Whereas the practice of slavery enslaves the body, the dogma of apostasy ensnares the mind. Whereas slavery is a shameful practice of the past, some shameless religionists still use the doctrine of apostasy to intimidate and severely punish people who elect to choose their own belief.
Islam is extremely possessive of its subjects. It is a religion that admits anyone into its fold by the person simply uttering a one sentence statement of faith, shahada: I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is Allah’s messenger. By so saying, one becomes Muslim for life and surrenders the right of ever leaving it. Anyone who leaves the Islamic fold is murtad (revert), apostate.
The notion of apostasy is best understood within the overall Islamic dogma. Islam forms a binding covenant with the believer. Once a person is Muslim, he and his issues are considered Muslim forever. In this covenant, Islam promises to bestow its beneficence on the faithful conditional on the person’s total and unquestioned surrender to it in all matters. Some of the rewards offered by Islam to the truly obedient believer, particularly the privileged males, are of this world as well as a great deal more promised to him in the next. If a Muslim faithful does not reap the rewards of his devotion in this world, Islam assures him of his inestimably cherished and limitless compounded rewards in the next world.
Islam demands subjugation of the individual’s will to that of Allah and permeate the thinking, the actions and the speech of Muslims by prefacing commitments they make contingent on the will of God (inshallah)
This total surrender and submission to the will and decree of Allah also absolves the individual from taking full responsibility for his conduct or honoring commitments he may make. For it is Allah who has the unquestioned authority to consummate or contravene any action or promise made by a faithful.
Within this overall framework of complete acceptance of Islam as the perfect living charter for the believer, the rules pertaining to apostasy can be better understood. Islam considers an apostate as a person who unilaterally breaks the covenant he has made with the faith. An apostate is condemned as guilty of turning his back on Allah’s immutable eternal religion. Anyone who is born to Muslim parents and leaves Islam is stigmatized as murtad fitri (natural apostate) in the sense that he was born genetically Muslim and he had rejected his gift of birth. And anyone who converts to Islam and later leaves it is condemned as murtad milli (a person who has turned his back to the Ummah).
The severe stricture against leaving Islam is consistent with other main principle beliefs of the religion. Islam is a faith of surrender and not that of a free will. A Muslim is to surrender his freedom of thoughts and actions to the will and dictates of Allah. The very principle of freedom is alien to the Islamic belief system.
With regard to apostasy, the two main branches of Islam, the Sunni and the Shiite, are in considerable agreement. The great majority of Muslim scholars of both major camps agree that the Quran stipulates death for the apostate.
Islam, by its very nature, is an all-encompassing belief system that proscribes and prescribes every detail of the person’s and society’s conduct. The Sharia law, a comprehensive code of Islamic jurisprudence, purportedly is based on the Quran, and the Hadith (the reported enunciation of Muhammad and his conduct.)
Furthermore, Islamic societies rule by the Islamic laws of Sharia. Any new societal legislation must be harmonious with those of the Sharia which are conclusively anti-democratic. Sharia law is in explicit contradiction and violation of the foundation of democracy. Sharia law places the dictates and rules of Allah over the sovereignty of the people. It discriminates against non-Muslims to the extreme of disenfranchising them from their rights of citizenship of Baha'is barring from jobs, higher education, worship, etc., not only in Iran but Saudi Arabia, even Egypt. It is blatantly discriminatory against women, Muslim or not. Men have greater claim to inheritance, their testimony in the court of law is worth twice that of women and they may marry multiple women at the same time. It stipulates even different rules and privileges governing free Muslim men as opposed to slave Muslims, implicitly condoning slavery. Saudi Arabia, the flagship of Islam, was finally forced by the free world to abandon slavery, I believe, only in the late 1960, but it has been reported that it has not been completely abandoned.
Apostasy is defined both in the Quran as well as the Sharia and its punishment is clearly stipulated.
“Those who blasphemed and back away from the ways of Allah and die as blasphemers, Allah shall not forgive them.” [Qur'an 4:48]
Islamic law does not allow the freedom to choose one's religion.
“Let there be no compulsion in the religion: Clearly the Right Path (i.e. Islam) is distinct from the crooked path.” [Qur'an 2:256]
The Quran also specifically addresses the issue of murtad milli:
“But those who reject faith after they accepted it, and then go on adding to their defiance of faith, never will their repentance be accepted; for they are those who have (of set purpose) gone astray.” [Qur'an 3:90]
The Hadith further restates the provision of the Quran regarding punishment of the apostate.
