Suspicion of apostasy

 Response to the doubt:

Islam stipulates freedom of choice of religion, as Islam does not force anyone to embrace any religion. God Almighty says (There is no compulsion in religion) (1).
The most that is there is that Islam does not accept associating partners with God nor does it accept the worship of anyone other than God, and this is the essence of the truth of Islam considering that it is a religion from God Almighty. However, it accepts Christians and Jews and does not fight them for what they are upon, but rather calls them to Islam. Islam also does not permit the departure of those who have entered the religion of God. It does not require anyone to publicly support Islam, but it does not accept anyone to abandon Islam. Whoever apostatizes from Islam and publicly does so is an enemy of Islam and Muslims and declares war on Islam and Muslims. It is no wonder that Islam imposes the killing of the apostate, as every system in the world, even one that does not belong to any religion, its laws stipulate that anyone who departs from the public order is punishable by death only in what they call high treason.
The one who renounces Islam by declaring and openly declaring his apostasy, is declaring war on Islam, raising the banner of misguidance and calling to it the renegade non-Muslims. In this way, he is fighting the Muslims and is punished as those who fight the religion of Allah are punished.
The Muslim community is based primarily on belief and faith. Belief is the foundation of its identity, the axis of its life and the spirit of its existence. For this reason, no one is allowed to undermine this foundation or touch this identity. Hence, declared apostasy is the greatest crime in the view of Islam because it is a threat to the character of the community and its moral entity, and a threat to the first of the five necessities: “religion, life, lineage, reason and wealth.”
Islam does not accept that religion be a toy into which one enters today and is expelled tomorrow, in the manner of some Jews who said: “Believe in that which has been revealed to those who believe at the beginning of the day and disbelieve at its end that perhaps they will return” (2). Apostasy
from Islam is not merely a mental position, but it is also a change of loyalty, an alteration of identity and a transformation of affiliation. The apostate transfers his loyalty and allegiance from one nation to another. He removes himself from the nation of Islam, of which he was a member, and takes revenge with his mind, heart, and will on its opponents. This is expressed in the Prophetic hadith in which the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “He who abandons his religion separates from the community” (3). The word “separates from the community” is a description that reveals, not creates. Every apostate from his religion separates from the community.
Whatever the crime of the apostate, Muslims do not pursue the faults of anyone, nor do they climb over anyone’s house. They do not hold anyone accountable except for one who openly declares with his tongue, pen, or action something that is blatant and explicit blasphemy, in which there is no room for interpretation or possibility. Any doubt about that is interpreted in favor of the one accused of apostasy.
Leniency in punishing the apostate who has declared his apostasy exposes the entire society to danger and opens the door to a trial whose consequences are known only to God Almighty. The apostate soon deceives others, especially the weak and simple people, and a group is formed that is hostile to the nation and allows itself to seek the help of the nation’s enemies against it, and thus it falls into intellectual, social and political conflict and fragmentation, and it may develop into a bloody conflict, or even a civil war that consumes everything.
The majority of jurists said that the apostate must be given a chance to repent before the punishment is carried out on him. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah even said that it is the consensus of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Some jurists set it at three days, some less, some more, and some said that he should be given a chance to repent forever. They excluded the heretic from this, because he shows something other than what he conceals, so he has no repentance. Likewise, the one who insults the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) due to the sanctity and dignity of the Messenger of Allah, so his repentance is not accepted. Ibn Taymiyyah wrote a book on this topic called “The Drawn Sword Against the Insulter of the Messenger.”
The purpose of this repentance is to give him a chance to review himself, hoping that the doubt will be removed and the evidence will be established against him. Scholars are tasked with responding to the doubts in his mind so that the evidence can be established against him. If he is sincerely seeking the truth, but if he has a desire or works for others, Allah will give him what he has taken on.



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(1) Al-Baqarah: 156.
(2) Al-Imran: 72.
(3) Narrated by Muslim.

Apostasy from Islam and its just punishment

Apostasy from Islam removes the apostate from society and deprives him of the right to life! Some people have been upset about this ruling, and they see it as a confiscation of freedom of opinion, and the right of every person to believe if he wants and to disbelieve if he wants.

