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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sirajstc" data-source="post: 7625663" data-attributes="member: 91140">Volume 4, Book 52, Number 260:Narrated Ikrima: 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.' " Many prominent scholars throughout the centuries have held the view that  apostasy is not a hadd (singular for hudud = capital) offence. This view is  founded on the fact that the Qur'an is completely silent on the death penalty  for apostasy. In fact, freedom of religion is a fundamental tenet of Islam. In Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256, Allah explicitly states: "Let there be no compulsion in religion". This  Medinan verse was revealed when some Companions asked the Prophet for permission  to compel their relatives to profess Islam. It has been widely interpreted to  mean that no one can be compelled to embrace Islam because religion depends upon  faith and will, and this would be meaningless if induced by force. Islam itself  means submission to the will of God; and the willing submission of the self to  faith and belief must be attained through conviction and reason, not through coercion and  duress. Islam began by inviting and persuading people to embrace it on the merit of  its rationality and truth. In Surah Yunus, 10:99, a  verse revealed in Mecca at the advent of Islam, Allah says: "Had your Lord willed, everyone on earth would have  believed. Do you then force people to become believers?" This and verse  2:256, together with the norm of Shari'a which affirms freedom of religion, have  led many Muslim countries today to include in its Constitution an article on  freedom of religion as a fundamental right. In his book, The Punishment for Apostasy in Islam, the former Chief Justice  of Pakistan, SA Rahman, noted that even though the subject of apostasy occurred  no less than 20 times in the Qur'an, the Holy Book remained silent on death as a  punishment. Surah An-Nisa', 4:137-138, state that "Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe  again, then disbelieve, and then increase in their disbelief - Allah will never  forgive them nor guide them to the path. Give to the hypocrites the tidings that  there is for them a painful torment." If indeed it was Allah's intention  to impose the death penalty for apostasy, then such occasion of repeated  apostasy could have provoked such a punishment. But neither the first instance  of apostasy, nor repeated apostasy brought about capital punishment. Those who advocate the death penalty for apostasy based their reasoning on a  hadith which proclaims, "kill whoever changes his  religion". But this hadith is open to varying interpretations on several  grounds. First, this hadith  is considered a weak hadith with just a single isnad (this  means there is only one chain of transmission or narration) and thus according  to the rules of Islamic jurisprudence, it is not enough to validate the death  penalty. Second, this hadith  is also considered a general ('amm) hadith in that it is in  need of specification (takhsis); for it would otherwise convey a meaning that is  not within its purpose. The obvious reading of the hadith would, for example,  make liable the death punishment on a Hindu or Christian who converts to Islam.  This is obviously not the intention of the hadith. According to the rules of  Islamic jurisprudence, when a text is interpreted once, it becomes open to  further interpretation and specification. Therefore, many scholars interpret  this hadith to apply only to cases of high treason (hirabah), which means  declaring war against Islam, the Prophet, or God or the legitimate leadership of  the ummah.  Third, and most importantly, there is no evidence to show that  Prophet Muhammad saw or his Companions ever compelled anyone to embrace Islam,  nor did they sentence anyone to death solely for renunciation of the faith. Based on these three reasons and the Qur'anic principle of freedom of  religion, prominent ulama (scholars) from the seventh to the twentieth centuries  have come out with the position that there can be no death penalty for apostasy.  According to Professor Hashim Kamali in his award-winning book, Freedom of  Expression in Islam, two leading jurists of the generation succeeding the  Companions, Ibrahim al-Naka'I and Sufyan al-Thawri, both held that the apostate  should be re-invited to Islam, but should never be condemned to death. The  renowned Hanafi jurist, Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi wrote that even though  renunciation of faith is the greatest of offences, it is a matter between man  and his Creator, and its punishment is postponed to the Day of Judgement. The  Maliki jurist Abul Walid al-Baji and the renowned Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah  have both held that apostasy is a sin which carries no hadd punishment. In modern times, the celebrated Sheikh of al-Azhar University, the late  Mahmud Shaltut who was esteemed for his vast knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence  and Qur'anic interpretation, wrote that many ulama are in agreement that hudud  cannot be established by a solitary hadith and that unbelief by itself does not  call for the death penalty. The current Sheikh of al-Azhar, who was Egypt's  former Grand Mufti, Dr Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, also declared that apostasy is  not a capital crime. Many scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah, Shaltut and Tantawi, said that the  death penalty was not meant to apply to a simple change of faith, but to hirabah,  that is, when apostasy is accompanied by rebellion against the community and its  legitimate leadership. Extracts from<a href="http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/letterstoeditors/22071999.htm" target="_blank"> http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/letterstoeditors/22071999.htm</a>wa salaamConclusion:   As we clearly see from the Noble Verses above, apostates are no longer to be killed in Islam. <img src="/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/default/happy.gif"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="Happy    :)" data-shortname=":)" /> I am not here promoting apostates, but there is no reason to kill someone who doesn't deserve to be killed.  Certainly if the apostate is hostile toward the Muslims and joins the enemy in a war against them, or tries to corrupt the Muslims in the Muslim lands by trying to convert them to his/her new deviant religion, then the matter becomes different.   But if a Westerner today for instance embraces Islam for a while and then changes his position due to the overwhelming false anti-Islamic media, then certainly killing that person would be a grave sin and a big mistake.</blockquote>

Verification: Hathara warak wissa keeyada? (Hathara wadi karanna 20)

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