Now that we know that the punishment of apostasy has a well established evidence both in Quran and Sunnah, perhaps we should look into the wisdom why there is a capital punishment for apostasy? Does the Punishment for Apostasy Contradict Freedom and Justice?
We need to understand that the punishment for apostasy is not prescribed to change the convictions or hearts of people, but rather factors in the religious, social, and psychological interests it serves. The following is an overview of some of these interests:
Every society sets out its own identity and defines the boundaries of that which no one is allowed to traverse, let alone compromise. Such boundaries are sanctified and designed to go in line with the vision and
objectives of the society. The diversity of such sacred boundaries resulted in creating differences among nations. Islam, as a divine religion, aims at addressing the relationship of humans with their Creator, their fellow humans, and their surrounding universe. To this end, it has defined its own sacred boundaries, which scholars consider the five main necessities that Islamic law must preserve, which are the best interests of the religion of Islam, life of humans, progeny and honor, sanity, and reasoning, and wealth of people. For this reason, Islam stands against anything that would or could jeopardize any of these five.
Its legislation considered these five areas and based its general provisions on the common scenarios, and does not factor into consideration the exceptions to the rule. For example, Islam considers marriage a sacred bond whose boundaries must not be violated in order to preserve the progeny and honor of humans. Nonetheless, if a sterile man fornicated with a sterile woman, or a man who has no tribe or any living family member committed adultery with a woman who has no tribe or any living family member, they will still be subject to the fixed punishments prescribed by Islam, even if such relationships were consensual, no one’s honor was harmed, or any offspring affected. This is because the act per se violates one of the five scared areas that Islam commits to protect.
Likewise, Islam works to preserve the individual wealth of people and prescribes a severe fixed punishment for whoever breaches this scared area even if it caused no harm to others. For example, if a man decided to steal from rich people trivial amounts of money that will not harm them, the fixed punishment for theft will still be applied to him, for he violated the sanctity of individuals' wealth.
The more significant the sacred area is, the more attention Islam gives to preserving and protecting it, and the religion of Islam is considered the greatest of all sacred areas. The reason it earned this high status is that it serves as the nexus which connects humans with Allah, and keeps them close to Him. That being said, the apostate, regardless of their social affiliation, is actually violating the sanctity of the religion and the bond that forms the Muslim community; and hence, deserves such a severe punishment. Islam goes further to establish this principle, as it shows zero tolerance to apostasy, and it enforces the punishment for apostasy on everyone, including the head of an Islamic state. If the ruler apostatized and manifested it in public, then the Muslims are obliged to remove him and punish him.
The fact that there are some societies that do not punish apostasy and consider it an acceptable act and a matter of personal freedom because they deem religion as an unsacred area that anyone can transgress, does not mean that Islam has to adjust its rulings accordingly. This is because Islam is not required to be compatible with other societies since it is an independent religion with its own entity, sanctities, specific goals, and integrated structure. For this reason, it is inappropriate to judge it according to the norms of another entirely different system. Some societies do not consider sex outside marriage and/or drinking liquor as immoral; therefore, it would be beyond comprehension to demand Islam to accept others’ opposing views. Doing so would eventually melt the identity of religion away, and Islam will become just a mirror to the developments and perceptions of other societies.
This raises the question about the reason why Islam does not apply the punishment for apostasy on the original disbeliever if the purpose is to preserve the religion of Islam?
The comparison per se is invalid, for a person who has never entered Islam is different from a person who has embraced Islam and then left it. The former did not pledge to comply with Islamic law, contrary to the latter, who pledged to comply with and respect Islamic laws, but then violated them. Analogous to this is a man who enters a country on a visa that requires him to comply with its laws, and then he broke the law, as opposed to a man who never entered that country in the first place; hence, its laws cannot be binding on him. The other difference is that the apostate has experienced Islam and then denied it, while the disbeliever who has never been a Muslim does not understand the reality of Islam, as he never experienced it from within.
PRESERVING THE PUBLIC ORDER OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY:
Preserving the public order of the Muslim community is one of the wisdoms of legislating the punishment for apostasy in Islam, though it’s not necessary that it be applicable in every case. Not only does apostasy breach the most sacred area in Islam, but it also represents a form of public disorder, for Islam is not only a heart-based belief, nor is it just personal worship, but is rather a combination of belief and a system together which is binding on the Muslim community; it cannot be transgressed and violated.
It is known that faith and creed represent the foundational pillar of Islam upon which all other systems are designed in the Muslim communities. Thus, when a person declares his apostasy, he is rebelling against the systems of Islam and is exhibiting non-compliance with its original foundation upon which all living systems are built.
Given the importance of faith for the human being and the society at large, apostasy is not a personal and abstract state of mind; rather, it is a compound, complex process that involves changing allegiance, identity, and affiliation. This meaning was indicated in the statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he described the apostate as a person
who leaves his religion, departing the community.
This indicates that apostasy is not just a harmless personal decision that a person made overnight; rather, it is a total makeover leading the person to diverge from the public order of a society that submits to the laws and legislations of Islam. This is because Islam, as a system, considers the subtle reality and potentiality of actions. For that matter, it focuses on the essence of things, and not merely superficial words and slogans.
Islam considers apostasy high treason and a capital crime, for which the penalty is death. However, the punishment cannot be implemented except if the defendant insisted on his apostasy and refused to reconsider his decision. In contrast, most other regimes and state laws do not show this level of tolerance in capital crimes or even accept to give the defendant a second chance and spare his life.