We respect the right of any person to believe or to disbelieve, but this right is decided for its owner, and he is an individual for whom matters are not clear. He has the right to study, weigh and weigh, and remain on that for the rest of his life.

If he chooses paganism, Judaism or Christianity, no one will object to him, and he will have his full right to a safe and peaceful life.

If he chooses Islam, he must be sincere to it, and respond to its commands and prohibitions and all its guidance.

Islam, with this punishment, makes the individual who enters it not enter except after being informed, convinced, knowledgeable and understanding all its aspects. If he is convinced, then he is welcome as a Muslim believer who has what Muslims have and is subject to what Muslims are subject to. If he is not convinced, then he has his religion and remains a dhimmi in the Islamic state, and the laws of dhimmis are applied to him.

Apostasy is not a personal matter, even if it appears that way on the surface. If we search for apostasy from Islam, we find that most of the first apostates apostatized because they did not pay zakat. It is apostasy from performing a collective duty, so the harm that results from it affects the group in which the apostate enjoys the benefits of his presence. We add here that the danger of apostasy in this society is like the danger of (murder and adultery) in which there is an infection that, if it were without punishment, would not have spread and become widespread in society.

Apostasy is a breach of obligations, and an individual cannot be relieved of his obligations towards his Lord and society, because abandoning obligations towards the Creator is at the same time an obligation towards the apostate himself and the group in which he lives, and by his breach of obligation he is a danger to the rest of society.

The Islamic nation is very careful about its physical, mental, intellectual, spiritual and doctrinal safety, and does not permit an individual to openly display hostility towards it. Whoever openly displays hostility towards it is considered an outlaw who is punished with a penalty stipulated by the laws of each country according to its own, and most of them stipulate the death penalty.

Apostasy is an insult to Islam and a mockery that may be deliberate or planned by non-Muslim groups from within or from without. It is as if the apostate is saying: (I entered Islam and abandoned my previous religion, then I looked at Islam practically and tried it for a long time and found that it does not rise to the level of the previous religion, so my first religion is better!!). In this way, he is spreading a dangerous propaganda to prevent people from entering the religion of Islam that he tried - with his corrupt mind - and if any individual looked at it impartially and objectively, he would dispense with the world because of it.

The apostate considers himself to be the one who is guided and the others - the believers - are fools, restricting themselves with obligations that limit their enjoyment of their absolute animality. He calls them to guidance and gives them good news of the new light and the response to his call, which is to break free from restrictions without fatigue or effort.

Apostasy from the religion of God after belief means corrupting a system, not merely changing an individual’s belief. Islam is a practical system based on belief, and a society based on this system. Its commands are imposed for the benefit of the individual first, and for the benefit of society in the same context. It is therefore a personal matter, and the harm and benefit in it return to society.

Here we ask: Is it freedom of opinion when embracing Islam that we break its restrictions and demolish its boundaries? Or in other words, does freedom of opinion give its owner in any human society the right to go against this society, reject its rules and cause trouble for its people?

Is betraying one’s homeland or spying for its enemies freedom? Is spreading chaos in its corners and mocking its rituals and sanctities freedom?

The issue of apostasy needs clarification in order to know its dimensions. Islam is presented to the ignorant and the brilliant as a belief and a law, and its book and the approach of its Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, state, for example, that God is one, that the afterlife is true, that retaliation is true, and that fasting is true.

This means that the one who enters Islam accepts all these teachings and implements them.

So if someone comes and says: I believe in God and reject the afterlife, or I believe in them and reject the law of fasting, the law of retaliation, and the like… Should this person be left to tamper with God’s religion in this way? No.

Either he comes to his senses and returns to the group, or he does not, then salvation from him is inevitable, and a group that believes in its existence, protects its truth, and defends its entity from tampering is not to be accused.

If a doubt arises in a person’s heart, it is incumbent upon those firmly grounded in knowledge to remove it, and if this doubt remains in his soul and he withdraws with it, no one will sense its danger or its gravity.

