Re: Top Muslim clerics: Christian convert must die
- From: lanman <xlanmanx@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:00:17 -0700
On 3 Apr 2006 04:58:41 -0700, forahmad@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
michael james wrote:
forahmad@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
mr. snerdly wrote:sacraments required by their faith, particularly are affected.
"What I had stated or meant was that in no Islamic country apostasy is
a capital crime. If there are extremists who take law into their own
hands, that's a different matter and that sort of thing can happen
anywhere. " -- Ahmad 1man
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.religion.islam/browse_frm/thread/f1cad9e600d9298/8e6a1452d0233c69?lnk=st&q=1man4all+apostasy&rnum=2&hl=en#8e6a1452d0233c69
Don't believe everything you read on ARI :-)
I did make an exception for Afghanistan in another one of my post, see
http://tinyurl.com/zqwxo, dated Fri, Oct 12 2001, in which I had
stated:
"Except for Afghanistan, which is not an Arab country, there are no
laws for apostasy per se in the 56 or so Islamic countries. However,
there are blasphemy laws in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but nobody has
ever been executed for those crimes. These blasphemy laws are not
Islamic (not supported by any Shariyyah law) but are created by
zealots. Great Britain, the great paragon of democracy, also has
blasphemy laws. It is against the law in England to blaspheme
Christianity or the Church of England. However, these laws are not
enforced. My question is that if these laws are not needed, why keep
them on the books?"
The apostasy law had been put in place by the Taliban and when I made
my other. more recent, statement, which you have quoted above, my
assumption was that those laws were no longer in place. Article 2 of
the new Afghan Constitution says the following:" (1) The religion of
the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion
of Islam.(2) Followers of other religions are free to exercise their
faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the
provisions of law." However, it doesn't define what provisions of
Islamic law the state adheres to, as there are many different
interpretations of "shariah" and there is no consensus. It is not even
clear whether by making Islam the state religion Shariah automatically
becomes the law of the land. In other Muslim countries where Islam has
been declared the state religion, shariah-based laws are well defined
and incorporated into the legal framework. Furthermore, the Preamble of
the Afghan constitution says, "Observing the United Nations Charter and
respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," which as you may
well know includes the right to adopt another religion. So, if I am a
lawyer I would argue that since a particular interpretation of Shariah,
regardless of its suitability, has not been incorporated into the laws
of the country and the Constitution by its Preamble allows conversion
to another faith, there is no legal basis to imprison a man for
apostasy. And therefore my statement was technically correct; and if
the Karzai government is still enforcing antiquated Taliban laws, whose
fault is that? Well, the good news is that the man would be freed. I
never thought for a second that he would be executed, anyway.
mosques in the country, although over 30 percent of all mosques in Saudi
Arabia are built and endowed by private persons. The Ministry pays the
salaries of imams (prayer leaders) and others who work in the mosques. A
governmental committee defines the qualifications of imams. The
Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice (commonly called "religious
police" or Mutawwa'in) is a government entity, and its chairman has
ministerial status. The Committee sends out armed and unarmed people
into the public to ensure that Saudi citizens and expatriates living in
the kigndom follow the Islamic mores, at least in public.
Foreign imams are barred from leading worship during the most heavily
attended prayer times and prohibited from delivering sermons during
Friday congregational prayers. The Government states that its actions
are part of its "Saudiization" plan to replace foreign workers with
citizens.
Under Shari'a conversion by a Muslim to another religion is considered
apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant.
Sadeq Mallallah was a Saudi executed for merely owning a Bible.
People who make that charge do it in a roundabout way. They wrongly
claim that Shariah is 'the' constitution of Saudi Arabia and since in
some parts of Shariah the punishment of apostasy is death, that must be
Saudi law. But the problem is that there is no specific book of Shariah
that Saudis follow [there is nothing in Quran about apostasy] and
Shariah itself is made up of diverse legal opinions, not settled law.
Saudi Arabia has a constitution that states that international treaties
the Kingdom has signed override any Shariah.
You conveniently forget the reality of defacto law in Arabia and the
effect the religious police and various goon squads have in oppressing
the people. And according to many famous Islamic scholars'
interpretation of the Koran over the centuries, apostates must be put
to death. From jihadwatch.com
Here is the full text of an enormously important paper that was
presented by Ibn Warraq at a panel discussion on "Apostasy, Human
Rights, Religion and Belief" held at the the 60th Session of the UN
Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on April 7, 2004. Ibn Warraq, of
course, is the outstandingly courageous author of Why I am not a
Muslim and the editor of The Origins of the Koran; The Quest for the
Historical Muhammad; What the Koran Really Says; and Leaving Islam:
Apostates Speak Out.
