Kill Apostates? (Yes? No?)

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kill them
Kill Apostates
?
(Mourted)

Regarding: Killing in Islam?

There is to be no killing of anyone in Islam, without just cause. And even then it can never be in the hands of vigilanties. This is only for qualified judges, after hearing the case. Acts of terrorism done in the name of any religion are wrong, killing is Haram (forbidden in Islam).
This is established clearly in Quran, surah Ma'iadah (chapter 5), verse 32-33.

32... that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.

33. Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.

Are They All 'Kufar'?

According to most scholars of Islam, any Muslims who makes mistakes in belief 'kufr' are not always necessarily kafirs. Several reasons how a Muslim might be excused and not judged to be kafir include: ignorance, misunderstanding, mistakes or being forced into Islam to start with. These are not to be punished or put to death as mourtedin (apostates).

1. Ignorance - Is unaware of a rule of Allah, due to living too far from Muslim nation, like one grown up in the desert or an island or land of kufar, or just came to Islam. Included amongst these would be Muslims living in non-Muslim societies, where ignorance dominates over knowledge. These are not to be judged as kufar, nor to be punished or killed.
2. Misunderstand - Someone follows along blindly those people of innovation (bid'ah) and does not ever come in contact with the actual way, but they are trying.
3. Force - Someone is forced by threat of death or serious torture, yet their hearts remain still firm in belief in Allah, His messenger and His Quran.
4. Saying without meaning - Someone says the words of disbelief or negates Islam, but does not really mean it.
Doubts don't count either. He should talked with scholars and teachers to help better understand what Islam actually teaches on the area where he has concern or doubt. After he comes to the right conclusion and understands clearly what Islam's position actually is on the topic, he should be given the chance to express his acceptance and rejoin the Muslims as a full, practicing brother.

Ibn Qudaamah says in Al Mughni, 9:18 - "A Murted is not to be put to death until after being asked three times to make taubah (repent). He says this is the view of most authoritative scholars like 'Umar, 'Ali, 'Ata, Al-Nakhaii, Maalik, Al-Thawri, Ishaaq and some others, and continues saying, "Because apostasy that comes from doubt cannot be dispelled in an instant. A person must be allowed time to rethink his beliefs and that must be at least three days or more.

References from sunnah of hadeeth:
Al Bukhari (6922), Abdullah Ibn 'Abbaas said, "The messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, "Whoever changes his deen, put him to death.

Al Bukhair (6484) & Muslim (1676) say, 'Abdullah ibn Mas'oud said, "The messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, "It is not permissible to shed blood of a Muslim who testifies, "Laa elaha illah, Muhammad rasulullah, except on three conditions: a soul for a soul (someone who takes an innocent soul); a married man who commits 'zina' (adultery); one who leaves his religion completely and cuts off from the main body of Muslims.

On the contrary, when someone leaves Islam and wages war against the Muslims (even if he is not a murted) he is to be dealt with as such and can be killed in battle or as a traitor when taken into captivity, according to the judge.
According to the ahadeeth, the prophet, peace be upon him, says the reason he is to suffer death is due to his abandoning Islam, not just waging war against Islam.

Naturally, some types of murted are more hated than others, while the one who is waging war is the worst. Some scholars considered it not mandatory to ask one who waged war against Islam to repent or even accept this repentance; they could instead just put him to death even if he did repent; while the one who is not a muharib (wager of war) but the repentance of a murted (apostate) who did repent, but was not a muharib should be accepted and not killed. This is according to the opinion of Sheikh-ul Islam, Ibn Taymiyah, may Allah have mercy on him.

2 Types of Apostasy: He said, there are two types of apostasy: regular apostasy and extreme apostasy, for which both death is ordered. But both cases there is evidence that it is essential to execute the apostate, but the evidence indicating that the sentence of death may be waived if the person repents does not apply to both types of apostasy.
Rather the evidence indicates that it is allowed only in the first case – i.e., ordinary apostasy – as will be clear to anyone who studies the evidence that speaks about accepting the repentance of the apostate. In the second type – i.e., extreme apostasy – the obligation to put the apostate to death still stands, and there is no text or scholarly consensus to indicate that the death sentence may be waived.

2 Types of War: These two cases are quite different and there is no comparison between them. It does not say in the Quran or Sunnah, or according to scholarly consensus, that everyone who apostatizes in word or deed may be spared the death sentence if he repents after he is a captured and tried.
Instead the Quran and sunnah, along with scholars consensus, differ between the types of apostates. Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: Muharabah (wager of war) against Islam is of two types: physical and verbal.

Waging of war against Islam with words could be worse than physical combat. For this our prophet, peace be upon him, used to call for execution for the ones who verbalized lies (and brings people together to fight against Islam with his words), while at the same time letting some of those who waged physical combat were let go free.

Evil against Islam can be caused by waging combat against Muslims, but damage by words can be much worse and the goodness cause by good words can be stronger that combat and change everything for the better.

It is established that waging mental war against Allah and the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, verbally is worse than physical warfare against Muslims and Islam, and efforts of this type undermine Islam greater than physical combat.

It is important to keep in mind, this discussion has been going on for over 1,400 years and won't be solved on the Internet. But we can continue to explore, search and learn to build a better and brighter future for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Now it it time for us to 'Wage War' against the devil (shayton)

Let's tell everyone about our many websites, like www.AboutJihad.com
Tell everyone you know, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike.
Here's the link to this story, just copy & paste in your emails:
www.IslamNewsroom.com/news-we-need/1780

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Comments   

#2 321 2012-04-03 09:37
Tehseen makes some good points which got me thinking. I think that to understand which course of action is right for this issue we need to look at the hadith and the qur'an and also the lives of the sahabas and the prophet (sallalahu'alai hi wasalam) and try to understand why the judgments that were given were given. to do this, we need to understand the context in which the apostates were punished or let go. we need to look at the place, time, the events that were happening at that time and also the personal situation of the person too. then we can formulate the best answer for the answer to this issue. actually we can use this to find the correct course of action for all the issues such as adultery, etc. ____wat do u guys think?
#1 Tehseen 2012-02-22 08:42
This is a civil punishment in Islam about which there\'s some difference of opinion among scholars. There are many scholars who say death is not the punishment for apostasy and don\'t consider waging war as equivalent to apostasy but rather physical war which does not necessarily mean by Muslims.__I found a video in which a revert to Islam quoted at least 5 verses from Quran where apostates were mentioned and no punishment was prescribed. He said that it is a matter between Allah and that person alone and he\'s given his entire life to change his mind and come back to Allah.__He maintained that it is only in ahadith which are not unchallengeable . At that time it was necessary to kill those who left Islam as they knew Muslim\'s secrets who were already weak and could commit treason. Also that there\'s a hadith in Abu Dawood which mentions Usman(Radhi Allahu Anhu) interceding for an apostate and the Prophet(peace be upon him) accepted it.__I personally do not know what\'s the truth. But I want to ask that should we risk putting someone to death on a divine verdict which is quite open to challenge and interpretation unlike punishments for rape, adultery, murder, stealing etc for which there is no dispute? I mean, death penalty is one hell of a serious issue.

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