The Sharia law stipulates that any Muslim who turns his back to Islam should be given a chance to revert to the religion. For an un-repenting male apostate, death is the punishment and life imprisonment for a female apostate.
“Kill whoever changes his religion.” __Sahih al-Bukhari 9:84:57
“The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshiped 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.”__ Sahih al-Bukhari 9:83:17
At present, apostasy is illegal in most Islamic countries. Although execution of the apostate is not common, it does take place from time-to-time by frequently buttressing the “crime” with additional charges. The Islamic Republic of Iran, for instance, often adds the charge of mohareb (one who wars with God) to further legitimize its execution of apostates. A case in point pertains to the treatment of the religious minority Baha’is by the Islamic Republic. A number of Baha’is have been charged as apostates and mohareb, executed and some secretly buried in unmarked graves.
The late Ayatollah Khomeini in his Tahrir al-Wassilah adjudicates how a person’s apostasy is established: “Apostasy is proven in two ways: First, the person himself confesses to his apostasy twice. Second, two just and truthful men bear witness to the person’s apostasy. But women’s testimonies do not prove apostasy in any case; either they bear witness individually, in a group or beside a man.”
The misogynic nature of Islam is once again evident in Ayatollah Khomeini’s blanket disqualification of women’s testimony solely on the basis of gender.
“Apostasy -- or the formal renunciation of religion -- is already punishable in Iran with death. But now, Iran wants to make the death penalty for apostasy part of the penal code. The European Union is concerned and has asked Iran to reconsider.” Who is an apostate according to the legislation? Anyone in the world, not just Iranians, born to a Muslim parent; also, any convert to Islam who leaves it. Only one parent needs to be a Muslim at the time of conception for Islam to own that child for life. Islam is Ummahist. Islam doesn’t recognize nationalities and national boundaries. And these Islamist zealots are very serious and have no sense of humor. Some say they have no sense at all, and they may be right. What they certainly have is a thirst for blood, particularly for the blood of infidels and apostates.
It is noteworthy that Islam considers the world as its Ummah and overarches national boundaries. Hence, Islamic clerics feel free to issue fatwa and other adjudications regarding any person, groups or nations anywhere in the world. A celebrated case of this practice was the fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini against the British author Salman Rushdie for his book the Satanic Verses. Hence, individual Muslims anywhere in the world take it upon themselves to carry out fatwa issued by Islamic high divines. In another high profile case, the killing of Theo van Gough, a Dutch film director and the recent attack on the Danish cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, clearly demonstrates this primitive practice that runs counter to the civilized world’s due process and has serious intimidating impact on the freedom of expression.
Free people and nations should not sacrifice their God-given liberty to please the Islamists by muzzling dissenters and even endangering their safety and their lives.
The concept and practice of apostasy is a shameful stain on the conscience of humanity. It is despicable for any belief system to stubbornly cling to the dehumanizing anachronism of apostasy while its counterpart, slavery, is already buried in mankind’s graveyard of past infamy.
Free people and nations should not sacrifice their God-given liberty:
'God-given' liberty? What does this mean to a Muslim?
Does a Murtad believe in Allah?
Western concept of Hurriyyah(freedom) is freedom to commit Ma'aasee(Sins).I believe in Hurriyyah from Ahwaa(Desires).Like the Hurriyyah of 'Ali and Faatimah(radi Allaahu anhumaa). The first originates from the love of our temporary stay on earth the other from a love of Aakhirah(the Eternal Hereafter). I remember the saying of Ali(r.a.a.) when he gave up all the money in the Baitul Maal to his needy people, he said:Go O' Dunyaa(world) and decieve someone else.
I am Sunni by the way, and I don't have any problem with Qatl of Murtad.
1)No other religion requires a public statement of accepting their faith as a precondition for Najaat(salvation) in Aakhirah.
2)No other religion takes Deen(religion) seriously. That's why Godless secular humanism emerged in the Christendom, and the entire non-Islamic world rightly called Kufr has assimilated into the Godless Dajjaalian world including all the Eastern religions except Islam.