The very notion of apostasy has vanished from the West where one would
talk of being a lapsed Catholic or non-practicing Christian rather
than an apostate. There are certainly no penal sanctions for
converting from Christianity to any other religion. In Islamic
countries, on the other hand, the issue is far from dead.
The Arabic word for apostate is murtadd, the one who turns back from
Islam, and apostasy is denoted by irtidad and ridda. Ridda seems to
have been used for apostasy from Islam into unbelief ( in Arabic, kufr
), and irtidad from Islam to some other religion. A person born of
Muslim parents who later rejects Islam is called a Murtadd Fitri -
fitri meaning natural, it can also mean instinctive, native, inborn,
innate. One who converts to Islam and subsequently leaves it is a
Murtadd Milli, from milla meaning religious community .The Murtadd
Fitri can be seen as someone unnatural, subverting the natural course
of things whose apostasy is a willful and obstinate act of treason
against God and the one and only true creed, and a betrayal and
desertion of the community. The Murtadd Milli is a traitor to the
Muslim community, and equally disruptive.
Any verbal denial of any principle of Muslim belief is considered
apostasy. If one declares, for example, that the universe has always
existed from eternity or that God has a material substance, then one
is an apostate. If one denies the unity of God or confesses to a
belief in reincarnation, one is guilty of apostasy. Certain acts are
also deemed acts of apostasy, for example treating a copy of the Koran
disrespectfully, by burning it or even soiling it in some way. Some
doctors of Islamic law claim that a Muslim becomes an apostate if he
or she enters a church, worships an idol, or learns and practises
magic. A Muslim becomes an apostate if he defames the Prophet?s
character, morals or virtues, and denies Muhammad?s prophethood and
that he was the seal of the prophets.
KORAN
It is clear quite clear that under Islamic Law an apostate must be put
to death. There is no dispute on this ruling among classical Muslim or
modern scholars, and we shall return to the textual evidence for it.
Some modern scholars have argued that in the Koran the apostate is
threatened with punishment only in the next world, as for example at
XVI.106, ?Whoso disbelieveth in Allah after his belief ?save him who
is forced thereto and whose heart is still content with the Faith but
whoso findeth ease in disbelief: On them is wrath from Allah. Theirs
will be an awful doom.? Similarly in III.90-91, ?Lo! those who
disbelieve after their (profession of) belief, and afterward grow
violent in disbelief, their repentance will not be accepted. And such
are those who are astray. Lo! those who disbelieve, and die in
disbelief, the (whole) earth full of gold would not be accepted from
such an one if it were offered as a ransom (for his soul).Theirs will
be a painful doom and they will have no helpers.?
However, Sura II.217 is interpreted by no less an authority than
al-Shafi?i(died 820 C.E.), the founder of one of the four orthodox
schools of law of Sunni Islam to mean that the death penalty should be
prescribed for apostates. Sura II.217 reads: ?? But whoever of you
recants and dies an unbeliever , his works shall come to nothing in
this world and the next, and they are the companions of the fire for
ever.? Al-Thalabi and al -Khazan concur. Al-Razi in his commentary on
II:217 says the apostate should be killed.
Similarly, IV. 89: ?They would have you disbelieve as they themselves
have disbelieved, so that you may be all like alike. Do not befriend
them until they have fled their homes for the cause of God. If they
desert you seize them and put them to death wherever you find them.
Look for neither friends nor helpers among them?? Baydawi (died c.
1315-16), in his celebrated commentary on the Koran, interprets this
passage to mean: ?Whosover turns back from his belief ( irtada ),
openly or secretly, take him and kill him wheresoever ye find him,
like any other infidel. Separate yourself from him altogether. Do not
accept intercession in his regard?. Ibn Kathir in his commentary on
this passage quoting Al Suddi (died 745) says that since the
unbelievers had manifested their unbelief they should be killed.
