Hi All,

Been reading up on Islam to try and understand it a little better. However I get stuck on this issue of Apostasy (i.e a Muslim renouncing the faith). According the Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam);

'All five major schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that a sane male apostate must be executed. A female apostate may be put to death, according to some schools, or imprisoned, according to others'.

I was hoping that someone knowledgeable about these matters could explain to me how this can possibly be justified. According to the article an important point is whether you are born a Muslim or not.

I guess I was hoping a Muslim living in Australia could tell me about how they would feel if a Muslim friend decided to become an Atheist for example. Would you seriously suggest they should be killed for doing that? Does God really care if person x worships it in any very specific way?

Why do other religions not feel the same way? I guess I was bought up Anglican, but I pretty much abhor organized religion now; this does not seem to matter one jot to anyone around me; does this mean that the Anglican church is not as serious as Islam?

cheers,

gw

My family is Moslem though the hardliners would say we're probably not very good Moslems. I've found over the years there's not a lot of real difference between the average ordinary Moslem and the average ordinary Christian. No one I know thinks apostasy should mean death but then I don't mix with extremists.

Despite what the extremists say I do not believe that Islam actually teaches that apostasy is a capital offense.

Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error ... [Surah 02 - Verse 256]

It seems pretty clear to me from the above Koranic verse that if Religion cannot be compelled it cannot be a capital offense to reject any form of religion.

Thank-fully in the West we've rejected the extremist Christians who used to torture and kill heretics during the Reformation, etc.

Sorry I meant to add that I think the main difference between Islam and many other religions in regard to this subject is that in the West we have embraced the concept of a separation between Church and State. That fight is still going on in many Moslem countries and hasn't been won yet, so the extremists still have a lot of say in what should or should not be a capital offense. In the West the Christian extremists have to a large extent been shut out of the debate. Therefore the Christian extremists can only rely on social punishments like excommunication or shunning.

Agree with your comments r.e Christianity Peppy. I would certainly imagine apostasy in Christianity is punished in a number of subtle ways such as exclusion from the peer group etc. I'm not sure any country actually has this as part of its penal code however, although I do think the UK still has blasphemy laws etc.

gw

I don't think that there is much point in appealing to a Muslim for an answer, gw. They are like economists: ask three of them for an answer and you will get three different answers.

Peppy makes sense, but would a Muslim call himself a "Moslem"?

20 years from now those of us still around will look back on these times and ask how could we be so blind?
It just has to come the dreadful day we here in Australia see death in our streets.
Now I know and understand it will be the act of a few from within this religion not most.
And that may always be the truth but how can we tell who is who?
Why are our papers not full of the majority Muslim people decrying the murderers?
After the USA leaves Iraq and the hate driven idiots follow them home the west will have to face the fact we must not let any God man made in fear of death, kill via followers who kill in his name.
ask any question from any bible and you will find yes and no as an answer .
I ask when will man free himself of evil done in the name of any God?
And how dare we say out of the 100,s of Gods men made only ours is true?