A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
| Part of a series on |
| Islam |
|---|
 |
| Part of a series on Islamism |
|---|
 Politics portal |
| Islam and other religions |
|---|
| Abrahamic religions |
| Other religions |
| Islam and... |
 | This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (May 2024) |
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 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
 | This section possibly contains original research. (May 2024) |
Quran
The Quran repeatedly refers to apostasy (2:108, 217; 3:90; 4:89, 137; 5:54; 9:11–12, 66; 16:06; 88:22–24) in the context of attitudes that are associated with impending punishment, God's anger, and a refusal to accept the repentance of individuals who commit this act. Traditionally, these verses are thought to "appear to justify coercion and severe punishment" for apostates (according to Dale F. Eickelman),[47] including the traditional capital punishment.[48] Other scholars, by contrast, have pointed to a lack of any Quranic passage requiring the implementation of force to return apostates 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] Some verses have been cited as emphasizing mercy and a lack of compulsion with respect to religious belief (2:256; 4:137; 10:99; 11:28; 18:29; 88:21–22).[57]
Hadith
| This section possibly contains original research. (May 2024) |
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."
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.'"
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."
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.
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."
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!'
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."
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."
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] Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Irtidad
Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia.
Antropológia
Aplikované vedy
Bibliometria
Dejiny vedy
Encyklopédie
Filozofia vedy
Forenzné vedy
Humanitné vedy
Knižničná veda
Kryogenika
Kryptológia
Kulturológia
Literárna veda
Medzidisciplinárne oblasti
Metódy kvantitatívnej analýzy
Metavedy
Metodika
Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative
Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších
podmienok.
Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky
použitia.
www.astronomia.sk | www.biologia.sk | www.botanika.sk | www.dejiny.sk | www.economy.sk | www.elektrotechnika.sk | www.estetika.sk | www.farmakologia.sk | www.filozofia.sk | Fyzika | www.futurologia.sk | www.genetika.sk | www.chemia.sk | www.lingvistika.sk | www.politologia.sk | www.psychologia.sk | www.sexuologia.sk | www.sociologia.sk | www.veda.sk I www.zoologia.sk