3)It discourages non-serious people from considering Islam.In the Western world switching religions is like pressing the buttons of a remote control which is an evident expression of their non-seriousness about Qabr(grave) and Aakhirah.
4) I don't see any spiritual appeal in any other religion that has any spiritual richness to offer. Islam is the climax of spirituality. And an evidence for this is the failure of evangelisation project of colonialists.
5) If I see al-Haqq(truth) in any other Deen I can embrace Shahaadah(martyrdom) to accept it. Even in that case the credit would go to Islam for teaching me the lesson of Shahaadah for al-Haqq.
Posted by Muhammad Elijah, on 02/15/2010 at 07:51
A person is deemed a 'Muslim' by merely uttering that nonsense they call 'shahada' or whatever nonsense. It sounds like an innocent scapegoat ushered before a mafia gangster and made to owe allegiance to him with no recourse to retract upon a painful death. This is how Islam is growing, catching innocent people and taking them into their fold by fraudulent means and keeping them there under severe threats of death should you even think of leaving that cursed criminal cult. It is not a religion but a mafia criminal cult- or even worse ,as shuts happiness and freedom totally forever for its adherents. It is a fascist.racist cult with the ultimate aim of setting up an Arabian 'caliphate' for the entire world with power and control vested with the Arabs. Non-Arabs will be just slaves to bow to these immoral, lecherous and barbaric Arab bastards. It aims at establishing Arab supremacy,a racist motive, and subjugate others to the level of sub-humans. There is also another reason why Saudi Arabia is spending billions of dollars to spread its intolerant wahabi brand of islam all over the world: For once their oil runs dry, they will make their mullah in billions of rials through the bullshit caper called 'haj' foistedon the rest of the world. It is the most diabolical, regressive motive ever - these lazy, good-for-nothing Arabs are scheming in the name of their criminal cult called 'Islam'. No wonder, they use death as an effective deterrent for apostasy from the criminal cult of islam.
Posted by vbv, on 02/15/2010 at 04:14
written by tanstaafl (JW) , February 12, 2010
Quran 9:5 'Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.'
9:112 'The Believers fight in Allah's cause; they slay and are slain, kill and are killed.'
8:39 'So fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief [non-Muslims]) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone (in the whole world).'
8:65 'O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination they will vanquish two hundred; if there are a hundred then they will slaughter a thousand unbelievers, for the infidels are a people devoid of understanding.'
9:38 'Believers, what is the matter with you, that when you are asked to go forth and fight in Allah's Cause you cling to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? Unless you go forth, He will afflict and punish you with a painful doom, and put others in your place.'
47:4 'When you clash with the unbelieving Infidels in battle (fighting Jihad in Allah's Cause), smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. At length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly, making (them) captives. Thereafter, either generosity or ransom (them based upon what benefits Islam) until the war lays down its burdens. Thus are you commanded by Allah to continue carrying out Jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam.'
Need more context? Read the Qur'an, as many Muslims have not.
Posted by tanstaafl, on 02/15/2010 at 04:11
I am proud Murtad Fitri
written by Hussain , February 12, 2010
hi Amil Imani,
Thank-you for the fantastic article. Keep it up.
The number of Murtad Fitris are increasing everyday especially in Pakisthan,Afghanistan and India.
Posted by Hussain (ex-muslim), on 02/15/2010 at 04:10
Islam becomes Stockholm Syndrome writ large. What a sad prism modern Islamists construct, through which to relate either to God or to their fellows. What massive mind rape. Sad that any perspective of consciousness or of the grandeur of the Source should be so twisted by such a freakish and infectious meme.
Posted by Dlanor, on 02/15/2010 at 03:14
What Amil Imani has said here, and understands to further his verbal seeds, is the equivalent to the words and thoughts of our Founding Fathers rejection against the King of England and the church he 'enpoped'.
If the good middle eastern people really want to be free, use their happiness in that to fuel their visions, and succeed the tearing off of the religious guilt trip their leaders weigh them down with,.......then they will not soon be enslaved again for 3 centuries.
It's been hard for America because we were the first to find the costs of our actions,....we had to lean back against the ropes a few times to relearn our wonderful heritage over and over again.
All they really have to do over there is learn when and where we've come from, how and why we struggle through freedoms apprenticeship program,.....and re-translate this into the current Islamotyrannists that wail on your lives everyday. But, they must do it all by themselves on there own dirt.