The objective of Islam is to preserve the life of human beings, and therefore, it encouraged prolonging the waiting period in the hopes that the apostate would retract his position and return to Islam.
The suggestion that a person may decide to apostatize but still comply with the public order and state laws cannot be forwarded as an exception that should be considered. This is because apostasy per se is acknowledged as a form of rebellion against the Muslim state. The compliance of the apostate with the norms and laws of the society is considered a rare case; and rare cases are not considered in Islam when deriving rulings, as explained previously.
PROTECTING SOCIETY FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL & SPIRITUAL HARM
Knowing that Muslims hold Islam as the spine of their life and view it as the only truth that Allah accepts, apostasy comes as an attempt to harm the sentiments and hearts of believers. This is because apostasy is a direct rejection of the religion after it has been experienced, which gives the impression that Islam is found false after it has been experienced, and implicitly degrades the Muslims for upholding the religion of Islam.
Just as the crime of adultery damages the reputation and honor of others, the crime of apostasy causes harm to the other Muslims since religion is the greatest priority of all Muslims. The harm is noted in the impact of apostasy on the immediate Muslim family members of the apostate, and the Muslim society at large, let alone that it can cast doubt into the hearts of Muslims whose knowledge of religion is poor. Those believers have more of a right to be considered in terms of spiritual and sentimental protection than the one who decided to change his religion and faith.
OFFERING PROACTIVE REMEDIES:
One of the main interests that Islam aims to achieve from legislating the punishment for apostasy is to leave no loophole for ill-hearted people. The benefit of this approach is evident, as will be explained below:
- The enemies of Islam spare no effort and work day and night to cast doubts into the hearts of Muslims to take them outside the fold of Islam. Allah has warned against their plan in several places in the Qur’ān, such as:
Many of the People of the Scripture wish they could turn you back to disbelief after you have believed, out of envy from themselves [even] after the truth has become clear to them. So pardon and overlook until Allah delivers His command. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent. [Al-Baqarah: 109]
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And they will continue to fight you until they turn you back from your religion if they are able. [Baqarah: 217]
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A faction of the people of the Scripture wish they could mislead you. But they do not mislead except themselves, and they perceive [it] not. [Al-Imran: 69].
The Muslim who changes his religion is helping the enemies of Islam because he serves their interest and helps them in their plot against the Muslims. The example of the apostate is like a soldier who left his troops to join the forces of the enemy. For this reason, Islam dictated precautionary steps to protect against the possibility of such an outcome.
- Had apostasy been left without punishment, the enemies of Islam would have exploited this loophole, and converted in large groups to Islam and then apostatized to cast doubts into the hearts of Muslims whose religiosity and knowledge are not strong enough to know about their hidden agenda. The enemies of Islam used this method during the time of the Prophet, and Allah has described it in His statement:
And a faction of the People of the Scripture say [to each other], "Believe in that which was revealed to the believers at the beginning of the day and reject it at its end that perhaps they will abandon their religion [Al-Imran: 72]
The purpose of this plot was to give ignorant Muslims the impression that they left Islam because they found it imperfect and has a defect. As humans, we neither know the unseen, nor we are aware of what people have in their hearts, and we can only judge others by what appears to us. Islam did not differentiate between the different types of apostates, nor between those who apostatized to deceive the Muslims, and those who had different reasons. So, Islam made the ruling general to leave no loophole for anyone and make the solution definite.
- The absence of punishment could encourage some Muslims to manipulate the system to evade religious obligations such as paying the obligatory alms or any other obligatory act of worship, and then return to Islam.
- Islam considers the potential benefits and harms, and after weighting both aspects, it decides the best interests to serve. The punishment for apostasy will indeed result in some harm because his death will obviously affect the apostate’s family, and the Qur’an describes death as a matter of hardship; nevertheless, the benefits it brings forth are greater. All sensible people would agree that punishments of all types will cause harm, whether to the one being punished or his family, but no one would say that this entails abolishing the penal code and the system of punishments altogether.
Islam is committed to protecting the lives of humans and dictates strict conditions that must be met before fixed punishments are carried out. It even obligated the Muslims to suspend the punishment once there is a doubt relating to the case. This shows that Islam does not view death as an objective in itself, but rather as a means to protect the religion and the public interest of the society, for public interest takes precedence over the individual interest.
The above mentioned points reveal that Islam has considered all aspects, be they social, psychological, logical, or religious, in its legislation of the punishment for apostasy. All of which manifest the ultimate wisdom of Islam and highlight its superiority over man-made laws, which cannot accommodate the changing nature of societies with all their needs and differences. Islam aims to rectify the affairs of individuals and society, and gives precedence to the public interest if it will conflict with the individual interest of a person. Offering the apostate the chance to acquit himself by simply repenting from his crime proves the keen interest of Islam to protect his life. However, if the apostate insists on his position, the punishment for apostasy becomes inevitable to protect the public order and the interest of other believers (i.e. Islam strives to reduce the evil and bring forth the good to the best of its capacity).
Failing to realize the divine wisdom and the different dimensions of the penal code in Islam, made many people, including some Islamists, find some of the punishments problematic; and hence hasten to deny them. Our inability to understand the divine wisdom of the divine system should not make us deny or interpret it according to our own variables but should encourage us to exert more effort to contemplate and investigate the finer nuances.
I really hope that you find all this helpful. If you have any questions/concerns, please feel free to bring those up for discussion.
Ma'aSalaam