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Apostasy in Islam
Islamic views on the renunciation of Islam by a Muslim
This article is about a general description and examination of apostasy from Islam. For the situation of those accused of apostasy from Islam (ex-Muslims) by country, see Apostasy in Islam by country. For the sociological perspectives of ex-Muslims, see Ex-Muslims. For organisations by and for ex-Muslims, see List of ex-Muslim organisations.
Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ردة, romanized: ridda or ارتداد, irtidād) is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. It includes not only explicit renunciations of the Islamic faith by converting to another religion[1] or abandoning religion,[1][2][3] but also blasphemy or heresy by those who consider themselves Muslims,[4] through any action or utterance which implies unbelief, including those who deny a "fundamental tenet or creed" of Islam.[5] An apostate from Islam is known as a murtadd (مرتدّ).[1][6][7][8][9]
Until the late 19th century, the majority of Sunni and Shia jurists held the view that for adult men, apostasy from Islam was a crime as well as a sin, punishable by the death penalty,[3][18] but with a number of options for leniency (such as a waiting period to allow time for repentance[3][19][20][21] or enforcement only in cases involving politics),[22][23][24] depending on the era, the legal standards and the school of law. In the late 19th century, the use of legal criminal penalties for apostasy fell into disuse, although civil penalties were still applied.[3]
As of 2021, there were ten Muslim-majority countries where apostasy from Islam was punishable by death,[25] but legal executions are rare.[Note 1] Most punishment is extra-judicial/vigilante,[27][28] and most executions are perpetrated by jihadist and "takfiri" insurgents (al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, the GIA, and the Taliban).[10][29][30][31] Another thirteen countries have penal or civil penalties for apostates[28] – such as imprisonment, the annulment of their marriages, the loss of their rights of inheritance and the loss of custody of their children.[28]
In the contemporary Muslim world, public support for capital punishment varies from 78% in Afghanistan to less than 1% in Kazakhstan;[Note 2] among Islamic jurists, the majority of them continue to regard apostasy as a crime which should be punishable by death.[19] Those who disagree[11][3][33] argue that its punishment should be less than death, should occur in the afterlife,[34][35][36][37] (human punishment being inconsistent with Quranic injunctions against compulsion in belief),[38][39] or should apply only in cases of public disobedience and disorder (fitna).[Note 3]
^"No God, not even Allah". The Economist. 24 November 2012. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
^ abcdefPeters, Rudolph; Vries, Gert J. J. De (1976). "Apostasy in Islam". Die Welt des Islams. 17 (1/4): 1–25. doi:10.2307/1570336. JSTOR1570336. By the murtadd or apostate is understood as the Moslem by birth or by conversion, who renounces his religion, irrespective of whether or not he subsequently embraces another faith
^Frank Griffel, "Apostasy", in (Editor: Gerhard Bowering et al.) The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, ISBN978-0691134840, pp. 40–41
^Diane Morgan (2009), Essential Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice, ISBN978-0313360251, pp. 182–183
^Ghali, Hebatallah (December 2006). "Rights of Muslim Converts to Christianity"(PhD Thesis). Department of Law, School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The American University in Cairo, Egypt. p. 2. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 September 2014. Whereas an apostate (murtad) is the person who commits apostasy ('rtidad), that is the conscious abandonment of allegiance or ... renunciation of a religious faith or abandonment of a previous loyalty.
^Friedmann, Yohanan (2003). "Chapter 4: Apostasy". Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition. Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–159. ISBN978-1139440790.
^Gerhard Bowering, ed. (2013). The Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic political thought. associate editors Patricia Crone, Wadid Kadi, Devin J. Stewart and Muhammad Qasim Zaman; assistant editor Mahan Mirza. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 40. ISBN978-0691134840.
^Elliott, Andrea (26 March 2006). "In Kabul, a Test for Shariah". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
^Cite error: The named reference pew2013apo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Sudan woman faces death for apostasy". BBC News. 15 May 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. There is a long-running debate in Islam over whether apostasy is a crime. Some liberal scholars hold the view that it is not (...), Others say that apostasy is (...). The latter is the dominant view in conservative Muslim states such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (...).
^Cite error: The named reference autogenerated526 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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