Abul Ala Mawdudi [1903-1979], the founder of the Jamat-i Islami, is
perhaps the most influential Muslim thinker of the 20th century, being
responsible for the Islamic resurgence in modern times. He called for
a return to the Koran and a purified sunna as a way to revive and
revitalise Islam. In his book on apostasy in Islam, Mawdudi argued
that even the Koran prescribes the death penalty for all apostates. He
points to sura IX for evidence:
?But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then
are they your brethren in religion. We detail our revelations for a
people who have knowledge. And if they break their pledges after their
treaty (hath been made with you) and assail your religion, then fight
the heads of disbelief Lo! they have no binding oaths in order that
they may desist.?(IX: 11,12)
Hadith
Here we find many traditions demanding the death penalty for apostasy.
According to Ibn Abbas the Prophet said, ?Kill him who changes his
religion,? or ?behead him.? The only argument was as to the nature of
the death penalty. Bukhari recounts this gruesome tradition:
?Narrated Anas:Some people from the tribe of Ukl came to the Prophet
and embraced Islam .The climate of Medina did not suit them, so the
Prophet ordered them to go to the (herd of milch ) camels of charity
to drink their milk and urine (as a medicine).They did so, and after
they had recovered from their ailment they turned renegades (reverted
from Islam, irtada ) and killed the shepherd of the camels and took
the camels away. The Prophet sent (some people) in their pursuit and
so they were caught and brought, and the Prophet ordered that their
hands and legs should be cut off and that their eyes should be branded
with heated pieces of iron , and that their cut hands and legs should
not be cauterised, till they die.?
Abu Dawud has collected the following saying of the Prophet:
? ?Ikrimah said: Ali burned some people who retreated from Islam. When
Ibn Abbas was informed of it he said, ?If it had been I, I would not
have them burned, for the apostle of Allah said: ?Do not inflict
Allah?s punishment on anyone.? But would have killed them on account
of the statement of the Apostle of Allah, ?Kill those who change their
religion.? ?
In other words, kill the apostates (with the sword) but certainly not
by burning them, that is Allah?s way of punishing transgressors in the
next world. According to a tradition of Aisha?s, apostates are to be
slain, crucified or banished.
Should the apostate be given a chance to repent? Traditions differ
enormously. In one tradition, Muadh Jabal refused to sit down until an
apostate brought before him had been killed ?in accordance with the
decision of God and of His Apostle.?
Under Muslim law, the male apostate must be put to death, as long as
he is an adult, and in full possession of his faculties. If a
pubescent boy apostatises, he is imprisoned until he comes of age,
when if he persists in rejecting Islam he must be put to death.
Drunkards and the mentally disturbed are not held responsible for
their apostasy. If a person has acted under compulsion he is not
considered an apostate, his wife is not divorced and his lands are not
forfeited. According to Hanafis and Shia, a woman is imprisoned until
she repents and adopts Islam once more, but according to the
influential Ibn Hanbal, and the Malikis and Shafiites , she is also
put to death. In general, execution must be by the sword, though there
are examples of apostates tortured to death, or strangled, burnt,
drowned, impaled or flayed. The caliph Umar used to tie them to a post
and had lances thrust into their hearts, and the Sultan Baybars II
(1308-09) made torture legal.
Should attempts be made at conversion? Some jurists accept the
distinction between Murtadd fitri and Murtadd milli, and argue that
the former be put to death immediately. Others, leaning on sura
IV.137,?Lo! those who believe, then disbelieve and then (again)
believe, then disbelieve, and then increase in disbelief, Allah will
never pardon them, nor will he guide them unto a way,? insist on three
attempts at conversion, or have the apostate imprisoned for three days
to begin with. Others argue that one should wait for the cycle of the
five times of prayer and ask the apostate to perform the prayers at
each. Only if he refuses at each prayer time is the death penalty to
be applied. If he repents and embraces Islam once more, he is
released.
The murtadd of course would be denied a Muslim burial, but he suffers
other civil disabilities as well. His property is taken over by the
believers, if he returns penitent he is given back what remains.
Others argue that the apostate?s rights of ownership are merely
suspended, only if he dies outside the territory under Islam does he
forfeit his property to the Muslim community. If either the husband or
wife apostasizes, a divorce takes place ipso facto; the wife is
entitled to her whole dower but no pronouncement of divorce is
necessary. According to some jurists, if husband and wife apostasize
together their marriage is still valid. However if either the wife or
husband were singly to return to Islam then their marriage would be
dissolved. According to Abu Hanifa, legal activities such as
manumission, endowment, testament and sale are suspended. But not all
jurists agree. Some Shi?i jurists would ask the Islamic Law towards
apostates to be applied even outside the Dar al -Islam, in non-Muslim
countries.
