Apostasy in Qur’anic Verses - II

Hasan A. Yahya, Ph.Ds

A third example can be found in the same sura verse 178, it reads:

“Those who purchase disbelief, by the price of faith, harm Allah not at all, but theirs will be a painful doom.”

Al-Qurtubi (a well known Muslim commentator) comments on this ayah on the authority of Ibn Abbas (one of close companions of the Prophet) that this applies to those who forsake Islam for disbelief. Rahman (1972) comments on the same subject that no mention is made anywhere of any punishment being inflicted on an apostate on the authority of this verse.

A fourth example may be found in surat al-Nisa’ (the Women) verse 138 which reads:

“Those who believe, and disbelieve, and then, (again) believe, then disbelieve, and then increase in disbelief, Allah will never pardon them nor will He guide them to the (right) path.”

This ayah is definitely and exclusively stands against the thesis that the apostate should be sentenced to death. Because the verse as we see shows repeated apostasies and reversals to faith without mentioning any punishment made by other Muslim on earth.

In conclusion, apostasy is a sin not a crime, the crime can be punishable by the state and according to the state rules and laws, but the sin is punishable by God in the Hereafter. Qur’an in fact, includes a unique concept of liberty and freedom of conscience not only for Muslims but for all human race. Many other verses emphasize the same idea, the reader can see for example, al-Ma’idah:55; 33-35; 3:87-92; al-Nahl:107; al-Baqarah:118; al-Hajj:12; Muhammad:33; and al-Tahrim:10)

Another example, Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud narrated that the Prophet said: “It is not lawful to shed the blood of a person professing Islam, who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah, except in three cases: life for life, or a married person guilty of adultry or a person who separates from his faith and deserts his community.” (in al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidi). As we see here, the shed of blood of a person is a penalty for the one who kills other person, or commits adultery, or (separates himself from the faith and desert the community) the last condition means the deviation from rules of Islam as religious community.

In Kitab al-Diyat, al-Bukhari records another version of the hadith by saying: “The messenger did not put to death anyone by way of hadd (prescribed punishment), except for one of three antecedents: a person who commits murder of his own freewill shall be killed, (so also) a person who commits fornication after marriage or a person who fights Allah and his Messenger and becomes an apostate from Islam. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. II, p. 1019). This hadith also, has other version traced to Uthman, the fourth Khalifah and recorded in al-Nasa’i Sunan and in Abu Dawud. In Abu Dawud’s version, this sentence was added: “who fights Allah and His Messenger and he will be killed or crucified or banished from the land (where he leaves to another community)” This statements closer to the ayah 35 in Surat al-Ma’idah. (524 words) www.hasanyahya.com