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Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ردة, romanized: ridda or ارتداد, irtidād) is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. It includes not only explicit renunciations of the Islamic faith by converting to another religion^[1] or abandoning religion,^[1][2][3] but also blasphemy or heresy by those who consider themselves Muslims,^[4] through any action or utterance which implies unbelief, including those who deny a "fundamental tenet or creed" of Islam,^[5] An apostate from Islam is known as a murtadd (مرتدّ).^{[1][6][7][8][9]}

While Islamic jurisprudence calls for the death penalty of those who refuse to repent of apostasy from Islam,^[10] what statements or acts qualify as apostasy and whether and how they should be punished, are disputed among Islamic scholars.^[11][3][12] The penalty of killing of apostates is in conflict with international human rights norms which provide for the freedom of religions, as demonstrated in such human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide for the freedom of religion.^{[13] [14][15][16]}

Until the late 19th century, the majority of Sunni and Shia jurists held the view that for adult men, apostasy from Islam was a crime as well as a sin, punishable by the death penalty,^[3][17] but with a number of options for leniency (such as a waiting period to allow time for repentance;^{[3][18][19][20]} enforcement only in cases involving politics),^[21][22][23] depending on the era, the legal standards and the school of law. In the late 19th century, the use of legal criminal penalties for apostasy fell into disuse, although civil penalties were still applied.^[3]

As of 2021, there were ten Muslim-majority countries where apostasy from Islam was punishable by death,^[24] but legal executions are rare.^{[Note 1]} Most punishment is extra-judicial/vigilante,^[26][27] and most executions are perpetrated by jihadist and "takfiri" insurgents (al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, the GIA, and the Taliban).^{[10][28][29][30]} Another thirteen countries have penal or civil penalties for apostates^[27]  – such as imprisonment, the annulment of their marriages, the loss of their rights of inheritance and the loss of custody of their children.^[27]

In the contemporary Muslim world, public support for capital punishment varies from 78% in Afghanistan to less than 1% in Kazakhstan;^{[Note 2]} among Islamic jurists, the majority of them continue to regard apostasy as a crime which should be punishable by death.^[18] Those who disagree^[11][3][32] argue that its punishment should be less than death, should occur in the afterlife,^{[33][34][35][36]} (human punishment being inconsistent with Quranic injunctions against compulsion in belief),^[37][38] or should apply only in cases of public disobedience and disorder (fitna).^{[Note 3]}

Etymology and terminology

Apostasy is called irtidād (which means relapse or regress) or ridda in Islamic literature.^[40] An apostate is called murtadd, which means 'one who turns back' from Islam.^[41] (Another source – Oxford Islamic Studies Online – defines murtadd as "not just any kāfir (non-believer)", but "a particularly heinous type".)^[42] Ridda can also refer to secession in a political context.^[43] A person born to a Muslim father who later rejects Islam is called a murtadd fitri, and a person who converted to Islam and later rejects the religion is called a murtadd milli.^[44][45][46] Takfir (takfeer) (Arabic: تكفير takfīr) is the act of one Muslim excommunicating another, declaring them a kafir, an apostate. The act which precipitates takfir is termed mukaffir.

Scriptural references

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Quran

The Quran mentions apostasy in many of its verses, expressing God's anger, impending punishment, and refusal to accept repentance towards those who have left the faith. Traditionally, the verses that are thought to "appear to justify coercion and severe punishment" for apostates (according to Dale F. Eickelman),^[47] including the traditional capital punishment, are as follows:^[48]

But those who reject Faith after they accepted it, and then go on adding to their defiance of Faith, – never will their repentance be accepted; for they are those who have (of set purpose) gone astray.

— Quran 3:90

Make ye no excuses: ye have rejected Faith after ye had accepted it. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you, for that they are in sin.

— Quran 9:66

He who disbelieves in Allah after his having believed, not he who is compelled while his heart is at rest on account of faith, but he who opens (his) breast to disbelief – on these is the wrath of Allah, and they shall have a grievous chastisement.

— Quran 16:106

Say, ... 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.

— Quran 2:217

O believers! Whoever among you abandons their faith, Allah will replace them with others who love Him and are loved by Him. They will be humble with the believers but firm towards the disbelievers ...

