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Book Punishment Of Apostacy In IslamBook Punishment Of Apostacy In Islam
I bought this book because of the prominence of the discussion of apostacy in the papers in Malaysia.
Apostacy from Islam is a subject that has been in the Malaysian newspapers, so I thought this book would shed some interesting light on the issue.
Muslim courts in Malaysia have essentially claimed that Muslims may not apostate themselves, that is, take advantage of religious to declare themselves to no longer be Muslim. Once a muslim, always a muslim, seems to be the thought.
This book by a Pakistani jurist, does a good job of spelling out the many sides of the issue of whether or not the Islamic apostate should be put to death. While the Qur'an might not say this, this book does a good job of pointing out the questionable pedigree of the many oral traditions that Islamic scholars have based the idea that it is permissible to put the apostate to death.
The book also points out the interesting situation of being Muslim in Malaysia, where being Muslim is so closely tied to the Malay ethnicity that Malay = Muslim and Muslim = Malay. So the issue of a Muslim Apostating is akin to the person also abandoning their ethnic heritage, something that is even more difficult to do. This explains some of the reason that the conversion of Muslims in Malaysia to Christianity is so difficult.
The book does a good job of discussing the various Qur'an verses that some use to support the idea of death to the apostate. It uses commentaries by various Islamic scholars to show that these Qur'anic texts are in fact being misquoted. The most reliable of the haddiths, or sayings of Muhammad, also do not support that someone changing away from Islam should be put to death. Islam is supposed to be a religion of reason that invites dialog with other religions. Even Muhamad entertained Christians living in Muslim lands to debate religion with them. Religious belief of the individual is not supposed to involve compulsion, but to be a free act of choice. Muslims claim that they will show that Islam is a reasonable religion.
Of course the book also points out that many scholars say that imprisoning an apostate until they renounce their conversion, and encouraging them by means short of death, i.e. torture, may be justified if it results in them returning to the Islamic faith.
Unfortunately, while the Qur'an and the best supported haddiths are shown by this book to not support death for the Muslim apostate, there are plenty of Muslim scholars who have decided on flimsy basis that death is justified. The book goes in depth about the disputed history and inconcistencies of various haddiths which are said to support death to apostates. Many of these haddiths are shown to involve characters who were actively antagonistic to Islam or the Islamic state, and consequently fell squarely within the "if they fight us, we'll fight back" Islamic school of thought. If the traditions are being applied to peaceful individuals who choose a different path of belief than Islam, the book makes a credible claim that they are being misapplied.
The issue of those who present a threat to Islam is covered in depth. But what does it actually take to be a threat? That is never defined. One question that came to my mind was the following situation: Could it be viewed as agression against Islam to vote against an Muslim political candidate? Could an attempt to remove a Muslim politician be viewed as trying to reduce or limit Islamic influence in government? It seems like it would be easy to make up an excuse to see the apostate as doing something against the Islamic state.
The book relates how some non-Muslims have been forced to pay special taxes to the Islamic state. If they refuse to pay, the moneys may be taken by force, as they are viewed as a redistribution from the rich to the poor. If the non-Muslim violently resists the taking of this special tax, then the muslim becomes an enemy of the state and may be executed for fighting the state.
The book also relates the controversies in Islam regarding who the death mandate should apply to. For example, should it apply to women, or old men too old to procreate? Should the apostate be allowed to recant, and how long should he be given to recant? And if the apostate is allowed to recant, does this apply to all apostates, or only the apostates who were originally some other religion before becoming Muslim and then going astray from Islam. The book relates ample controversy in these areas, with plenty of Islamic scholars to chose from for any level of extremism against the person who turns away from Islam.
In the final analysis, while the high ground of Islam should allow freedom to choose a different religion, Islam has been around long enough to have plenty of scholars who have views all over the map on this issue. It would be very easy for someone to choose whatever response they wanted to the apostate.
And, in reality, the actual implementation of Islam by Islamic countries falls far short of this ideal of protecting a freedom of religious choice. Witness these cases in Malaysia, a moderate Muslim state:
Punishment of apostacy in Islam (Unknown Binding) by Muhammed Zafrullah Khan
Also available as Punishment of Apostasy in Islam - The Other Press - Kuala Lumpur
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