syed Silas; Hahn, Ernest. Answering Islam. http://answering-islam.org/Hahn/Mawdudi/. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
  31. ↑ Rizvi, Sayyid Muhammad (2006). "Apostasy (Irtidad) in Islam". http://al-islam.org/short/apostasy/. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  32. ↑ Warraq, Ibn (18 April 2005). "Apostasy and Human Rights". International Humanist and Ethical Union. http://www.iheu.org/node/1541. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  33. ↑ C. E. Bosworth: Untitled review of "The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West by George Makdisi", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2 (1983), pp. 304-305
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  35. ↑ Gartenstein-Ross, David (February 2005). "When Muslims Convert". Commentary. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/when-muslims-convert-9855. Retrieved 15 October 2009.  Full text.
  36. ↑ "Muslim apostates cast out and at risk from faith and family". The Times (London). 5 February 2005. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article510589.ece. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  37. ↑ Spencer, Robert (9 September 2004). "Why Must Ex-Muslims Live in Fear -- In America?". Jihad Watch. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=5031. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  38. ↑ "The Application of the Apostasy Law in the World Today". Barnabas Fund. 3 July 2007. http://barnabasfund.org/US/News/Archives/The-Application-of-the-Apostasy-Law-in-the-World-Today.html. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  39. ↑ Kamguian, Azam (21 June 2005). "The Fate of Infidels and Apostates under Islam". International Humanist and Ethical Union. http://www.iheu.org/node/1540. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  40. ↑ http://compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=breaking&lang=en&length=long&idelement=5470 Apostasy
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  52. ↑ Grossbongardt, Annette (23 April 2007). "After the Missionary Massacre: Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey". Der Spiegel. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,478955,00.html. Retrieved 15 October 2009. 
  53. ↑ "Egypt Rules Christian Convert Must Remain Legally Muslim". Christianpost.com. 2008-02-03. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080203/egypt-rules-christian-convert-must-remain-legally-muslim/index.html. Retrieved 2010-04-29. 
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  55. ↑ "Faraj Fawda, or the Cost of Freedom of Expression". Meria.idc.ac.il. http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2007/issue2/jv11no2a3.html#_ednref63. Retrieved 2010-04-29. 
  56. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/user/CMJEUSC#p/u/11/k6UNuFr7PXw

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