In March 2007 I wrote about the question of whether or not Barack Obama was, according to Islamic law, an apostate from Islam who thus merited the death sentence Islamic law mandates for apostates.
This article was frequently pointed to as the source of the “Obama is a Muslim” rumors during the 2008 campaign, and therefore also frequently dismissed out of hand. But now three years later, an Arab newspaper, the Gaza-based Watan Voice, is discussing a question that will get you ridicule and scorn in the American mainstream media simply for asking: was Barack Obama ever a Muslim? The author considers the evidence and then draws his conclusion from Islamic jurisprudence.
Incidentally, in the course of his article he includes this, which bears out the truth of what I wrote in March 2007: “Islamic law does not oblige those who have not reached puberty to practice Islam..” That is, it doesn’t command their deaths if they don’t practice Islam. I had written this:
So is Obama under a death sentence? Probably not – particularly if he left Islam while still a child. This is a crucial point, for according to Islamic law an apostate male is not to be put to death if he has not reached puberty (cf. ‘Umdat al-Salik o8.2; Hidayah vol. II p. 246). Some, however, hold that he should be imprisoned until he is of age and then “invited” to accept Islam, but officially the death penalty for youthful apostates is ruled out.
For a full consideration of Obama’s curious and shifting attitude toward the Muslim elements of his life story, pre-order my forthcoming book with Pamela Geller, The Post-American Presidency, coming in July from Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster.
“Is President Obama a Muslim or an Apostate?,” by Mu’ammar Ahmad ‘Abd-al-Latif Rajeh for the Watan Voice (in Arabic), January 30 (translated by al-Mutarajjam at Translating Jihad):
[…] Within this introduction, certain aspects of President Obama’s introduction to his autobiography beg the following question: What is the position of Islamic law concerning this biography?
Islamic law stipulates that if a child is born with either one or both of his parents being Muslim, then the child’s religion will also be Muslim. This applies if the father is Muslim and the mother is non-Muslim, such as in President Obama’s case. Al-Hassan, Shurayh, Ibrahim, and Qatada said: “If one of (the parents) has submitted (to Islam), then the child is with the Muslim,” for Islam dominates, but is not (itself) dominated (comment: This is a famous phrase from either the Qur’an or the hadith, but I’m not sure exactly how it’s worded in English; it basically means Islam is superior to everything, and submits to nothing). And also according to the word of the prophet of God (PBUH): “No child is born except on nature (i.e. Islam), and then his parents make him Jewish, Christian, or Magian (Zoroastrian), as an animal produces a perfect young animal: do you see any part of its body amputated?” (Sahih al-Bukhari, V 2, Bk 23, No 441). Although Islamic law does not oblige those who have not reached puberty to practice Islam, the father of such a child is required to pay zakat and pray the funeral prayer if the child dies before reaching puberty. This shows that the child is Muslim from birth. Through these Islamic judgments, in comparison with the autobiography of President Barack Hussein Obama, we find that this president is either a Muslim or an apostate from Islam according to the strongest viewpoints of Islamic jurisprudence.