This question has always been so confusing to me! I mean how come that Allah say in Quran that human beings had been given a brain and taught that there are two ways, and they have to choose one.
Could it be possible that after that, a one who rejects Islam should be killed?! I mean don’t you think this thing goes against Allah given word? Teachers used to justify it by the following sentence “Islam is different and who see the light should not go stray again” so strange. But what about the logical contradiction? And what about the one who was born for a Muslim family?
Yesterday I was listening to a well known Syrian Imam called Al-Booty and he said that it was not mentioned in Quran. It was a countermeasure used by Mohammad (Allah prayers and peace be upon him) to stop what some Jews were doing that time. They used to join Islam and then reject it to show others that there is something wrong in Islam and it does not even worth to try it. That was quit smart step, but the response was smarter from Mohammad (Allah prayers and peace be upon him), try it and you are killed.
I know some will tell me it is one of the limits (Hodod), yea but more like a political limit, not one of Allah limits. This means that if the Imam of Muslims find a proof he should use it on who he believe is part of this plan to destroy Islam, but as long as someone reject Islam for any reason other than that, then he is free to do it, it is his right to do so.
I know some will be suspicious about it, but when Muslims immigrated to Ethiopia one of the Muslims baptized (according to teacher Ali), but he was never killed. What pushes me to say so is that many Muslims rejected Islam and not only that, but came with their own faiths that still are among us till this day, such as the Druze and the Baha’i faiths.
Actually in the last days, I discovered something very important. Back at the school we were taught only opinions of one of the four Imams. This is so wrong! And I also learned that we are doing exactly what Allah warned us from doing. We are making of our Muslim Imams gods. There are different types of Islam that are called according to the four Imams, Shafe’ei, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali. Is not that polytheism? I am not against their opinions, but am against adopting one of those Imams opinions without thinking about why they said so (these Imams also said so, that we should not stick to their opinions without reading their explanations and proofs)
Hope this clears something!
You say:
I totally agree. And not just that, I think one should NEVER follow any commandment - even from the Quran - until he thinks about it. If you don’t know the reason behind what you do, then most likely you’re doing it wrong.
The point you raise is a very important one. Rashid Al-Ghannoushi, ex-head of muslim brotherhood in Tunisia wrote his PhD thesis on “rights in islamic state” (now available as a book Al-Hurriyat al-ammah fi alislam). He has a big chapter in it specifically about Apostasy. His conclusion is that the punishment of Apostasy is a political one, and not religious. I.e., Islamic state might execute a spy causing sabotage or a traitor. Religious views on their own do not call for any punishment, just discussion.
However, he did say that earlier scholars in general were harsher on apostasy than later & modern ones.
But, beyond apostasy,