Islamic apologists in the U.S. routinely deny that Islamic law mandates that apostates from Islam be murdered.
"Rev. Lorenz is then quoted in a local television station report saying that if a Muslim leaves his religion and does not return to Islam in a couple of days, then he must be killed. He claims that someone showed him the verse. There is no such verse, Rev. Lorenz. In every faith, apostasy is shunned but ultimate judgment is left to God, not people." -- Salam al-Marayati
"A Muslim's conversion to Christianity is not a crime punishable by death under Islamic law." -- M. Cherif Bassiouni
"It becomes really difficult, in light of this information, to persuasively argue that Islamic Law should permit a death penalty for apostasy." -- Ali Eteraz
Unfortunately for the apostates, the facts are otherwise.
Muhammad, the prophet of Islam and supreme example of conduct for the Muslim (cf. Qur'an 33:21), said: "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, then kill him." (Bukhari 9.84.57)
The Tafsir al-Qurtubi, a classic and thoroughly mainstream exegesis of the Qur'an, says this about Qur'an 2:217: "Scholars disagree about whether or not apostates are asked to repent. One group say that they are asked to repent and, if they do not, they are killed. Some say they are given an hour and others a month. Others say that they are asked to repent three times, and that is the view of Malik. Al-Hasan said they are asked a hundred times. It is also said that they are killed without being asked to repent."
All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence all teach that a sane adult male who leaves Islam must be killed. They have some disagreements about what must he done with other types of people who leave Islam, but they have no disagreement on that.
The internationally renowned Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has been praised as a "reformist" by pseudo-academic John Esposito, has said this about Islamic apostasy law: "That is why the Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-`ashriyyah, Al-Ja`fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed."
And now this story from Malaysia wouldn't make any sense whatsoever unless there actually were a penalty for apostasy.
"Jheains To Enforce Apostasy Law," from Bernama, December 25 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
TAWAU, Dec 25 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Islamic Affairs Department (Jheains) will enforce the apostasy law once its faith rehabilitation centre in Kinarut is ready next year, said its director, Datuk Amri A.Suratman.He said enforcement of the law was part of Jheains' five-year strategic plan.
Until the rehabilitation centre is ready in June, offenders will be enlightened on the merits of returning into the path of Islam, he told Bernama after closing the Jheains Senior Officers Conference here Friday night.
The conference, among others, touched on scores of Muslim converts, who reverted to their original religions, due to neglect from Islamic religious agencies and non-governmental organisations.
Amri said imams should provide information and counselling to Muslims, especially the younger generation, in their areas to ensure that they understand the syariah law.
This means that they're going to explain to them that apostatizing from Islam could get them killed. Interestingly enough, when Islamic spokesmen in the U.S. talk about making sure people understand Sharia law, they actually mean that they want to make sure people don't understand it. In Malaysia, no such obfuscations are necessary.
On dakwah, he said Jheains would focus its efforts on strategic and rural areas, especially those with a high number of converts, especially on prayers."These efforts will be carried out continuously to ensure that Muslim converts are not neglected," he added.
"The Sabah Islamic Affairs Department (Jheains)"
So this is part of the government in Malaysia?
p.s., excerpts from CIA Factbook for Malaysia (my emphasis):
"Government type:
Field info displayed for all countries in alpha order.
constitutional monarchy
note: nominally headed by paramount ruler (commonly referred to as the King) and a bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house; all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government; powers of state governments are limited by federal constitution; under terms of federation, Sabah and Sarawak retain certain constitutional prerogatives (e.g., right to maintain their own immigration controls)"
"Legal system:
Field info displayed for all countries in alpha order.
based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court at request of supreme head of the federation; Islamic law is applied to Muslims in matters of family law and religion; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction"
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html
Thanks Robert for highlighting this - as a Malaysian convert from Islam to Christianity myself. But Malay ethnic groups who are born Muslims (Islam is considered as in their blood) are prohibited absolutely and forever, from converting to any religion whereas new converts like from the Chinese/Indian/non-Malay communities might get a chance to re-convert to being non-Muslim if there is a lot of publicity; thus is why sometimes outsiders get confused and think Malaysia is Islamic 'moderate-ruled'. Shame on all those Western leaders based in Embassies, except previous US Govt reports (no chance under the Islam-loving/bowing Hussein Obama and great buddy of the M'sian PM!)in Malaysia - many are too busy doing diving, fine dining and clubbing in the luxuriously seductive Malaysian Tropical islands or the capital city Kuala Lumpur, I suspect, thus their silence!
Malaysian Islamic "Rehabilitation camps" which are actually prisons where it is off-limit to journalists, visiting families (unless the inmates are 'rehabilitated') and medical treatments are suspected used forcefully to 'rehabilitate' the prisoners brains! And prisoners, any Muslims (usually only the ordinary people, not the rich ones) who rebel against Islamic-Sharia law, including dancing with sexy clothes, drinking alcohol or hugging between unmarried couples anywhere including in clubs, discos, private houses (neighbors are encouraged to simply call the Islamic religious dept (even if only based on mere suspicion), or hotels, were first usually hauled in a truck like cattle. But this religious enforcement power or religious policing is open to great uncontrollable abuse since unlike in normal cases, where detainees or prisoners do not have rights to have immediate access to lawyers or can be detained for more than twenty-four hours without trial up to minimum six-months, including being sent immediately to the Islamic "Rehabilitation camps" - at Islam Watch: http://www.islam-watch.org/AdrianMorgan/Totalitarian-Aspects-Moderate-Mu…; also US Department of State Report; http://www.state.gov/g/drls/irf/2008/108413.htm). Malaysia’s Islamic-Sharia Court has its own religious enforcement officers, called “religious/Sharia police”, that has absolute power and have been abusing such power in over-zealous manner given powers like normal police force, to enter, investigate and make arrest towards any Muslims - at AsiaNews; http://www.asianews.it/view4print.php?l=en&art=7660.