— 5:54

Indeed, those who believed then disbelieved, then believed and again disbelieved – ˹only˺ increasing in disbelief – Allah will neither forgive them nor guide them to the ˹Right˺ Way.

— 4:137

... whoever trades belief for disbelief has truly strayed from the Right Way.

— 2:108

You are not ˹there˺ to compel them ˹to believe˺, But whoever turns away, persisting in disbelief, then Allah will inflict upon them the major punishment.

— 88:22–24

But if they repent, perform prayer, and pay alms-tax, then they are your brothers in faith. This is how We make the revelations clear for people of knowledge. But if they break their oaths after making a pledge and attack your faith, then fight the champions of disbelief – who never honour their oaths – so perhaps they will desist.

— 9:11–12

They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them.

— Quran 4:89

Other scholars have pointed out that there is no mention in the Quran of the need to force an apostate to return to Islam, nor any specific corporal punishment to apply to apostates in this world^{[49][50][51][Note 4]} – let alone commands to kill apostates – either explicitly or implicitly;^{[53][54][55][56]}

In fact, other verses emphasize mercy and lack of compulsion in belief:^[57]

There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.

— Quran 2:256

Say, "The truth is from your Lord": Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it): for the wrong-doers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames), like the walls and roof of a tent, will hem them in: if they implore relief they will be granted water like melted brass, that will scald their faces, how dreadful the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!

— Quran 18:29

And if your Lord had pleased, surely all those who are in the earth would have believed, all of them; will you then force men till they become believers?

— Quran 10:99

Therefore do remind, for you are only a reminder. You are not a watcher over them.

— Quran 88:21–22

He said: "O my people! See ye if (it be that) I have a Clear Sign from my Lord, and that He hath sent Mercy unto me from His own presence, but that the Mercy hath been obscured from your sight? Shall we compel you to accept it when ye are averse to it?

— Quran 11:28

Indeed, those who believed then disbelieved, then believed and again disbelieved – ˹only˺ increasing in disbelief – Allah will neither forgive them nor guide them to the ˹Right˺ Way.

— Quran 4:137

Hadith

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The classical shariah punishment for apostasy comes from Sahih ("authentic") Hadith rather than the Quran.^[58][59] Writing in the Encyclopedia of Islam, Heffening holds that contrary to the Qur'an, "in traditions , there is little echo of these punishments in the next world... and instead, we have in many traditions a new element, the death penalty.^[41]

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, see also Sahih Muslim, 16:4152, Sahih Muslim, 16:4154

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.'"

— Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:260Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:57Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:89:271Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:58Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:84:64

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."

— Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:89:271

Other hadith give differing statements about the fate of apostates;^[35][60] 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).^[61]

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 , is there any repentance for me?' His people came to the Messenger of Allah 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.

— Al-Sunan al-Sughra 37:103^[62]

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.

— Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:56:814

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."

— Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:89:316

The Muwatta of Imam Malik offers a case were Rashidun (rightly guide) Caliph Umar 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!'

— Al-Muwatta, 36 18.16

The argument has been made (by the Fiqh 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.^[63] As evidence, they point to two hadith, each from a different "authentic" (sahih) Sunni hadith collection^{[Note 5]} 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."

— Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:17

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."

— Sunan Abu Dawood, 38:4339

Definition of apostasy in Islam

Scholars of Islam differ as to what constitutes apostasy in that religion and under what circumstances an apostate is subject to the death penalty.

Conditions of apostasy in classical Islam

Al-Shafi'i listed three necessary conditions to pass capital punishment on a Muslim for apostasy in his Kitab 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);^{[Note 6]}
• "third, there had to be the omission or failure to repent after the apostate was asked to do so."^[65][64]

Three centuries later, Al-Ghazali wrote that one group, known as "secret apostates" or "permanent unbelievers" (aka zandaqa), 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.^[66][64]

Characteristics

Describing what qualifies as apostasy Christine Schirrmacher writes

there is widespread consensus that apostasy undoubtedly exists where the truth of the Koran is denied, where blasphemy 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 the five pillars of Islam, in particular the duty to pray, clearly count as apostasy for most theologians. Additional distinguishing features are a change of religion, confessing atheism, nullifying the Sharia 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;^[67]

