Posted on 04/17/2004 10:19:05 AM PDT by quidnunc
Here is the full text of an enormously important paper that was presented by Ibn Warraq at a panel discussion on "Apostasy, Human Rights, Religion and Belief" held at the the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on April 7, 2004. Ibn Warraq, of course, is the outstandingly courageous author of "Why I am not a Muslim" and the editor of "The Origins of the Koran; The Quest for the Historical Muhammad"; "What the Koran Really Says"; and "Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out".
The very notion of apostasy has vanished from the West where one would talk of being a lapsed Catholic or non-practicing Christian rather than an apostate. There are certainly no penal sanctions for converting from Christianity to any other religion. In Islamic countries, on the other hand, the issue is far from dead.
The Arabic word for apostate is murtadd, the one who turns back from Islam, and apostasy is denoted by irtidad and ridda. Ridda seems to have been used for apostasy from Islam into unbelief ( in Arabic, kufr ), and irtidad from Islam to some other religion. A person born of Muslim parents who later rejects Islam is called a Murtadd Fitri - fitri meaning natural, it can also mean instinctive, native, inborn, innate. One who converts to Islam and subsequently leaves it is a Murtadd Milli, from milla meaning religious community .The Murtadd Fitri can be seen as someone unnatural, subverting the natural course of things whose apostasy is a willful and obstinate act of treason against God and the one and only true creed, and a betrayal and desertion of the community. The Murtadd Milli is a traitor to the Muslim community, and equally disruptive.
Any verbal denial of any principle of Muslim belief is considered apostasy. If one declares, for example, that the universe has always existed from eternity or that God has a material substance, then one is an apostate. If one denies the unity of God or confesses to a belief in reincarnation, one is guilty of apostasy. Certain acts are also deemed acts of apostasy, for example treating a copy of the Koran disrespectfully, by burning it or even soiling it in some way. Some doctors of Islamic law claim that a Muslim becomes an apostate if he or she enters a church, worships an idol, or learns and practises magic. A Muslim becomes an apostate if he defames the Prophets character, morals or virtues, and denies Muhammads prophethood and that he was the seal of the prophets.
-snip-
In other words, kill the apostates (with the sword) but certainly not by burning them, that is Allahs way of punishing transgressors in the next world. According to a tradition of Aishas, apostates are to be slain, crucified or banished.
Should the apostate be given a chance to repent? Traditions differ enormously. In one tradition, Muadh Jabal refused to sit down until an apostate brought before him had been killed in accordance with the decision of God and of His Apostle.
Under Muslim law, the male apostate must be put to death, as long as he is an adult, and in full possession of his faculties. If a pubescent boy apostatises, he is imprisoned until he comes of age, when if he persists in rejecting Islam he must be put to death. Drunkards and the mentally disturbed are not held responsible for their apostasy. If a person has acted under compulsion he is not considered an apostate, his wife is not divorced and his lands are not forfeited. According to Hanafis and Shia, a woman is imprisoned until she repents and adopts Islam once more, but according to the influential Ibn Hanbal, and the Malikis and Shafiites , she is also put to death. In general, execution must be by the sword, though there are examples of apostates tortured to death, or strangled, burnt, drowned, impaled or flayed. The caliph Umar used to tie them to a post and had lances thrust into their hearts, and the Sultan Baybars II (1308-09) made torture legal.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at jihadwatch.org ...
I can just see the men gathered around the tea house, smoking cigarettes...
"Muhammad (peace be upon him) took a 9 year old as a bride.....Well he did. Why are you all looking at me? Well, a 9 year old.....not that there is anything wrong with that!"
TROP = The Religion Of Peace
Just take the shortcut that the Moslems I worked with did. Pronounce the acronym "puh-buh." I was talking with them one day about why Islam didn't like adoption, and every time they mentioned Muhammad, it was "blah blah blah Muhammad puhbuh." I had to ask what the heck they were saying.
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