Finally, according to the Shafites it is not only apostasy from Islam
that is to be punished with death, but also apostasy from other
religions when this is not accompanied by conversion to Islam. For
example, a Jew who becomes a Christian will thus have to be put to
death since the Prophet has ordered in general that everyone ?who
adopts any other religion? shall be put to death.
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [UDHR,1948]
states: ?Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or
belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and observance?.
The clause guaranteeing the freedom to change one?s religion was added
at the request of the delegate from Lebanon, Charles Malik, who was a
Christian. Lebanon had accepted many people fleeing persecution for
their beliefs, in particular for having changed their religion.
Lebanon especially objected to the Islamic law concerning apostasy.
Many Muslim countries, however, objected strongly to the clause
regarding the right to change one?s religion. The delegate from Egypt,
for instance, said that ?very often a man changes religion or his
convictions under external influences with goals which are not
recommendable such as divorce.? He added that he feared in proclaiming
the liberty to change one?s religion or convictions the Universal
Declaration would encourage without wishing it ?the machinations of
certain missions well- known in the East, which relentlessly pursue
their efforts with a view to converting to their faith the populations
of the East?. Significantly, Lebanon was supported by a delegate from
Pakistan who belonged to the Ahmadi community which, ironically, was
to be thrown out of the Islamic community in the 1970s for being
non-Muslim. In the end all Muslim countries except Saudi Arabia
adhered to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
During discussions of Article 18 in 1966, Saudi Arabia and Egypt
wanted to suppress the clause guaranteeing the freedom to change one?s
religion. Finally a compromise amendment proposed by Brazil and the
Philippines was adopted to placate the Islamic countries. Thus, ?the
freedom to change his religion or belief? was replaced by ?the freedom
to have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice.? Similarly in
1981, during discussions on the Declaration on the Elimination of All
Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief,
Iran, under the new regime reminded everyone that Islam punished
apostasy by death. The delegate from Iraq, backed up by Syria,
speaking on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
expressed his reserve for any clauses or terms that would contradict
the Islamic Sharia, while the delegate from Egypt felt that they had
to guard against such a clause being exploited for political ends to
interfere in the internal affairs of states.
The various Islamic human rights schemes or declarations - such as the
Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (1981) are
understandably vague or evasive on the issue of the freedom to change
one?s religion, since Islam itself clearly forbids apostasy and
punishes it with death. As Elisabeth Mayer says, ?The lack of support
for the principle of freedom of religion in the Islamic human rights
schemes is one of the factors that most sharply distinguishes them
from the International Bill of Human Rights, which treats freedom of
religion as an unqualified right. The [Muslim] authors? unwillingness
to repudiate the rule that a person should be executed over a question
of religious belief reveals the enormous gap that exists between their
mentalities and the modern philosophy of human rights.? Islamic Human
Rights Schemes are clearly not universal since they introduce a
specifically Islamic religious criterion into the political sphere,
whereas the UDHR of 1948 places human rights in an entirely secular
and universalist framework. The Islamic human rights schemes severely
restrict and qualify the rights of individuals, particularly women,
non-Muslims and those, such as apostates, who do not accept Islamic
religious orthodoxy.
As for the constitutions of various Muslim countries, while many do
guarantee freedom of belief (Egypt,1971; Syria, 1973; Jordan, 1952)
some talk of freedom of conscience (Algeria:1989), and some of freedom
of thought and opinion (Mauritania: 1991). Islamic countries with two
exceptions do not address the issue of apostasy in their penal codes;
the two exceptions are the Sudan, and Mauritania. In the Sudanese
Penal Code of 1991, article 126. 2, we read: ?Whoever is guilty of
apostasy is invited to repent over a period to be determined by the
tribunal. If he persists in his apostasy and was not recently
converted to Islam, he will be put to death.? The Penal Code of
Mauritania of 1984, article 306 reads: ??All Muslims guilty of
apostasy, either spoken or by overt action will be asked to repent
during a period of three days. If he does not repent during this
period, he is condemned to death as an apostate, and his belongings
confiscated by the State Treasury.? This applies equally to women. The
Moroccan Penal Code seems only to mention those guilty of trying to
subvert the belief of a Muslim, or those who try to convert a Muslim
to another religion. The punishment varies between a fine and
imprisonment for anything up to three years.