Kamran Hashemi classifies apostasy or unbelief in Islam into three different "phenomena":^[68]

• Converting from Islam to another religion (or abandoning religion altogether),^{[68][69][70][3]} also described as "explicit" apostasy.^[3] (Hashemi gives the example of Abdul Rahman, an Afghan who was arrested in February 2006 and threatened with the death penalty in a lower court in Kabul for converting to Christianity).^[71]
• Blaspheming (sabb)^[68] (by a Muslim) against God, Islam, its laws or its prophet,^[40][72] which can be defined, in practice, as any objection to the authenticity of Islam, its laws or its prophet.^[68][73]
• Heresy;^[68] or "implicit" apostasy (by a Muslim),^[3] where the alleged apostate does not formally renounce Islam,^[70] but has (in the eyes of their accusers) verbally denied some principle of belief prescribed by Qur'an or a Hadith; deviated from approved Islamic tenets (ilhad).^[70] (Accusations of heresy, or takfir, often involve public thinkers and theologians – Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, Nasr Abu Zayd, Hashem Aghajari – but can involve the collective takfir of a large group and mass killings^[74] – takfir of Algerians who did not support the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria in 1997, takfir of Shia by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2005).^[75]
• Not all types of apostasy are punishable by death. Only major apostasy requires execution.

Issues in defining heresy

While identifying someone who publicly converted to another religion as an apostate was straightforward, determining whether a diversion from orthodox doctrine qualified as heresy (or 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".^[3] Al-Ghazali,^[76] for example, devoting "chapters to dealing with takfir and the reasons for which one can be accused of unbelief" in his work on The Criterion of Distinction between Islam and Clandestine Unbelief.^[77][78]

Some heretical or blasphemous acts or beliefs listed in classical manuals of jurisprudence and other scholarly works (i.e. works written by Islamic scholars) that allegedly demonstrate apostacy include:

• to deny the obligatory character of something considered obligatory by Ijma (consensus of Muslims);^[79][80]
• revile, question, wonder, doubt, mock or deny the existence of God or Prophet of Islam or that the Prophet was sent by God;^[79][80]
• belief that things in themselves or by their nature have a cause independent of the will of God;^[79][80]
• to assert the createdness of the Quran, to translate the Quran;^[81]
• According to some to ridicule Islamic scholars or address them in a derisive manner, to reject the validity of Shariah courts;^[81]
• Some also say to pay respect to non-Muslims, to celebrate Nowruz the Iranian New Year;^[81]
• Though disputed to express uncertainty such as "'I do not know why God mentioned this or that in the Quran'...";^[82]
• Some also say include for the wife of an Islamic scholar to curse her husband;^[82]
• to make a declaration of Prophethood (i.e. for someone to declare that they are a prophet. In early Islamic history, after Muhammad's death, this act was automatically deemed to be proof of apostasy – because Islam teaches Muhammad was the last prophet, there could be no more).^[83] (This view is alleged to be the basis of the rejection of the Ahmadiyya as apostates from Islam.)^[83][84][85]

While there are numerous requirements for a Muslim to avoid being an apostate, it is also an act of apostasy (in Shafi'i and other fiqh) for a Muslim to accuse or describe another devout Muslim of being an unbeliever,^[86] 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."^[87][88]

Historian Bernard 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.^[89]

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 his Fayal 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 and Ibn Taymiyyah also "warned against unbridled takfir" while takfiring "specific categories" of theological opponents as "unbelievers".^[90] 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 the Ummah to complete disaster."^[91]

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), for example, takfired all those who opposed its policy of enslaving members of the Yazidi 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",^{[Note 7]} as ISIL gives fighting alleged apostates a higher priority than fighting self-professed non-Muslims—Jews, Christians, Hindus, etc.^[93] 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".^[94]

There is general agreement among Muslims that the takfir and mass killings of alleged apostates perpetrated not only by ISIL but also by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's jihadis^[75] 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 academic Nasr Abu Zayd or the Ahmadiyya movement – disagree with their accusers on an important doctrinal point. (Ahmadi quote a Muslim journalist, Abdul-Majeed Salik, claiming that, "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".)^{[Note 8]} In the case of the Ahmadiyya – who are accused by mainstream Sunni and Shia of denying the basic tenet of the Finality of Prophethood (Ahmadis state they believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is a mahdi and a messiah)^[96] – the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has declared in Ordinance XX of the Second 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.^[97]

