Istanbul, Brussels, Bangladesh: the Islamic State is a busy JV team. And here they’re simply following Islamic law. A hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
This is still the position of all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, both Sunni and Shi’ite. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most renowned and prominent Muslim cleric in the world, has stated: “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.”
Qaradawi also once famously said: “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today.”
“ISIS claims murder of Christian convert in Bangladesh,” AFP, March 23, 2016:
ISIS on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the murder of a Christian convert in northern Bangladesh, according to a US-based monitoring group.
Police said at least two attackers with sharp weapons on Tuesday killed 68-year-old Hossain Ali, who converted to Christianity from Islam in 1999.
In a communique posted on Twitter, ISIS said the murder was “a lesson to others”, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity on the Internet.
“A security detachment from the soldiers of the Caliphate was able, by the grace of Allah the Almighty, to kill the apostate (Ali), who changed his religion and became a preacher for the polytheist Christianity,” the statement said.
In recent months ISIS has said it was behind a series of attacks on religious converts and minorities in Bangladesh including Shiite, Sufi and Ahmadi Muslims, Christians and Hindus.
The Bangladesh government denies ISIS are present in the country and police on Wednesday rejected the group’s claim of responsibility for the latest killing, insisting it was “bogus”.
“We’re investigating the killing. A case has been filed and we’ve arrested five men for questioning,” Tobarak Ullah, police chief in the northern district of Kurigram where the killing took place, told AFP.
Last week ISIS said it had killed a Shiite convert from Sunni Islam in the southwestern town of Kaliganj….