The absence of any mention of apostasy in some penal codes of Islamic
countries of course in no way implies that a Muslim in the country
concerned is free to leave his religion. In reality, the lacunae in
the penal codes are filled by Islamic Law. Mahmud Muhammad Taha was
hanged for apostasy in 1985, even though at the time the Sudanese
Penal Code of 1983 did not mention such a crime.
In some countries, the term apostate is applied to some who were born
non-Muslim but whose ancestors had the good sense to convert from
Islam. The Baha?is in Iran in recent years have been persecuted for
just such a reason. Similarly, in Pakistan the Ahmadiya community were
classed as non-Muslims, and are subjected to all sorts of persecution.
There is some evidence that many Muslim women in Islamic countries
would convert from Islam to escape their lowly position in Muslim
societies, or to avoid the application of an unfavorable law,
especially Sharia law governing divorce. Muslim theologians are well
aware of the temptation of Muslim women to evade the Sharia laws by
converting from Islam, and take appropriate measures. For example, in
Kuwait in an explanatory memorandum to the text of a law reform says:
?Complaints have shown that the Devil makes the route of apostasy
attractive to the Muslim woman so that she can break a conjugal tie
that does not please her. For this reason, it was decided that
apostasy would not lead to the dissolution of the marriage in order to
close this dangerous door.?
Just to give you one recent example among many, others are discussed
in my book, Leaving Islam Apostates Speak Out (Prometheus Books,
2003):
?A Somali living in Yemen since 1994, Mohammed Omer Haji, converted to
Christianity two years ago and adopted the name "George." He was
imprisoned in January, 2000 and reportedly beaten and threatened for
two months by Yemeni security police, who tried to persuade him to
renounce his conversion to Christianity. After he was re-arrested in
May, he was formally put on trial in June for apostasy, under article
259 of Yemen's criminal law. Haji's release came seven weeks after he
was given a court ultimatum to renounce Christianity and return to
Islam, or face execution as an apostate. Apostasy is a capital offence
under the Muslim laws of "sharia" enforced in Yemen. After news of the
case broke in the international press, Yemeni authorities halted the
trial proceedings against Haji. He was transferred on July 17 to
Aden's Immigration Jail until resettlement could be finalized by the
UNHCR, under which Haji had formal refugee status. One of the
politicians who tabled a motion in July 2000 in the British House of
Commons was David Atkinson. ?Early Day Motion on Mohammed Omer Haji.
That this House deplores the death penalty which has been issued from
the Aden Tawahi Court in Yemen for the apostasy of the Somali national
Mohammed Omer Haji unless he recants his Christian faith and states
that he is a Muslim before the judge three times on Wednesday 12th
July; deplores that Mr Haji was held in custody for the sole reason
that he held to the Christian faith and was severely beaten in custody
to the point of not being able to walk; considers it a disgrace that
UNHCR officials in Khormaksar stated they were only able to help him
if he was a Muslim; and calls on the British Government and
international colleagues to make representations immediately at the
highest level in Yemen to ensure Mr Haji's swift release and long-term
safety and for the repeal of Yemen's barbaric apostate laws.?
Amnesty International adopted Haji as a prisoner of conscience in an
"urgent action" release on July 11, 2000 concluding that he was
"detained solely on account of his religious beliefs?. The government
of New Zealand accepted Haji and his family for emergency resettlement
in late July after negotiations with the Geneva headquarters of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However charges
of apostasy, unbelief , blasphemy and heresy whether upheld or not
clearly go against several articles in UDHR of 1948 , and the legally
binding International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [ICCPR]
of 1966 to which 147 states are signatories. General comment No 22,
adopted by the UN Human Rights Commission at its 48th session (1993) (
HRI/GEN/1/Rev.6 of 22 May 2003 , pp.155-56 ) declares (quote):?Article
18 protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as
the right not to profess any religion or belief. The term ?belief? and
?religion? are to be broadly construed?.
As with my statement to the U.N. Human Rights Commission delivered by
the President of the IHEU, I urge the U.N. Human Rights Commission to
call on all governments to comply with applicable international human
rights instruments like the ICCPR and to bring their national
legislation into accordance with the instruments to which they were a
party , and forbid fatwas and sermons preaching violence in the name
of god against those holding unorthodox opinions or those who have
left a religion.
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