Overlap with blasphemy

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")^[98] In Islamic literature, the term "blasphemy" sometimes also overlaps with kufr ("unbelief"), fisq (depravity), isa'ah (insult), and ridda (apostasy).^[99][100] Because blasphemy in Islam included rejection of fundamental doctrines,^[101] blasphemy has historically been seen as an evidence of rejection of Islam, that is, the religious crime of apostasy. Some jurists believe that blasphemy automatically implies a Muslim has left the fold of Islam.^[102] A Muslim may find himself accused of being a blasphemer, and thus an apostate on the basis of one action or utterance.^[103][104]

Collective apostasy

In collective apostasy, a self-proclaimed Islamic group/sect are declared to be heretics/apostates. Groups treated as collective apostates include zindiq, sometimes Sufis, and more recently Ahmadis and Bahais.^[105] 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".^[105]

Fetri and national apostates

Among Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and others in Ja'fari fiqh, a distinction is made between "fetri" or "innate" apostates who grew up Muslims 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.^[106]

Children raised in apostasy

Orthodox apostasy fiqh can be problematic for someone who was raised by a non-Muslim (or non-Muslims) but has an absentee Muslim parent, or was raised by an apostate (or apostates) from Islam. A woman born to a Muslim parent is considered an apostate if she marries a non-Muslim,^[107][108] even if her Muslim parent did not raise her and she has always practiced another religion; and whether or not they know anything about Islam, by simply practicing the (new) religion of their parent(s) they become apostates (according to the committee of fatwa scholars at Islamweb.net).^[109]

Contemporary issues of defining apostasy

In the 19th, 20th and 21 century issues affecting shariʿah on apostasy include modern norms of freedom of religion,^[3] the status of members of Baháʼí (considered unbeliever/apostates in Iran) and Ahmadi faiths (considered appostates from Islam in Pakistan and elsewhere),^[3] those who "refuse to judge or be judged according to the shariʿah,"^[3] and more recently the status of Muslims authorities and governments that do not implement classical shariʿah law in its completeness.

Punishment

There are differences of opinion among Islamic scholars about whether, when and especially how apostasy in Islam should be punished.^[11][3][41]

From 11th century onwards, apostasy of Muslims from Islam was forbidden by Islamic law, earlier apostasy law was only applicable if a certain number of witnesses testify which for the most past was impossible.^{[110][111][112]} Apostasy was punishable by death and also by civil liabilities such as seizure of property, children, annulment of marriage, loss of inheritance rights.^[3] (A subsidiary law, also applied throughout the history of Islam, forbade non-Muslims from proselytizing Muslims to leave Islam and join another religion,^{[113][114][110][111][112]} because it encouraged Muslims to commit a crime). Starting in the 19th century the legal code of many Muslim states no longer included apostasy as a capital crime, and to compensate some Islamic scholars called for vigilante justice of hisbah to execute the offenders (see Apostasy in Islam#Colonial era and after).

In contemporary times the majority of Islamic jurists still regard apostasy as a crime deserving the death penalty, (according to Abdul Rashied Omar),^[18] although "a growing body of Islamic jurists" oppose this,^{[Note 9]} (according to Javaid Rehman)^[11][3][32] as inconsistent with "freedom of religion" as expressed in the Quranic injunctions (Quran 88:21-88:22)^[37] and Quran 2:256 ("there is no compulsion in religion");^[25] and a relic of the early Islamic community when apostasy was desertion or treason.^[38]

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.^[115]

Who qualifies for judgement for the crime of apostasy

As mentioned above, there are numerous doctrinal fine points outlined in fiqh manuals whose violation should render the violator an apostate, but there are also hurdles and exacting requirements that spare (self-proclaimed) Muslims conviction for apostasy in classical fiqh.

