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Islam and Apostasy: Difference between revisions
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*'''The Ja'fari school''' does not require a waiting period, but allows one to be granted if the apostate was born a disbeliever (rendering them a ''murtad al-milli''). Male apostates must be executed, while female apostates must be held in solitary confinement and beaten at the times of the daily prayers and restricted to light rations of food until she repents and reverts.<ref name="PetersDeVries2" /><ref>[http://www.webcitation.org/6lL25cac5 webcitation archive] Sunni books of jurisprudence (translations) quoted in The Rationaliser, [http://therationaliser.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/apostasy-in-islam.htm Apostasy in Islam], 2014</ref><ref>[http://statics.ml.imam-khomeini.ir/en/File/NewsAttachment/2014/0000-tahrir%20j4-nA4.pdf imam-khomeini.ir] Imam Khomeini, Tahrir al-Wasilar Volumie IV (English translation), Tehran: Institute for Compilation of Imam Khomeini's works, 2011, p.255</ref><ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://formermuslimsunited.org/?page_id=2169|2=2011-10-04}} A Shiite Opinion on Apostasy] - Originally from Kayhan International, March 1986</ref> | *'''The Ja'fari school''' does not require a waiting period, but allows one to be granted if the apostate was born a disbeliever (rendering them a ''murtad al-milli''). Male apostates must be executed, while female apostates must be held in solitary confinement and beaten at the times of the daily prayers and restricted to light rations of food until she repents and reverts.<ref name="PetersDeVries2" /><ref>[http://www.webcitation.org/6lL25cac5 webcitation archive] Sunni books of jurisprudence (translations) quoted in The Rationaliser, [http://therationaliser.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/apostasy-in-islam.htm Apostasy in Islam], 2014</ref><ref>[http://statics.ml.imam-khomeini.ir/en/File/NewsAttachment/2014/0000-tahrir%20j4-nA4.pdf imam-khomeini.ir] Imam Khomeini, Tahrir al-Wasilar Volumie IV (English translation), Tehran: Institute for Compilation of Imam Khomeini's works, 2011, p.255</ref><ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://formermuslimsunited.org/?page_id=2169|2=2011-10-04}} A Shiite Opinion on Apostasy] - Originally from Kayhan International, March 1986</ref> | ||
Civil law penalties for apostates who are imprisoned, awaiting execution, or who have taken flight have also been prescribed.<ref name="PetersDeVries2" /><ref>[https://islamqa.info/en/134339 islamqa.info] Fatwah 134339: Effect of apostasy on marriage before and after consummation]</ref> In all | Civil law penalties for apostates who are imprisoned, awaiting execution, or who have taken flight have also been prescribed.<ref name="PetersDeVries2" /><ref>[https://islamqa.info/en/134339 islamqa.info] Fatwah 134339: Effect of apostasy on marriage before and after consummation]</ref> In all schools other than the Hanafi school, the apostate's right to dispose of property is suspended pending repentance. An apostate also loses the right to inherit (from anyone, Muslim or otherwise). The four schools and the individual jurists within them differ on whether all an apostate's property goes to their Muslim heirs, or just that acquired before his apostasy (if the apostate is a male). The apostate's marriage contract is annulled upon the act of apostasy, even if they repent, or is suspended pending repentance for the length of the wife's 'waiting period' in the Shafi'i school (if their marriage was already consummated) and Shia Ja'fari school (if the apostate was born a disbeliever). | ||
===In scripture and scholarly writing=== | ===In scripture and scholarly writing=== | ||
{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Apostasy|l1=Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Apostasy}}Authoritative Islamic sources (the Qur'an, hadith, and both classical and modern scholars) have commented at length on what constitutes apostasy and how apostates are to be dealt with.{{quote |{{Bukhari|4|52|260}} | Narrated Ikrima: | {{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Apostasy|l1=Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Apostasy}}Authoritative Islamic sources (the Qur'an, hadith, and both classical and modern scholars) have commented at length on what constitutes apostasy and how apostates are to be dealt with.{{quote |{{Bukhari|4|52|260}} | Narrated Ikrima: | ||
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A Pew poll released on April 30, 2013 asked Muslims in 39 countries between 2008 and 2012 questions about religion, politics and society based on 38,000 face-to-face interviews. In one question, asked in 37 of these countries with a combined Muslim population of just over 1 billion people, the survey asked participants whether they favored or opposed the death penalty for leaving Islam. Using the complete dataset for this question on page 219 of the full report<ref>[http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society] Pew Research Centre, 30 April 2013, p.219 (responses by country to the question on apostasy)</ref>, and weighing the responses by Muslim population<ref>[http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/01/FutureGlobalMuslimPopulation-WebPDF-Feb10.pdf Future Global Muslim