salam alaykum.
that's wrong. There is no punishment for apostasy (although it MIGHT be eviction for major apostasy which is where you cause loads of problems to the Muslim community after you leave). I remember reading about this. There are special conditions. But usual apostasy does not mean death.
It's absurd to kill someone who will convert. That's keeping someone in their faith forcefully. Now what does the Qur'an say about forcefully making someone choose a religion?
Second of all, if i examine the answers of http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=811&...g&txt=apostate:
Quote:Your question may be answered by the following points:
(1) This is the ruling of Allaah and His Messenger, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him." (reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 3017).
There are many contradicting hadiths. read http://www.islamonline.net/English/contemp...rticle01c.shtml
Also, fellow Muslims, since the Qur'an does not prescribe it, and actually is against oppression, why do you follow a hadith over a Qur'anic law?
Quote:(2) The one who has known the religion which Allaah revealed, entered it and practised it, then rejected it, despised it and left it, is a person who does not deserve to live on the earth of Allaah and eat from the provision of Allaah.
How in the world does this give someone to take a life of a human? Let's see what the Qur'an says about murder:
17:33
You shall not kill any person - for GOD has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. If one is killed unjustly, then we give his heir authority to enforce justice. Thus, he shall not exceed the limits in avenging the murder, he will be helped.
Also related to murder:
5:32
Because of this, <b>we decreed for the Children of Israel that anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all the people</b>. And anyone who spares a life, it shall be as if he spared the lives of all the people. Our messengers went to them with clear proofs and revelations, but most of them, after all this, are still transgressing.
True this is for the Jews, but i want people to look at the example given by the text. 'anyone who murders any person...it shall be as if he murdered all the people'.
Also notice the exceptions: 'who had not committed murder or horrendous crimes'
Now, murder is not usually commited by an apostate. And it's true that leaing Islam is bad, but it's not as bad as murder or oppression.
If you force someone to keep Islam, this is called oppression.
Oppression is worse than murder:
2:191
You may kill those who wage war against you, and you may evict them whence they evicted you. <b>Oppression is worse than murder</b>. Do not fight them at the Sacred Masjid, unless they attack you therein. If they attack you, you may kill them. This is the just retribution for those disbelievers.
2:217
They ask you about the Sacred Months and fighting therein: say, "Fighting therein is a sacrilege. However, repelling from the path of GOD and disbelieving in Him and in the sanctity of the Sacred Masjid, and evicting its people, are greater sacrileges in the sight of GOD. <b>Oppression is worse than murder</b>." They will always fight you to revert you from your religion, if they can. Those among you who revert from their religion, and die as disbelievers, have nullified their works in this life and the Hereafter. These are the dwellers of Hell, wherein they abide forever.
Now let's reverse the situation:
If an atheist wanted to become a Muslim or a Muslim wanted to practice Islam but his community wouldn't let him and were forcing him to give up Islam or not practice it, then here's what the Qur'an says about this oppression:
8:39
<b>You shall fight them to ward off oppression, and to practice your religion devoted to GOD alone</b>. If they refrain from aggression, then GOD is fully Seer of everything they do.
Notice how Muslims are allowed to ward off oppression. Also note how if they refrain from it, God is watching their actions (i.e. He will reward them).
Quote:(3) By leaving Islaam, the apostate opens the way for everyone who wants to leave the faith, thus spreading apostasy and encouraging it.
Actually it will help show everyone the strong in faith and the weak in faith. If those weak in faith, actually want to become strong, Allah will show them eventually. Even if it involves them leaving and reentering Islam. If those weak in faith, just want to leave Islam, then let them!
Muslims should not act like Christians who include all the heretical sects, sects, people who are christian by name, and non-christians (e.g. Jehovah's witnesses), as members of the Christian faith simply to boost their number count.
The prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings upon him, has already told us that it will not definitly not be numbers that might make Islam fall, but other things (i can't remember what).
Besides, let's take the obvious. A real Muslim will just shake their head sadly if a Muslim leaves and becomes something else. The real Muslim won't go and join the apostate. Why? Because he is a REAL Muslim, who believes the Qur'an. Why would a Qur'an believing Muslim leave Islam if he believed in it?
Lastly, has anyone ever heard of free will? If you want to leave Islam, feel free. For you were created with FREE WILL.
Quote:(4) The apostate is not to be killed without warning. Even though his crime is so great, he is given a last chance, a respite of three days in which to repent. If he repents, he will be left alone; if he does not repent, then he will be killed.
I wonder what the Qur'an says about this attitude. Oh wait, it calls it arrogant:
7:88
The <b>arrogant leaders</b> among his people said, "<b>We will evict you</b>, O Shu`aib, together with those who believed with you, from our town, <b>unless you revert to our religion</b>." He said, "<b>Are you going to force us</b>?
Notice how the arrogant leaders blackmail (same thing with murder. you blackmail someone into believing) people.
An objection could be that is the disbelievers against the believers, but it's the arrogant ones who are blackmailing them.
Also read this:
10:99
Had your Lord willed, all the people on earth would have believed. Do you want to force the people to become believers?
Do you feel the tone of that verse? 'Do you want to <i>force</i> the people to become believers?'
This also breaks the Qur'an commandment in 2:256:
2:256
<b>There shall be no compulsion in religion</b>: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.
Quote:(5) If the punishment for murder and espionage (also known as high treason) is death, then what should be the punishment for the one who disbelieves in the Lord of mankind and despises and rejects His religion? Is espionage or shedding blood worse than leaving the religion of the Lord of mankind and rejecting it?