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,^[86] 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."^[116][117]

According to sharia, to be found guilty the accused must at the time of apostasizing be exercising free will, an adult, and of sound mind,^[3] and have refused to repent when given a time period to do so (not all schools include this last requirement). The free will requirement excludes from judgement those who embraced Islam under conditions of duress and then went back to their old religion, or Muslims who converted to another religion involuntarily, either force or as concealment (Taqiyya or Kitman) out of fear of persecution or during war.^[118][119]

Some of these requirements have served as "loopholes" to exonerate apostates (apostasy charges against Abdul Rahman, were dropped on the grounds he was "mentally unfit").^[120]

Death penalty

In classical Islamic jurisprudence

Traditional Sunnī and Shīʿa Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and their respective schools (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 practice sorcery (subhar), treacherous heretics (zanādiqa), and "recidivists".^[3] They disagree on issues such as whether women can be executed,^{[121][122][123]} whether apostasy is a violation of "the rights of God",^[3][124] whether apostates who were born Muslims may be spared if they repent,^[3] whether conviction requires the accused be a practicing Muslim,^[3] or whether it is enough to simply intend to commit apostasy rather than actually doing it.^[3]

• Ḥanafī school – recommends three days of imprisonment before the execution, although the delay before killing the apostates is not mandatory. Apostasy from Islam is not considered a hudud crime.^[125] Unlike in other schools, it is not obligatory to call on the apostate to repent.^[3] Apostate males are to be killed, while apostate females are to be held in solitary confinement and beaten every three days till they recant and return to Islam.^[126] The death penalty for apostasy from Islam is limited for those who cause aggravated robbery or grand larceny (ḥirābah) after leaving Islam, not for converting to another religion.^[127]
• Mālikī school – allows up to ten days for recantation, after which the apostates must be killed. Apostasy from Islam is considered a hudud crime.^[125] Both male and female apostates deserve the death penalty for leaving Islam, according to the traditional view of the Mālikī school.^[123] Unlike other schools, the apostates must have a history of being "good" (i.e., practicing) Muslims.^[3]
• 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.^[123] Apostasy from Islam is not considered a hudud crime.^[125]
• Ḥanbalī school – waiting period not necessary, but may be granted. Apostasy from Islam is considered a hudud crime.^[125] Death penalty is the traditional form of punishment for both male and female apostates for leaving Islam.^[123]
• Jaʿfari or Imāmī school – Male apostates must be executed, while female apostates must be held in solitary confinement until they repents and return to Islam.^[123][126] Apostasy from Islam is considered a hudud crime.^[125] The "mere intention of unbelief" without expression qualifies as apostasy.^[3] Unlike the other schools, repentance will not save a defendant from execution, unless they are "national apostates" who were not born Muslims but converted to Islam before apostasizing, although it is disputed by some Muslim scholars. "Innate" apostates, who grew up Muslims and remained Muslim after puberty and until converting to another religion, should be executed.^[3][106]

Vigilante application

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).^[14] In at least one case, the high profile execution of Mahmud Muhammad Taha, the victim was legally executed and the government made clear he was being executed for apostasy, but not the technical "legal basis" for his killing was another crime or crimes,^[14] namely "heresy, opposing the application of Islamic law, disturbing public security, provoking opposition against the government, and re-establishing a banned political party."^[128] When post-modernist professor Nasr 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.^[14][129]

Civil liabilities

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.^[3] The punishment for the criminal penalties such as murder includes death or prison, while ^[3][130] In all madhhabs of Islam, the civil penalties include:

(a) the property of the apostate is seized and distributed to his or her Muslim relatives;

(b) his or her marriage annulled (faskh) (as in the case of Nasr Abu Zayd);

(1) if they were not married at the time of apostasy they could not get married^[131]

(c) any children removed and considered ward of the Islamic state.^[3]

(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 of fay, 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.^{[35][36][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.^[3]

Social liabilities

The conversion of a Muslim to another faith is often considered a "disgrace" and "scandal" as well as a sin,^[132] so in addition to penal and civil penalties, loss of employment,^[132] ostracism and proclamations by family members that they are "dead", is not at all "unusual".^[133] 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.^[134]

