Apostasy in Islam and Christianity
A man is Saudi Arabia, locally identified as Ahmad Al-Shamri has been sentenced to death for apostasy. After allegedly uploading videos renouncing Islam and Muhammad in 2014, Mr Al-Shamri was arrested and imprisoned on charges of atheism and blasphemy, and lost his second appeal on 25th April.
Some Saudi Twitter users expressed horror:
Others can’t wait to see the ‘show’
On 29th April in Germany, Farima S, an Afghan refugee and assistant at her local community church, was stabbed to death in front of her children. Although investigations are still ongoing, German police have said there is evidence of a religious motive for the killing; the victim’s sister said it was because she converted to Christianity.
But is death for apostasy Islamic? What do the source texts say?
Apostasy in the Qur’an, Hadith and Sharia law
Sura 4:89 states:
They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper (Sahih International)
Some interpret this to be about desertion after various battles with the poytheists; Sura 4:90 gives some context:
Except for those who take refuge with a people between yourselves and whom is a treaty or those who come to you, their hearts strained at [the prospect of] fighting you or fighting their own people. And if Allah had willed, He could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah has not made for you a cause [for fighting] against them (Sahih International)
Sura 4:90 appears to soften 4:89 by offering amnesty to those who return with peace terms. So is it in fact traitors, as some Muslims argue, not apostates, who should be killed? Do the reliable hadith collections offer any clarification on this issue?
Al-Bukhari 4:52:260 (and Bukhari 9:84:57)
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.
What is the crime here? Discarding the religion – apostasy. In Bukhari 64:84. Muhammad even advocates death it seems, for nominal Muslims – nor in this hadith, is there any mention of battle:
Narrated ‘Ali:
Whenever I tell you a narration from Allah’s Apostle, by Allah, I would rather fall down from the sky than ascribe a false statement to him, but if I tell you something between me and you (not a Hadith) then it was indeed a trick (i.e., I may say things just to cheat my enemy). No doubt I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “During the last days there will appear some young foolish people who will say the best words but their faith will not go beyond their throats (i.e. they will have no faith) and will go out from (leave) their religion as an arrow goes out of the game. So, wherever you find them, kill them, for who-ever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection.”
Bukhari 89:271:
Narrated Abu Musa:
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”
What did Abu Musa do that was worthy of death? He reverted to Judaism.
Sahih Muslim 1676:
Abdullah (b. Mas’ud) reported Allah’s Messenger as saying:
It is not permissible to take the life of a Muslim who bears testimony (to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and I am the Messenger of Allah, but in one of the three cases: the married adulterer, a life for life, and the deserter of his Din (Islam), abandoning the community.
In the account of Muhammad’s life by Ibn Ishaq (Guillaume, p.550-1), Abdullah bin Khatal kills a slave then apostatises; later, in fear of his life and clinging to the curtains of the Ka’aba, Muhammad orders him to be killed (Bukhari 5:59:582.)
It seems Muhammad ordered death for apostasy, regardless of treachery in battle. Even if you disregard the evidence to the contrary and maintain that apostasy is the same as treachery, this confirms Islam’s status as a political ideology, not just a religion. Muhammad and his companions were fighting “in Allah’s cause” (Sura 4:89). If the battle is “Allah’s cause,” then someone who ceases to believe in Allah ceases to believe in Allah’s cause too – isn’t that a form of treachery and according to the Qur’an, punishable by death?
Christians on the other hand are not told to fight other people ‘in YHWH’s cause’; rather the Christian battle is against sin, ‘the flesh’ (as in our own human weakness, not other people’s flesh) and the devil.
What does the Shariah say about apostasy? World renowned scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi says:
“The Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-‘ashriyyah, Al-Ja’fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.”
Death for apostasy is well attested in Islamic sources and affirmed by all the main schools of law. But are there any interpretations which favour ‘peaceful’ apostasy?
“It’s equivalent to the death penalty for high treason”
Encouragingly, Morocco just last week retracted the death penalty for apostasy. Morocco’s High Religious Committee stated this was because “the killing of the apostate is meant for the traitor of the group, the one disclosing secrets, […] the equivalent of treason in international law.” Morocco World News
This raises the issue discussed earlier – if apostasy is equivalent to treason (I am using ‘treason’ and ‘treachery’ synonymously here), that makes Islam a political ideology. Does this mean a Muslim could still be executed for treason? What exactly constitutes treason under Islam when the battle according to the Qur’an is “Allah’s cause?” Not only does this ruling ignore the Hadith in favour of the death penalty, but it is based on the teachings of Sufyan al-Thawri, a Sufi sympathiser, whose view is at odds with the main Islamic schools of law.