Posted by cfin5, on 02/15/2010 at 03:13
Mr. Imani, I do pray that you are trained concealed weapon owner, registered and owner of many guns.
Be a good American and become NRA member, comfortable with guns. To Protect yourself, your family, your country.
I guess you can say that all of us Americans are apostates of some sort.
The Evangelical American Christianity sprung from all those biblical insecurities.
The English, the dutch, Irish, the blacks, Hispanics, the Italians, the Jews, the Greeks, Huns, Gales, Germans, Asians, Persians they were all apostates of their land.
The American life seem to have broken all religious codes at some point and have made us apostates of some sort.
We were the Apostates of every other religion, cult or belief. Some say we are the ten lost tribes of Israelite.
All apostates, by now.
How fundamentally desperate we are placed in this world.
While us ultimate apostates, Americans bend backward to help the world in disaster, to live or learn to live, they marvel in our death. While we cure their ills and heels their wounds, they chant to murder us.
If this is not an apostasy of the Israelites, I'm not sure what is or where...
Mr. Imani, the Bible speaks harshly of the philistines...
It says that once the world sees how murderous they become and what evil it is capable of doing, god will perish them to ashes... Dust... So I guess this is bigger than our humanity...
But somehow first it has to be known to all that this is murderous and evil belief...
I think we are almost there. Just Not sure when though.
Posted by wbhickok, on 02/15/2010 at 03:12
There are points taught about Muslim/Islam which need accuracy; my recollections are from comparative religeon during college; but, here goes, Allah has strict requirements of the corpse to be cleansed by the imams prior to burial; such that, the body must be washed and made clean of body hair with no mutilations (tattoos, etc.). The body form must be intact with no missing parts; for example, a beheaded, crushed, or castrated body-spirit can never make it to Heaven and meet Allah.
We require more information on this concept within Islam because it can be used as a deterrent; when Sirran Sirran dies in prison allow his head to be donated to UCLA/USC Medical Center for cranial research and let the imams have the rest of the corpse. Something like this might make Sunni/Shia imams a bit squimish.
Posted by SOOTHSAYER ONE, on 02/15/2010 at 03:11
You are the great educator in your arcticles! I have learned so much from you and worry about your safety. Take care, my friend.
Posted by Judy Kearney, on 02/14/2010 at 16:04
Using ayah of Quran without context or misinterpreting them only lead you to further darkness.
I think you are right about this. Is that the reason that the Muslim world is backwarded this much? because they misinterpreted the aya's. Does qor'aan tell you to pray five times or three times (one in the early morning, one in the mid of day and one in the early evening and at fajr time just to recite the qor'aan and also in the evening till midnight?) Don't you know that this is the reason why they invented the crap story of mi'raaj where Allah is not all knowing and Moses helped Mo to reduce the amount of 50 prayers...are you serious...is this God the all knowing and all wise? Or could it be that the Jews prayed 3 times and the sabajerien 7 times and therefor the average amount? Witch is more plausible? You choose!
Posted by 2 muslim,, on 02/13/2010 at 18:26
How many people can read the Quran without the help of the Hadiths and understand the gibberish in it. A book without intelligent transition, no chronology of events, full of grammatical errors, contradictions of historical facts, science, and common sense. We agree that Mohammed was illiterate so we should forgive him for all these errors but should we forgive Allah the divine according to Mohammed who dictated it from the memorial tablet in heaven through Angel Gabriel? How do you think of a god like Allah? Who hate his creatures and will want his fellow human to kill those who do not understand to believe his garbage called the Quran? The only message that is clear in the Quran is the threat of hell and hatred of unbeliever and their destruction. No love, no compassion, no mercy despite the repeated mantras as “merciful”,” compassionate Allah” that are immediately followed with hellish verses are common in the Quran as if the Quran was design to fool the gullible. The days of ignorance are passed, the days of enlightenment and civilisations are here with us soon and very soon there will be revolution for freedom within the Islamic countries. Time will come that the Apostate of Islam will need not run to America or Europe to speak out but right there in Iran, Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan they can speak and this will happen and Islam will die a natural death.
Clemen
Posted by Does the Quran has context?, on 02/13/2010 at 18:24
Good article;keep up the good work.Islam is being exposed the way it has never been exposed before.The truth will kill islam; and the truth is that islam is designed to harm all those who believe that islam is false and not true as it claims.
