Al7amdulilah, this thread is finally getting interesting
Well, I'm glad that we agree on the part that sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) need to be taken in context in order to know the "real" meanings behind them. If everyone took these things literally, we would have total chaos in the world now. A deeper level of understanding is required, and it is this level of understanding that should set the unversal standard for everyone.
The hadith I presented may seem very clear to you if you ignore the fine details, but in this case, these fine details are the key in knowing what the prophet (pbuh) REALLY meant when he said what he said. What are ahadeeth after all if not records of what people
heard the Prophet (pbuh) say from time to time? Maybe they misunderstood him; maybe the situation at the time required him to say that, but he never meant it as a general rule. We won't know this until we investigate this matter and understand the context.
Now as for the hadith, here's what I mean:
“The blood of a Muslim is not made lawful except for one of three things: retribution for murder, adultery, and the one who abandons his faith
and separates from the community.”
You notice that there are two conditions there? It's like an AND-gate in logic circuits; both conditions need to be met in order for the electric current to pass, thus both conditions need to be met if the hadith is to be taken literally and used as a law. The other hadith I posted has the same condition, and it's even a little more clear:
"Once Umar bin Abdul Aziz sat on his throne in the courtyard of his house so that the people might gather before him....He replied "By Allah, Allah's messenger never killed anyone except in one of the following three situations: 1) A person who killed somebody unjustly, was killed (in Qisas,) 2) a married person who committed illegal sexual intercourse and, 3)
a man who fought against Allah and His messenger, and deserted Islam and became an apostate...."
This hadeeth even has three conditions. Nevertheless, each hadith seems to be shedding light on the idea that changing your religion
only is not enough to deem a person eligable for execution.
So far, I haven't even hinted that the actions of the Prophet (pbuh) contradict the Qur'an, but rather that the current law that
generalizes the killing of apostates does, in my humble opinion, contradict the Qur'an...and the Sunnah for that matter.
It's possible that a person may enter Islam without having too much knowledge of it (it would be pretty irresponsible IMO), afterwhich he could realize that Islam is not the thing for him and change to another religion. According to the fatwa, he can do this without fear of death as long as he keeps it to himself. If the faith that he converts to demands that he spread his faith, he should then leave the Islamic country and preach elsewhere if he wants to avoid punishment. So it's quite possible for him to convert and avoid death. That's according to the fatwa anyway.
In the context of what I just said, no.
Each person is different in the level of conviction they need to become a Muslim. Some people can just be told that Islam is the worship of only one God and they'd already be saying their shahaada!...while others feel the need to know every little detail about something before going into it. That's perfectly fine and completely natural. Perhaps the people that encouraged you to "just get it over with" feel that you've reached the level of conviction that you need to become a Muslim. If you want my advice, do all the research you need to be convinced because Islam has nothing to hide, and you need to have complete conviction of the truth of Islam when you say your shahaada. And may Allah guide us all to the truth...
Don't be too quick to judge something that we Muslims ourselves are still debating. There are high-profile Muslim scholars who also say that apostates should not be killed, although the majority says that they should.
My opinion thus far in the thread is that unless an apostate presents a threat to the society, they should be left alone. Otherwise, if they are intent in causing havoc in the land and procaim themselves enemies of Allah and his Prophet (pbuh), they should be punished according to the Qur'an and Sunnah. However, I don't think the vast majority of apostates would present any threat to society, and would therefore not fall into that category.
I think we're coming closer to an understanding here, al7amdulilah.