Supporters and opponents of death penalty

Support among contemporary preachers and scholars

"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.^[18] 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"^[136] 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",^[137] was "widely credited" with contributing to the 20th century Islamic revival in the largest Arabic country, Egypt.^[138] (Al-Ghazali was on record as declaring all those who opposed the implementation of sharia 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".^[139][138]
• Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926), another "moderate" Islamist,^[140] chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars,^[141] who as of 2009 was "considered one of the most influential" Islamic scholars living.^{[142][143][144]}
• Zakir Naik, Indian Islamic televangelist and preacher,^[145] whose Peace TV channel, reaches a reported 100 million viewers,^[146][147] and whose debates and talks are widely distributed,^{[148][149][147]} supports the death penalty only for those apostates who "propagate the non-Islamic faith and speak against Islam" as he considers it treason.^[150][148]
• Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid, a Syrian Islamic scholar, considered a respected scholar in the Salafi movement (according to Al Jazeera);^[151] and founder of the fatwa website IslamQA,^[152] 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).^{[153][154][155]}

Opposing the death penalty for apostasy

• Mahmud Shaltut, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (1958–1963).^[156]
• Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar (2010–Present) and Grand Mufti of Egypt (2002–2003). ^{[citation needed]}
• Ali Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt (2003–2013).^[157][158]
• Mohsen Kadivar, Director of Department of Philosophy and Theology - Center of Scientific and Cultural Publishing, Tehran (1998–2003) and Professor Duke University (2009–).^[159][160]
• Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Grand Ayatollah and Deputy Supreme Leader of Iran (1985-1989).^[161]
• Hussein Esmaeel al-Sadr, Grand Ayatollah.^[162]
• Taha Jabir Alalwani (1935–2016), founder and former chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America.^[163]
• Intisar Rabb, faculty director of the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School. ^{[citation needed]}
• Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, a Pakistani Muslim theologian, Quran scholar. Ghamidi, Javed, ارتداد اور توہین رسالت کا قانون
• Tariq Ramadan, Professor of contemporary Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford and the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford ^{[citation needed]}
• Reza Aslan, an Iranian-American scholar of religious studies and writer. ^{[citation needed]}
• Jonathan A.C. Brown, Associate professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University. ^{[citation needed]}
• Rudolph F. Peters, Professor of Islamic Law at the University of Amsterdam. ^{[citation needed]}
• Khaled Abou El Fadl, Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law.
• S. A. Rahman, 5th Chief Justice of Pakistan (1968). ^{[citation needed]}

Rationale, arguments, criticism for and against killing apostates

The question of whether apostates should be killed, has been "a matter for contentious dispute throughout Islamic history".^[164]

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 the schools of fiqh both Sunni and Shia, 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).^[132]
  • "Many hadiths", not just "one or two", call for the killing of apostates (Yusuf al-Qaradawi);^[165][166]
  • 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),^[167] Quranic verses in general "appear to justify coercion and severe punishment" for apostates (Dale F. Eickelman).^[47]
  • If this doctrine is called into question, what's next? – ritual prayer (salat)? fasting (sawm)? even Muhammad's mission? (Abul A'la Maududi).^[168]
• It "does not merit discussion" because apostasy from Islam is so rare, (Ali Kettani),^[169] (Mahmud Brelvi);^[170][171] before the modern era, there was virtually no apostasy from Islam (Syed Barakat Ahmad);^[172]
  • 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).^[173]
  • or because 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);^{[Note 10]}
  • 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, (IOW, compulsion was not allow in the very earliest days of Islam but this was changed by divine revelation a few years later) (Peters and Vries explaining traditional view).^[175]
  • 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);^[176]
  • 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);^[177]