But if the idea grows in someone’s head that a man, for example, should not be the head of the household or that his inheritance should be doubled, or if the idea grows in his head that the usury system should prevail, expand, and direct the entire economy, then this person turns into a preacher of his idea and tries to implement it in various ways… that is something that cannot be accepted in the name of Islam.

Convincing Islam to accept this situation is foolishness, and demanding that it provide the right to life and movement for those who want to undermine its structure and lower its banner is a strange matter.

There is no society in the world that commits suicide in this sick way, and therefore we do not see anything strange in the apostate being asked to repent, and if he does not repent, he is killed.

The Holy Quran did not explicitly mention the punishment for apostasy.. but it came in the Sunnah (Whoever changes his religion, kill him) and (The blood of a Muslim is not permissible except in one of three cases: adultery after being married, killing a soul that Allah has forbidden without right, and abandoning his religion and separating from the community).

The Holy Quran revealed that the Jews used the freedom to apostatize as a means to attack Islam. They announced their conversion to it in order to remove the accusation of fanaticism from themselves, then they decided to apostatize quickly as if they discovered in it what made it repulsive to remain in it, and the whole matter is playing with religion and belittling its rights.

And what accepts that is a respected principle that paves its way in life.
However, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, accepted to leave Medina and join Mecca from those who hated Islam, and that was in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and we do not know of anyone who apostatized from his religion, nor do we know of a normal person who preferred polytheism over monotheism, or the whims of the earth over the law of heaven?!

Except for what was reported about Jabalah bin Al-Ayham who hated to be punished when he slapped a common man, and said: How can I be a leader and he is a commoner? When the Commander of the Faithful said to him: Islam has made you equal, he schemed until he left the authority of Islam and joined the Romans as a Christian. This fool did not do that because the Trinity was more important to him than monotheism, but it was stupid fanaticism that made him lose his mind and led him astray from the right path.

They narrate that he reviewed his matter and mentioned what had happened and said:

The nobles converted to Christianity because of the shame of a slap and what was in it. If I had been patient, it would have caused me harm,

including stubbornness and others, and I sold her the healthy eye with the one-eyed one.


I wish my mother had not given birth to me, and I wish I had returned to the matter that Omar said

. We draw attention to the fact that many forces are now working to undermine the Islamic entity, weaken its bonds, and stir up fabricated controversy around the entire people of faith, the highest and the lowest.

Muslims must defend their religion by all legitimate means, establish anxiety, kill the traitor, and live in an atmosphere of clarity and sincerity.

Stealing beliefs and morals has become a profession for gangs of missionaries who hate Islam, its book, and its Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and scatter causes of discord in every direction until they turn the entire society upside down.

It is the right of those responsible for this oppressed nation to protect its beliefs and laws and repel the plots of those lying in wait and the conspiracies of the spiteful.

We must adhere to all the boundaries of Islam, realizing that mental and social health lies in establishing them, as stated in the noble hadith: (A grave established on earth with its right is more blessed for it than for it to rain for forty mornings).

Rain revives what has died on the earth, but borders revive what has died on morals, and prevent epidemics of corruption from befalling nations and destroying their present and future.

as for the second point Islam is not the only heavenly legislation that put an end to apostasy but it was also the law of Moses
"And if your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your companion who is as your own soul, seduces you secretly, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods which you have not known" “Nor your fathers, of the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other, do not accept them or listen to them . Let not your eye pity them or spare them or cover them, but you shall surely kill them. Your hand shall be upon him first to put him to death, and then the hand of all the people. You
shall stone him with stones that he die. Because he sought to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Then all Israel shall hear and fear, and they shall no longer do such an evil thing among you.” Deuteronomy 13:6
It is very clear that changing religion is punishable by death as an evil act. This is the law of Moses, which Christ declared that he would not abolish:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Law until all is accomplished. “ Whoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven . But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew, chapter 5, paragraph 17. Moreover, Christ himself made the punishment of those who do not believe to be slaughtered. So what is the case for the apostate?? “But those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.” Luke, chapter 19, paragraph 27