I'm not sure what 'high treason' is, but murder is not always punished by death. Forgiveness and equality are used in murder:
2:178
O you who believe, equivalence is the law decreed for you when dealing with murder - the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the female for the female. If one is pardoned by the victim's kin, an appreciative response is in order, and an equitable compensation shall be paid. This is an alleviation from your Lord and mercy. Anyone who transgresses beyond this incurs a painful retribution.
Besides, there are WORSE things than murder, and they are not punished with death:
2:191
You may kill those who wage war against you, and <b>you may evict them whence they evicted you</b>. <b>ppression is worse than murder</b>. Do not fight them at the Sacred Masjid, unless they attack you therein. If they attack you, you may kill them. This is the just retribution for those disbelievers.
Quote:(6) None of those who bleat about personal freedom and freedom of belief would put up with a neighbour’s child hitting their child or justify this as "personal freedom," so how can they justify leaving the true religion and rejecting the sharee’ah which Allaah revealed to teach mankind about His unity and bring justice and fairness to all
This <i>bleating</i> is supported by the Qur'an in 2:256:
2:256
<b>There shall be no compulsion in religion</b>: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.
There's a big difference between stopping someone leave their religion with force and blackmail, to stopping a neighbour hit his child.
Since violence is prohibited except in self-defence or war, the neighbour is doing wrong. So ONLY if he is a Muslim, he must be told not to hit his child.
More importantly, if the child is being hit, not shown with mercy, and so on, and generally harming the child, then the child will become phycologically damaged. He might not be able to deeply trust someone, because his own mother/father are hitting him hard and they are supposed to be the humans who love him the most! Also if the neighbour is beating the child for no reason, the child must be taken away from him. This is for the child's protection.
You don't let the innocent suffer without reason.
Also with this link:
read this quote:
Quote:For instance, on the day of the conquest (fath) of Makkah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that Maqis ibn Subabah be killed, as he had not only apostatized from Islam but also insulted and killed a Muslim person. He (peace and blessings be upon him) also ordered that Ibn Abi Sarh be killed, as he had apostatized from Islam and also sought to spread falsehood and slander.
In this respect, Ibn Taymiyah differentiated between two kinds of apostasy, an apostasy which does not cause harm to the Muslim society and an apostasy in which apostates wage war against Allah and His Messenger and spread mischief in the land. The repentance of the apostates in the first kind is accepted; while in the second kind, it is not if it occurs after the apostates have fallen into the power of the Muslim authority.6
Ibn Taymiyah differentiated between the harmful apostasy and the harmless one.
`Abdur-Raziq, Al-Baihaqi, and Ibn Hazm reported that Anas returned from a mission for jihad and went to `Umar, who asked him, "What has been done with the six people from (the tribe) of Bakr ibn Wa'il who have apostatized from Islam?" Anas said, "O Commander of the Believers, they are people who turned apostate and joined the polytheists, and thus they were killed in the battle." `Umar commented, "We belong to Allah and to Him we will return." Anas wondered, "Had their penalty been but death?" `Umar replied, "Yes. I would have asked them to return to Islam, and had they refused, I would have imprisoned them."7
This attitude of `Umar was also held by Ibrahim An-Nakh`I, and Ath-Thawri, who said, "This is the viewpoint that we follow."8 Ath-Thawri also said, "The punishment of the apostate is to be deferred so long as there is a hope that he may return to Islam."9
In my point of view, as the scholars have differentiated between major and minor innovations in religion and between mere innovators and those who spread and call for their innovations in religion, we can also differentiate between major and minor apostasy, and between apostates who do not wage war against Islam and Muslims and those who proclaim their apostasy and call for it.
Major apostasy, which the apostate proclaims and openly calls for in speech or writing, is to be, with all the more reason, severely punished by the death penalty, according to the majority of scholars and the apparent meaning of the Prophet's hadiths. Otherwise, An-Nakh`i and Ath-Thawri's view which was built on `Umar's attitude may be followed.
Apostates who call for apostasy from Islam have not only become disbelievers in Islam but have also become enemies of Islam and the Muslim nation. They, by doing so, fall under the category of those who wage war against Almighty Allah and His Messenger and spread mischief in the land.
According to Ibn Taymiyah, waging war against something may be done by already attacking it or by speaking against it. The latter may be far more dangerous than the former with regard to religions. So is also the case with spreading mischief: it may be through causing physical damage or through causing moral harm, and the latter is, likewise, far more hazardous than the former with regard to religions. This proves how much more harmful it is to wage war against Allah and His Messenger by speaking against them and seeking to spread mischief in the land.10
In Arab culture, we say that the pen is mightier than the tongue. Writing about something may be far more effective than merely speaking about it, especially in this day and age, as writings can be widely published.
Basically, apostasy with disturbing and causing trouble MIGHT be (i'm not sure about this exact sort of case) worthy of death, but people were killed only for that according to some hadiths.
Thus you have contradicting hadiths about what to do with those who quietly leave Islam and join another religon. What about what the Qur'an says?
The Quran, makes no provision for the killing of apostates. Verse 5:54 states:
"O you who believe, if any of you reverts from his religion, then God will bring people whom He loves as they love Him, and humble themselves towards the believers, while being stern towards the disbelievers; and strive in the cause of God; and never worry about any blamer who might blame them. Such is God's grace that He bestows upon whomever He wills. God is bounteous, omniscient."
Verse 2:256 affirms complete freedom of religious belief:
"There shall be no compulsion in religion ..."
may God bless you.