This is still a welcome development, but how well supported it is according to Islam’s earliest sources is doubtful.
“The Qur’an supports freedom of conscience”
Writers like Kashif N. Choudry make this liberal argument in Huffpost citing Suras like 2:256 (“There is no compulsion in religion”) and Sura 18:29 (“The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills – let him believe; and whoever wills – let him disbelieve”).
However, freedom of conscience and apostasy are two separate issues. It could be argued these Sura allow for some ‘freedom of conscience’ in that it lets people stay as they are – if you are a Christian, you can stay a Christian: no-one should force you to become a Muslim. (Suras 9:5 and 9:29 make this debatable). But this is not apostasy: apostasy is when a Muslim decides to leave Islam. On this, the Qur’an and the traditions are clear. It’s also worth stating that Dr Choudry is from the Ahmaddiya sect of Islam, whose theology is rejected by both Sunni and Shi’a Muslims.
“The Bible supports death for apostasy!”
In the Old Testament, YHWH does decree the death penalty in Deuteronomy 13:
“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer….. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery.” Deut 13: 1-3, 5
In Sura 4:89 the offence is leaving Islam; in Deuteronomy, it is inciting others to worship other gods, so it is not quite equivalent. Nevertheless, here is a capital punishment decreed by YHWH – is it relevant for today?
In the OT, idolatry is the worst of sins; it is condemned even in the first Commandment: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” So it is consistent for the worst offence to merit the worst of punishments, bearing in mind the legal context of the Near East in 1400 BC where capital punishment was normative.
It’s worth noting the two elements of this commandment- God isn’t a ruthless autocrat who arbitrarily demands the death penalty, but the God who redeemed and rescued His people from slavery. His holiness and goodness are the defining elements of His character. Can the same be said of Allah? And how come the redemption narrative is so strikingly absent from the Qur’an?
So is this command applicable today? No, because the Old Covenant has been fulfilled by Jesus death on the Cross and a new covenant brought instead (Matt 5:18). “Christ is the culmination of the law so there may be righteousness for all who believe.” (Romans 10:4) Christians look to Jesus, not Moses, for guidance in these matters. There is no equilvalent ‘fulfilment’ in the Qur’an – all of it is binding on Muslims as Allah’s Eternal Word.
What does the New Testament teach on apostasy?
Jesus never compelled anyone to remain his disciple. Jesus taught that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” His hearers back then (like today) found that hard to take, and as John records, “from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66)
Notice also Jesus’ reaction to the Jews’ rejection of him:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
Jesus does not call for the Jews’ execution (even though by rejecting him they were rejecting YHWH himself); rather he lets them choose. Similarly when Judas betrays him and Peter denies him, Jesus submits to the consequences of their actions. Jesus even restores Peter, who goes on to establish His church.
Jesus does allude to a future reckoning, for example in Luke 19:27:
“But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and kill them in front of me.”
But this is at Jesus second coming when He returns to judge the world – a sobering thought and worth pondering, especially if He’s not king over you.
In fact can we find a single example in the New Testament of a Christian being killed for leaving Christianity, or of Christians being commanded to kill apostates? In both cases, the answer is ‘no’.
Practical examples
Can you name a Christian, or post-Christian country where the legal penalty for apostasy is death? Can you name any Christian denomination where the death penalty for apostasy (or idolatry) is supported?
According to the latest Freedom of Thought report, the following Muslim countries all mandate the death penalty for apostasy: Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. In Pakistan the death penalty is not for apostasy, but blasphemy.
Conclusion
Muhammad taught and practised the death penalty for apostasy. The Qur’an, the hadith and the tafsirs all support it, as do all mainstream schools of Islamic law. Jesus neither killed nor ordered anyone to be killed for ceasing to follow him while he was on earth. The Old Testament prescribes death for idolaters, but these prescriptions are no longer taught or practised because of Jesus’ fulfilment of the law on the Cross. Jesus warns of the destruction of those who reject his Kingship at his Second Coming; even in Islam, Jesus, not Muhammad, will come back to judge the world. In Christ, YHWH honours man’s freedom to choose; Allah keeps Muslims in Islam through fear. Look at how honestly this is articulated by Yusuf al-Qaradawi in 2013:
“If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the punishment [often death] for apostasy, Islam would not exist today.”
Is Islam so weak that it needs the death penalty to keep its adherents? Ask yourself – would you rather be coerced into belief or persuaded in love?
First published on August 4, 2018 by Other Name