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 of companions of Muhammad and early Islamic scholars (Ibn al-Humam, al-Marghinani, Ibn Abbas, Sarakhsi, Ibrahim al-Nakh'i), opposed the execution of murtadd? (Mirza Tahir Ahmad);^[178]
  • in addition there have been a number of prominent ulema (though a minority) over the centuries who argued against the death penalty for apostasy in some way, such as ...
    • The Maliki jurist Abu al-Walid al-Baji (d. 474 AH) held that apostasy was liable only to a discretionary punishment (known as ta'zir) and so might not require execution;^[156]
    • The Hanafi jurist Al-Sarakhsi (d. 483 AH/ 1090 CE)^[179][180] and Imam Ibnul Humam (d. 681 AH/ 1388 CE)^[181] and Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i (707–774 CE),^[182] all distinguished between non-seditious religious apostasy on the one hand and treason on the other, with execution reserved for treason;
    • Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿī (50 AH/670 – 95/96 AH/717 CE) and Sufyan al-Thawri (97 AH/716 CE – 161 AH/778 CE) as well as the Hanafi jurist Sarakhsi (d. 1090), believed that an apostate should be asked to repent indefinitely (which would be incompatible with being sentenced to death).^[156][183]
• There are problems with the scriptural basis for sharia commanding the execution of apostates
  • Quran (see Quran above)
    • Compulsion in faith is "explicitly" forbidden by the Quran ('Abd al-Muta'ali al-Sa'idi);^[184] 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),^[54] (Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa),^[157] "general, overriding principle(s)" (Khaled Abou El Fadl)^[185] of Islam, and not abrogated by hadith or the Sword 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).^[186]
    • Neither verse Q.2:217, (Mirza Tahir Ahmad),^[187] or any other Quranic verse says anything to indicate an apostate should be punished in the temporal world, aka dunyā (S. A. Rahman),^[188] (W. Heffening),^[189] (Wael Hallaq),^[190][52] (Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri);^[161] the verses only indicate that dangerous, aggressive apostates should be killed, (Mahmud Shaltut),^[156] (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);^[191][192]
    • Another verses 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);^[57] (Sisters in Islam);^[193]
  • Hadith and Sunnah (see hadith above)
    • "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);^{[Note 11]}
    • The Prophet Muhammad did not call for the deaths of contemporaries who left Islam (Mohamed Ghilan)^[194] – 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 the Sunnah of Islam, this indicates "that one who changes her/his religion should not be killed" (Tariq Ramadan);^[186]
    • 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" (Muhammad al-Shawkani (1759–1834 CE));^[194] as their authenticity is not certain (Wael Hallaq);^[190] 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);^[195]
    • 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),^[194] (Adil Salahi);^{[Note 12]} punishment of collective conspiracy and treason against the government (Enayatullah Subhani);^[197] (Mahmud Shaltut);^{[Note 13]} and in fact, translating the Islamic term ridda as simply "apostasy" – a standard practice – is really an error, as ridda should be defined as "the public act of political secession from the Muslim community" (Jonathan Brown);^[198]
• 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);^[198]
  • 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.);^[199][200] 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);^[156] it's a man-made rule enacted in the early Islamic community to prevent and punish the equivalent of desertion or treason (John Esposito);^[38] 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 (Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri).^[161]
  • the concept of apostasy as treason is not so much part of Islam, as part of the pre-modern era when classical Islamic fiqh was developed, and when "every religion was a 'religion of the sword'" (Reza Aslan);^[201] and every religion "underpinned the political and social order within ... the states they established" (Jonathan Brown);^[198] “…the premodern period was an era in which citizenship was defined by religion. In the worlds of Islam and Christendom alike, to declare allegiance to another religion while continuing to reside in the land where one’s original religion was dominant, was to renounce allegiance to one’s co-religionists in a way tantamount to treason” (Intisar Rabb);^{[202][deprecated source]} "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."^[201]
    • For example, the Holy Roman Empire had its officially sanctioned and legally enforced version of Christianity; the Sasanian Empire had its officially sanctioned and legally enforced version of Zoroastrianism; in China at that time, Buddhist rulers fought Taoist rulers for political ascendancy, (Reza Aslan);^[201] Jews who abandoned the God of Israel to worship other deities "were condemned to stoning" (Jonathan Brown).^[198]
  • 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).^[194]
  • capital punishment for apostasy is a time-bound command, applying only to those Arabs who denied the truth even after having Muhammad himself explained and clarified it to them (Javed Ahmad Ghamidi).^[203]
  • 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);^[181] these days, the number of apostates is small, and does not politically threaten the Islamic community (Christine Schirrmacher describing the "liberal" position on apostasy);^[115] it should be enforced only if apostasy becomes a mechanism of public disobedience and disorder (fitna) (Ahmet Albayrak).^[39]
Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Apostasy_in_Islam
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