Posted by Aziz Tayyab, whose homepage is here on 02/13/2010 at 14:27
It is funny how Muslims claim that there is no compulsion in religion while practicing the same.If there was no compulsion in Religion as claimed by Muslims,then Leona would not have suffered for the past few years because she didn't want to convert into Islam,while her husband forced her saying their children will be considered illegitimate. Nor would Samara ,the Good,till now dutiful daughter ask her boyfriend to convert to Islam,even though she claims that she does not believe in Islam herself.Nor would young Pratibha be pushed to the limits of her endurance by her Love Jihadi Husband and -in-laws and finally forced to opt for suicide as a way of escape.Readhttp://haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=10258&SKIN=K.Then tells us why your practice and preaching is not matching.What you are doing now is to apply Takiya to defend your indefensible practices.
Posted by Sisha, on 02/13/2010 at 03:03
The issue Democracy and Islam should be viewed internationally, global, in my view. In the past we had these Western democratic countries and these typically Islamic countries and people could argue for 'each country looking at its's own inhabitants and problems and let all others be left alone'. But now there are large Islamic minorities in Western + Indian Democratic countries and in these countries everyone is entitled to convert INTO Islam without any hindrance. But in the Islamic countries converting OUT of Islam, INTO one of the religions/ ways of life followed by the majority of inhabitants of Democratic countries is severely restricted. As Muslims often do not recognize nationalities and boundaries but instead look at the Ummah, under Allah, and his word, the Quran, to which their biggest loyalties are, so should followers of other faiths also look globally. And not accept this unbalance unchallenged anymore. In a way it is globally, if not suicidal, at least very detrimental to the followers of other faiths than Islam.
There is a difference between actual teachings on the one hand and on the other hand interpretations of those teachings, even acceptance of them, in case of the Hadith, and their implementation and practice. If there are clearly interpretations and practices among Muslims, where they have majority and power especially, that react violently to apostasy and adherents of thereby disadvantaged faiths tell about it and condemn it , what then? If there are Muslims that argue that the teachings do not validate these interpretations and practices what should they say and do? Admonish the followers of the disadvantaged faiths that they do not understand the teachings, do not know which hadiths are strong and which are weak? Or should they go into opposition, here on this site, or out in the world, to those who have misunderstood the Islamic teachings and continue to advocate and practice murder and oppression???
And shouldn't Muslims decide who it is that has recognized authority about the Islamic teachings to which the vast majority of Muslims can submit? especially in regards to Muslims accepting and be fully loyal to democracy or to theocratic dictatorship? Now Islam looks so divided, with so many different interpretations and practices.
Now pro-democracy people could argue; Well, we can criticize Islam, it's teachings and the behavior of its followers in total. Then, when the Muslims and political-correct people respond in defense of Islam, the democrats could point out; What exactly is it that you are defending? About many points in teachings and behavior there is no consensus among Muslims themselves and very few of you speak with enough authority, recognized by the vast majority of Muslims, about these many points of teachings and behavior. (especially the many Islam-defending political-correct people, are often very ignorant about Islam, and speak with little authority).
Posted by Demsci, on 02/13/2010 at 03:01
It is true that the greatest threat for Muslims are the ones who left Islam. The reason behind this is that these apostates have seen what Islam really is - a dark and evil political belief system, worse than anything the world has ever seen. For this reason, Muslims will do anything they can to prevent other Muslims to leave Islam even to the point of killing them because they know Islam will be very vulnerable intellectually and spiritually (Christian converts) when these ex-Muslims decide to inform the West. It is amazing that somehow, ex-Muslims like Ali Sina and Walid Shoebat and the rest, are highly motivated and unstopable when it comes to confronting Islam. Muhammad knew this all along. In fact, ex-Muslims are more than a threat for Islam compared to the multitude of the West because of the West's plague of Islamic ignorance calling Islam a religion of peace. I just watch this in Youtube last night in which Christians sympathetic to Muslims in the USA protested in front of a church in Florida that posted the billboard sign saying 'Islam is of the devil'. A fellow Christians protesting another Christians for saying the truth. It's so easy to separate false Christians to the real ones, I'm telling you.
Posted by freedomfighter67, on 02/13/2010 at 03:00