Katharina--
So glad you're here, and thanks for all the information!
The apostasy law is not a side issue to Islamic totalitarianism, but the linch pin from which all Islam hangs. In Army aviation terms, it the "Jesus nut" that holds the main roter to the helicopter frame.
Without the apostasy laws, imams would be powerless, and sharia would be optional, since anyone could simply stop being Muslim when an imam threatens him or her with a sharia punishment.
The apostasy law effectively nullifies any "faith" in Islam and simply makes Islam a mandatory ideology. It is the most horrendous violation of human rights in widespread existence today, and anyone who does not fight it is to be considered an ignoramus and a criminal.
Hussein Obama of the biggest hypocrites because he knows that there is no freedom of opinion and belief in Islamic thought, however he defends this satanic religion that does not fit only for animals Sorry, I apologize for the animals
Katharina
a big virtual hug for you. So glad you were able to free yourself from the spiritual and mental slavery of Islam.
I will pray for your safety and protection.
Thank you for giving us more details about those horrible 'rehabilitation camps' (or, as they are called in the article "faith rehabilitation centres").
That is the sort of thing the Soviets used to do to people who objected to communism.
This, it should be noticed, is happening in Sabah.
Sabah and Sarawak are on the island of Borneo.
The three main sections of Malaysia are 'Peninsular Malaysia', Sabah, and Sarawak.
I know a Chinese Christian family from Sabah.
Considered generally, in 2001 Malaysia was 58 % Muslim, 21 % Buddhist/ Chinese, 9 % Christian, 5 % Hindu and about 6 % nonreligious and 'other'.
But the breakdown for the three main sections was interesting.
P. Malaysia was 60 % Muslim, 26 % Buddhist and/ or Chinese religions, 8 % Hindu and 4 % Christian, 2 % 'nonreligious' - using my Christian sourcebook, 2001 figures.
*Sabah*, from which this report emanates, was 55 % Muslim, 33 % Christian, 5 % (tribal people in the jungle) and 7 % 'other'.
Sarawak was 38 % Christian, 27 % Muslim, 'traditional ethnic' 26 % and 'other' 9 %.
Both Sabah and Sarawak were experiencing an influx of legal and illegal Muslim immigrants from Indonesia and from Mindanao in the Philippines which was pushing up the Muslim numbers.
Now, here's the CIA factbook for 2010, for Malaysia.
Ethnic groups:
Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8% (2004 est.)
Religion (no breakdown by region):
Muslim 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8% (2000 census; no more up-to-date figures).
I will add that of the Chinese Christian family I know from Sabah, one of the sons managed to escape Malaysia: having fallen in love, while studying in Australia, with a Chinese Christian girl from Singapore who was also studying in Australia, he moved heaven and earth and was able to get himself a good job with a company in Singapore, which enabled him to settle in Singapore and marry his lady (I went to the wedding) - he has since fathered two beautiful little Singaporeans.
There are two Australian families I know in which the wife is a Chinese Christian lady, born in Malaysia, who emigrated from Malaysia to marry an Australian Christian and have children in Australia.
The best and brightest non-Muslims from Malaysia are voting with their feet whenever and however they can.
Badly phrased sentence, in my posting above.
For
'There are two Australian families I know in which the wife is a Chinese Christian lady, born in Malaysia, who emigrated from Malaysia to marry an Australian Christian and have children in Australia.'
read
"I know two Australian families, in each of which the wife is a Chinese Christian lady, born in Malaysia, who emigrated from Malaysia to marry an Australian Christian and have children in Australia."
There's nothing like local knowledge and interest!
I too am grateful to katharina :-)
If anyone needs further proof that Malaysia is not a moderate Muslim nation, here's a letter from a Malaysian Muslim questioning apostasy laws in Islam. Note that the writer takes it as a given that apostasy is punishable by death.
Marisol, Steffen Larsen, dumbledoresarmy - thanks for your kind support! It's just beyond me how these Islamic Nazis can still get away with such evilness, including slave-like support from that Trojan horse, Hussein Obama, despite there is more and more truthful information out there now, and also cloaking it under religion. The German Nazis were put on trial for their savage crimes, and yet Islamic Nazis are still free to roam and rule the world since the Arabic Pedophile rapist Mohammed committed the first systematic racial Genocide of the Jews from what became pure racist and savage Arabian kingdom - all justified and legitimized by creating Islam and its false god!
It is interesting that they call it the "rehabilitation" center. Rehabilitation from the crime (under Sharia law) of turning away from Islam. That implies that "patients" of such a "clinic" will be detained until they are "cured" of their desire to convert. If they don't recommit to Islam, will they be executed?
It is also interesting that the rationalization for such measures is the "neglect" of governmental/organizational education and pressure to remain submitted to Islam. Apparently, forcing people to convert is only the first step. Then, comes enforcing the parameters of Sharia and preventing people from "reverting" back to whatever belief system they originally held true. Such personal analysis and decision-making is criminal under Sharia.