Killing of Apostasy

If Islam is a one way ticket religion, who dares to embrace Islam? Arguments favoring death penalty for apostasy being a pre-modern Islamic law, based on dubious interpretations and weak hadith references, the subject has made international headlines recently. And such issues further feed the prevailing Western Islamophobia hysteria.


Freedom of religion is fundamental to Islam, mentioned in several verses of the Holy Qur'an (Unto your religion, and unto me my religion(QS 109:6), Whosoever will, let him believe(QS 18:29), There is no compulsion in religion(QS 2:256), QS 3:90, 4:137, etc). The law of death for apostasy clearly violates the fundamental of Islamic principle because there is not a single verse in the Quran that commands the killing of an apostate (a person leaving his faith).

Islam is a religion that has never been forced upon. The very idea that a conversion into Islam is one way street in which one can never turn from is a much dissipated myth. The Quran prohibits Muslims to force Islam onto an individual. The question of forcing someone to believe does not arise at all, because the Qur'an identifies 'Iman' i.e. belief as something not just professed by the lips or acts, but something which has entered one's heart deeply by faith.

A close study of the life of the Prophet (pbuh), which serves as an example for all Muslims to learn how to practice Islam and carry out its injunctions, will show us that he never killed people who changed their religion or left Islam, for the reason of their leaving Islam.

In incidents when the Prophet(pbuh) commended the killing of some people, it was because they had committed an offense to the Muslim community, threatening its safety, or because they had killed someone. Therefore, killing them had nothing to do with their apostasy. There are other occasions where the Prophet(pbuh) and his companions(sahabi) neither punished the apostate nor asked anyone to do it. He allowed them to leave Madina. Nobody harmed them.

"A bedouin gave the Pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle for Islam. Then the bedouin got fever at Medina, came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge," But Allah's Apostle refused. Then he came to him (again) and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused Then he came to him (again) and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused. The bedouin finally went out (of Medina) whereupon Allah's Apostle said, "Medina is like a pair of bellows (furnace): It expels its impurities and brightens and clears its good." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, #318)

"Some people accepted Islam during the period of Umar bin Abdul Aziz, who is called the fifth rightful caliph of Islam. All these people renounced Islam sometimes later. Maimoon bin Mahran the governor of the area wrote to the caliph about these people. In reply Umar bin Abdul Aziz ordered him to release those people and asked him to re-impose jizya on them." [Musannaf Abdur Razzaq, pp. 171-10, cited in M. E. Subhani, Apostasy in Islam, pp. 23-24. Abdur Razzaq ibn Humama (d. 211 AH).

Islamic Research Department, Al-Azhar University: "The Islamic Research Department of Al-Azhar University has called the penalty for apostasy as null and void and has said that the ways of repentance are open for the whole life. ... So an apostate can repent over his mistake anytime during his life and there would be no fixed period for it." (Al-Alamul Islami, the weekly organ of Rabita Alam al-Islami, 23rd August 2002, quoted in Dr. M. E. Subhani, Global Media Publications, 2005, p. 25)

Dr. Tariq Ramadan - Swiss Muslim Academic and Scholar said: "I have been criticised about this in many countries. My view is the same as that of Sufyan Al-Thawri, an 8th-century scholar of Islam, who argued that the Quran does not prescribe death for someone because he or she is changing religion. Neither did the Prophet himself ever perform such an act. Many around the Prophet changed religions. But he never did anything against them. There was an early Muslim, Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh, who went with the first emigrants from Mecca to Abyssinia. He converted to Christianity and stayed, but remained close to Muslims. He divorced his wife, but he was not killed." (Interview: Tariq Ramadan)


References:

Telah menceritakan kepada kami [Abu Nu'aim] telah menceritakan kepada kami [Sufyan] dari [Muhammad bin Al Munkadir], aku mendengar [Jabir] mengatakan; 'Seorang arab badui (nomade) mendatangi Nabi shallallahu 'alaihi wasallam dan berujar "Baiatlah aku untuk Islam, " maka Nabi membaiatnya untuk Islam. Keesokan harinya si arab badui tadi datang dalam keadaan demam, dan berujar; "batalkanlah baiatku" namun Nabi enggan. Ketika si arab badui sudah berpaling, Nabi bersabda: "Madinah ini bagaikan tungku api yang menghilangkan karat-karatnya dan menyaring yang baik saja."


Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
A bedouin gave the Pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle for Islam. Then the bedouin got fever at Medina, came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge," But Allah's Apostle refused. Then he came to him (again) and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused Then he came to him (again) and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused. The bedouin finally went out (of Medina) whereupon Allah's Apostle said, "Medina is like a pair of bellows (furnace): It expels its impurities and brightens and clears its good.


Sanad:
Jabir bin 'Abdullah bin 'Amru bin Haram >> Muhammad bin Al Munkadir bin 'Abdullah bin Al Hudair >> Sufyan bin Sa'id bin Masruq >> Al Fadlol bin Dukain bin Hammad bin Zuhair
Skema: Mutashil, Kedudukan:Marfu'
Penguat:


Penguat:
Bukhari No.6777, Muslim No.2453, Tirmidzi No.3855, Nasa'i No.4114, Ahmad No.13766, Ahmad No.13781, Ahmad No.14409, Ahmad No.14682, Malik No.1377


Abang kepada Zaynab bint Jahsh dan juga suami kepada Ramla bint Abi Sufyan, Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh telah dibenarkan oleh para sahabat ra. untuk murtad dan memeluk agama kristian setelah hijrah ke Abyssinia?


Malah, bukan saja Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh tidak dibunuh atau diperangi setelah dia murtad tetapi dia juga hidup secara damai dalam keadaan murtad (sehingga dia meninggal dunia) bersama para sahabat ra. pada ketika itu.


'Ubaydullah went on searching until Islam came; then he migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia taking with him his wife who was a Muslim, Umm Habiba bint Abu Sufyan. When he arrived there he adopted Christianity, parted from Islam, and died a Christian in Abyssinia. (reported by Ibn Ishaq)


Ruj: Sirat Rasul Allah (سيرة رسول الله ) - Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar (704-770 AD)



Wallahu'alam