Population] Pew Research Centre, 2011, pp.156-163 (Estimated Muslim population by country in 2010)</ref> indicates that overall, 40% of Muslims in these countries favor the death penalty for apostasy from Islam. The percentage was below 10% in Central Asia, Turkey and Balkan countries included in the survey. It was above 50% in Afghanistan (79%), Egypt (88%), Jordan (83%), Malaysia (58%), Pakistan (75%), Palestinian Territories (62%), and Djbouti (62%). | A Pew poll released on April 30, 2013 asked Muslims in 39 countries between 2008 and 2012 questions about religion, politics and society based on 38,000 face-to-face interviews. In one question, asked in 37 of these countries with a combined Muslim population of just over 1 billion people, the survey asked participants whether they favored or opposed the death penalty for leaving Islam. Using the complete dataset for this question on page 219 of the full report<ref>[http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society] Pew Research Centre, 30 April 2013, p.219 (responses by country to the question on apostasy)</ref>, and weighing the responses by Muslim population<ref>[http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/01/FutureGlobalMuslimPopulation-WebPDF-Feb10.pdf Future Global Muslim Population] Pew Research Centre, 2011, pp.156-163 (Estimated Muslim population by country in 2010)</ref> indicates that overall, 40% of Muslims in these countries favor the death penalty for apostasy from Islam. The percentage was below 10% in Central Asia, Turkey and Balkan countries included in the survey. It was above 50% in Afghanistan (79%), Egypt (88%), Jordan (83%), Malaysia (58%), Pakistan (75%), Palestinian Territories (62%), and Djbouti (62%). | ||
One noteworthy mistake has frequently been made by commentators on the 2013 Pew poll, likely as a result of neglecting the full dataset made available by Pew at the of the report. The table found in chapter one of the report shows support for the death penalty for apostasy among those who answered that they were 'in favor of Sharia in their country' in an earlier question. Multiplying the percentages in these two tables yields significantly lower percentages compared to those mentioned above (Egypt, for example appears by this calculation to have 64% support for the death penalty, and overall support in the countries surveyed falls to approximately 35% after weighing by Muslim population). This approach fails to | One noteworthy mistake has frequently been made by commentators on the 2013 Pew poll, likely as a result of neglecting the full dataset made available by Pew at the end of the report. The table found in chapter one of the report shows support for the death penalty for apostasy among those who had answered that they were 'in favor of Sharia in their country' in an earlier question. Multiplying the percentages in these two tables yields significantly lower percentages compared to those mentioned above (Egypt, for example appears by this calculation to have 64% support for the death penalty, and overall support in the countries surveyed falls to approximately 35% after weighing by Muslim population). This approach fails to account, however, for the support for the apostasy death penalty among those who answered that they 'do not support' or 'don't know whether they support' Sharia being the official law in their country, which, perhaps surprisingly, makes a significant difference. Only the table on page 219 near the end of the report reveals support for the apostasy death penalty for all respondents in each country. This was confirmed by an independent analysis of the data and correspondence with Pew's Director of International Survey Research.<ref>[https://uncertaintyblog.com/2015/02/12/check-the-original-source-how-so-many-writers-got-the-facts-wrong-after-the-maher-vs-affleck-islam-debate/ Check the original source! How so many writers got the facts wrong after the Maher vs. Affleck Islam debate] [http://www.webcitation.org/6yi5XIFbb Archive]</ref> Nevertheless, a strong correlation can be seen in the results for the two questions on support for Sharia and support for the death penalty for apostates.<ref>Survey Reports - [http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/#sharia-as-the-official-law-of-the-land The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society - Chapter 1: Beliefs about Sharia] - Pew Research Center, April 30, 2013</ref> | ||
====Changes since 2013==== | ====Changes since 2013==== | ||
It is possible and even likely that support for the penalty has fallen in the years since the survey was conducted due to near-global outrage at the actions of ISIS and subsequent attempts by leading Muslim figures to distance Islam from the actions of that group. A similar decline in support may also have resulted from generally the negative experience of Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt between 2011 and 2013. | It is possible and even likely that support for the penalty has fallen in the years since the survey was conducted due to near-global outrage at the actions of ISIS and subsequent attempts by leading Muslim figures to distance Islam from the actions of that group. A similar decline in support may also have resulted from generally the negative experience of Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt between 2011 and 2013. | ||