Apostasy in Islam

Do you believe that the punishment of apostasy is death according to Islam? Quran reprimands apostasy in Islam and suggests it deserves coercion and severe punishment. There are references to punishments for committing apostasy in Islam.

Example evidence of Apostasy in Islam, according to Sunni Shafi'i school of jurisprudence (Fiqh), are:

1.      bowing before sun, moon, objects of nature, idols, cross or any images symbolically representing God whether in mere contrariness, sarcastically or with conviction;

2.      intention, hesitation or actually committing unbelief in Islam;

3.      speak words such as "Allah is part of trinity", "Jesus is the son of Allah", "I am a Prophet";

4.      revile, question, wonder, doubt, mock the Prophet was sent by Allah;

5.      revile, deny, doubt any verse of the Quran;

6.      deny that which is considered obligatory by Ijma (consensus of Muslims);

7.      believe that things in themselves have cause rather than it being the will of Allah;

8.      to pay respect to a non-Muslim.

Al-Ghazali held that apostasy occurs when a Muslim:

1.      denies, intends to deny that "there is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah";

2.      denies, doubts Quran and the Law (Sharia); and

3.      denies, doubts through action Muhammad's prophecy about the end of the world and last judgment.

Brunei is the latest Muslim country to enact a law that makes apostasy a crime punishable with death. Egypt's penal code is silent about the punishment for apostasy from Islam. Contemporary Egyptian jurisprudence prohibits apostasy from Islam, but has also remained silent about death penalty. The silence about punishment for apostasy along with constitutional enshrinement of Sharia, means death sentence for apostasy is possibility. 

15 ex-Muslim Christians were incarcerated on 15 May 2008 under charges of apostasy in Iran. National laws of Malaysia require Muslim apostates who seek to convert from Islam to another religion to first obtain approval from a sharia court. 

Article 306 of the criminal code of Mauritania declares apostasy in Islam as illegal and provides a death sentence for the crime of leaving Islam. The penal code of Morocco does not impose the death penalty for apostasy. 

While several attempts have been made to enact laws prescribing "death penalty for apostasy" in Pakistan, it has no apostasy law as of 2013. There is no law against proselytizing non-Muslims to join Islam in Qatar.

Apostasy law is actively enforced in Saudi Arabia. Two Saudi Sunni Muslim citizens were arrested and charged with apostasy for adopting the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam. Apostasy is a crime in Somalia. The prescribed punishment for apostasy is the death penalty.

The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) protests against Islamic states that still punish Muslim apostates with death under the Sharia law. Apostasy is a crime in Yemen. 

If some Muslims insist on the death penalty for apostasy out of a concern to discourage apostasy, others do so simply because of a tendency to cling to traditional views no matter how much evidence exists against them. This attitude is un-Qur`an since the Book of God says:

When it is said to them: “Follow what God has sent down,” they say, “Nay! We shall follow what we found our fathers following.” What! Even if their fathers did not understand (ya‘qilun) anything and they were not guided? (2:170)

The Qur`an and authentic ahadith teach us to treat apostates like other kuffar, whose treatment varies from kindness to killing depending on the circumstances and on the degree of hostility they show towards Islam and Muslims. 

It is a significant fact that the Book of God does not prescribe any punishment for apostasy. Many Muslims would immediately say, The Qur`an does not tell us everything. It is thus a natural conclusion to draw that the absence of any legal penalty for apostasy in the Qur`an means that God never intended any such penalty to become part of Islamic Shari‘ah.

The apostates who rejected Islam by failing to emigrate as commanded by God are divided into three categories:

1.      Those who ally themselves with a group with whom Muslims have a peace treaty;

2.      Those who want to keep neutrality, committing themselves to peace with both the Muslims and their own people who had not accepted Islam;

3.      Those who provide no real guarantee of peace to Muslims and by all indications ally themselves with non-believers engaged in hostilities towards Islam.

The Qur`an actually prohibits killing those apostates who want to live in peaceful terms with the Muslims.