Islam and Apostasy

Non Muslims or people from other (non)religious backgrounds may wonder why I am making a big deal out of the fact that I do not believe in any God or religion. When it comes to Islam and certain Islamic nations, Apostasy is a very big deal. It has life and death consequences. If you just Wiki 'Apostasy', you can find that out for yourself.

As many of you may be familiar with 'Hadith' which is basically the sayings of (Prophet) Mohammad. There are several Hadiths on the subject of Apostasy. Here are some:

1. Kill whoever changes his religion. Sahih al-Bukhari 9:84:57
2. The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims. Sahih al-Bukhari 9:83:17

Wikipedia also quotes a Fatwa on Apostasy.

"If a sane person who has reached puberty voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be punished.‏ In such a case, it is obligatory for the caliph (or his representative) to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed." No one besides the caliph or his representative may kill the apostate. If someone else kills him, the killer is disciplined (for arrogating the caliph's prerogative and encroaching upon his rights, as this is one of his duties)."

This is just a tip of the ice berg. In my future posts, I will give information on Apostasy laws back in my home country. But as you can see from the above that Apostasy in Islam is not a benign matter -it is really a matter of life and death.