The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law. It’s based on the Qur’an: “They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.” (Qur’an 4:89)
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.”
“‘They call for my slaughter’: Somali atheists living in fear,” Global Voices, December 2, 2019:
Hassan dreads each sunset. When the skies darken in Nairobi, Kenya, the threats begin.
He is too scared to leave his home but his taunters, mostly his neighbors, find him: They pummel the walls and metal door of his room in a concrete five-story building. Hassan, a 25-year old Somali refugee, has only lived in Nairobi a few months, but his neighbors — who are all Somali Muslims — have found out he has renounced Islam. To some of the most devout Muslims, being an atheist is punishable by death.
“My life has been a living hell. They are spreading that I have left the faith,” Hassan, who is using a pseudonym for fear of reprisals, told Global Voices. “I’ve reported it to the police, but nobody got arrested.”
As religious fundamentalism intensifies in Somali communities, in the country and abroad, some Somali atheists face harassment and threats on and offline. The Somali atheist community spans the globe with many still “in the closet,” hiding their beliefs from their families, friends and neighbors for fear of repercussions. Many seek solace through online communities, such as Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and YouTube channels, using pseudonyms.
Hassan’s troubles began in Dadaab, the sprawling Kenyan refugee camp where he grew up. His childhood experiences of living in poverty and as a refugee made him question the existence of God when he was a teenager, he says. When a cousin discovered he had left his faith, some of his family became hostile.
Word of his atheism soon spread throughout his community at Dadaab. Soon after, he was attacked while fetching water from a communal tap. His attackers hit him on the back of the head with a stone and knocked him out. His arm also broke.
To verify Hassan’s story, Global Voices has seen a copy of his refugee identity card, and the medical and police reports of his attack, as well as a photograph of his injuries.
“Religious fundamentalism is just getting worse in the camps. The situation is very bad,” says Hassan. “The community doesn’t seem to care about what is going on, as they are mostly Muslims. And they enjoy outing people.”
Hassan managed to escape Dadaab by gaining a scholarship to study for a bachelor’s degree at a university in Nairobi. Unfortunately, the harassment and death threats followed him to the city. In the closely-knit communities of Somali diaspora, locals soon found out about his atheism….
gravenimage says
Kenya: Muslim neighbors call for the slaughter of man who left Islam, police arrest no one
…………………..
Horrible–and Kenya is not even majority Muslim.
You see this same sort of dhimmitude in the West, as well.
I hope this apostate from Islam leaves the area.
b.a. freeman says
i, too, hope that Hassan escapes the area, GI. in fact, *T*H*I*S* is the type of person who is a LEGITIMATE refugee – the kind whom we free people should be welcoming into the u.s. unfortunately, the nominal- and hard-core-leftists who rule us believe the multi-culti lies of the hard-core leftist thought leaders, and REFUSE to let them enter, and instead promote mass entry of thousands of muslims. it may be “passive” prevention of entry, in that they do nothing to prevent abuses and murders of non-muslims in refugee camps, but prevention it still is, because they KNOW of the abuse and do nothing.
gravenimage says
Yes–we should offer him asylum.
PETER BUCKLEY says
“Religious fundamentalism is just getting worse in the camps.”
What many of the clowns who comment on JW fail to grasp, is that it is precisely this “fundamentalism” that is necessary for muslims to see the true face of Islam. The appearance of this “fundamentalism” is evidence not that Islam is “winning”, but that it is desperately trying to hold on to its adherents (and failing). We are are in the early stages of Islam’s death throes.This so-called “extremism” is simply speeding up the rate of apostasy from Islam, one of the world’s biggest growth industries.
“Mahad knows when he began leaving Islam. The explosion, and the screaming, and the terror, are hard to forget.
He was born in Kenya in 1997, after his Somali parents fled the civil war. In 2001, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
When he was 13 or 14, they moved back to Kenya for around a year. Mahad enjoyed it. He went to a madrassa – an Islamic school – and didn’t question his religion.
And then, in September 2012, the grenade was thrown.
“It happened just a few feet away from me,” he says. “They attacked a church. I literally had to run for my life.”
Islamists threw an explosive into a Sunday school. One child was killed; three were seriously injured. That night, Mahad heard a Muslim cleric preaching from a pulpit.
“He said the attack was justified,” says Mahad. “He was basically a very Wahhabi – Salafi preacher [an ultra-conservative form of Islam]. It wasn’t uncommon for him to say these things.
“I was like, this is what my faith promotes. This is what Islam stands for. And if all these theories about Islam being inherently connected to violence are true, then I don’t think I can consider myself a Muslim.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43066082
gravenimage says
Alas, the implication that Muslims are all apt to leave Islam if it proves violent does not hold water. Islam teaches Jihad violence, and many Muslims are all too happy to carry out, as this story among many others shows.
Islam has been savagely violent for 1400 years now. I don’t think this can be taken as proof that Islam is actually becoming less dangerous.
PETER BUCKLEY says
“Alas, the implication that Muslims are all apt to leave Islam if it proves violent…”
As I never said that, you are, ironically, guilty of the very mistake muslims often make in debate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
You are probably the prime example of the clowns I was referring to. Many thanks for proving it……
gravenimage says
Peter, you offered an example of a Muslim who left Islam when he realized that it was violent. I say good for Mahad.
But unless this was just intended as a nice anecdote, then it has no real meaning. Most Muslims do not act like this–in fact, most Muslims embrace the violence of Islam, and many practice it themselves.
PETER BUCKLEY says
“Most Muslims do not act like this……”
The fact that you even say this proves you don’t understand the nature of the beast we are dealing with. In the words of the ex-muslim Anjuli Pandavar, who writes for Jihadwatch:”it doesn’t take many”.
But you have failed to get your tiny head round this, and continue to do so. You are an idiot. However, being an optimist, I have complete confidence that you will realise what an idiot you have been
In the meantime, rather than tear your hair out in impotent rage and waste so much time screaming into the echo chamber that, unfortunately, Jihadwatch is, you might find it in your heart to help people like Mahad, whose story, according to you, “has no real meaning”. I spend time every week helping muslims leave Islam-do you? Well, here’s your chance to do something positive for a change:
https://ofwi.org/freeogunkoyas?utm_source=One+Free+World+International&utm_campaign=6db39fa170-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_09_01_36&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a21350f08d-6db39fa170-133960273&mc_cid=6db39fa170&mc_eid=f04e88f364
Let me know when you’ve signed it, idiot.
Jeff Gonez says
Pinheads like you are worse than Obama bin Laden.
gravenimage says
How does my saying that most Muslims do not leave Islam when they find is it violent mean that I don’t understand the nature of Islam? This makes no sense at all.
Jeff Gonez says
Peter Buckley, actually, you are not only a pinhead, you are a traitor to western civilization.
Harold says
Robert one of your paragraphs introducing the subject of apostacy should include a reference to the Percentage of Muslims in Arab countries that support the death penalty for apostacy according to the Pew Research Survey on the Attitude of Muslims.
An indoctrinated person who has no idea about Islamic jurisprudence is just going to think that you are just quoting a few extremists to smear Islam. The huge percentages of Muslims that support the death penalty for apostasy should be a central point.
gravenimage says
More grim news out of Kenya:
“Three Americans killed in Kenya terror attack”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/05/politics/us-service-member-civilian-defense-contractors-killed-kenya/index.html
roberta says
(Terror) its all they’ve got, but it works, so its all they need.
Peter Buckley here is some news for you. They breed like rats. How many countries have now stated that Mohammad is one of the most common names for newborns? This idea that you and others have sold yourselves is demographically impossible. (if there is such a thing as demographic impossibility 🙂
Eur says
Nothing new,normative islam and islamic society.
PETER BUCKLEY says
“They breed like rats”.
You can, of course, allow your fears to overcome reality. But those of us who live in the real world know the facts:
https://www.prb.org/muslimsineurope/
So, not “something I’ve sold myself”, but a recognised fact. You are the one who has sold yourself the myth that it is happening. I believe the next census is due out in the UK next year, and we will then see whether your worst nightmare is coming true, or whether many of the “muslims” are not muslims at all:
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15350/zayn-malik-non-event
If you choose to live your life in fear of something that isn’t going to happen, that’s your problem. Excuse me if I don’t take your commet (or many of the commenters on JW) seriously-it’s based on nothing but your own fears.
roberta says
Yeah, Im hiding in my parents basement at the moment, with a hijab freshly ironed and starched waiting on my own worst fears to come to fruition.
You are pulling a blanket over your head. Are you posting from Sweden by chance?
PETER BUCKLEY says
No India:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Muslim-population-growth-slows/article10336665.ece
How embarrassing it must be for you to discover that what you have thought was true for so long, turns out to be a myth.
gravenimage says
The Muslim population had indeed been growing in Europe, largely due to immigration, and Jihad terror has been growing with it.
Is Peter Buckley pretending that Jihad terror was a regular part of Europe, just a couple of decades ago?
Ali says
He should look for an avenue to ran out of the community that is the best option right now. I ran out of my community 13 years ago and doing fine with my family serving Jesus as a missionary
gravenimage says
Thank you, Ali–and keep safe.