PART 1
1
INTRODUCTION: APOSTASY IN JUDAISM, GREEK AND ROMAN RELIGIONS, AND CHRISTIANITY
Apostasy in some form or other seems to have occupied Judaism, Christianity, and even Greek and Roman religions, despite the fact that the notion of exclusivity was alien to the two Classical religions. The attitudes and acts toward those these religions regarded as apostate developed over several centuries. In Judaism, the apostate who abandons his ancestral religion for Christianity, for example, is considered a traitor, and by 100 C.E. the rabbis had in place a prayer that read, "For apostates let there be no hope. The dominion of arrogance do thou speedily root out in our days. And let Christians and the sectarians perish in a moment. Let them be blotted out of the book of life." By the third century C.E., the rabbis had legal power to expel apostates from Judaism. In the Classical world, we had the edict of Diocletian against the Manichaeans (297 C.E.), which read, "It is the most serious crime to reject what once and for all has been arranged and established by the ancestors." In Christianity from the third century onward, apostasy meant paganism, and was punished ever more severely. Indeed, for the early church "apostasy was an inexpiable offense. After baptism there was no forgiveness of this sin."' By 445 C.E., "two edicts directed that persons having betrayed the holy faith shall be segregated from the community of all men, shall not have testamentary capacity, shall not inherit, shall forfeit their position and status, and shall be branded with perpetual infamy." 2 Interestingly enough, the Christians carried on the persecution of the Manichaeans started by Diocletian in 297 C.E.
While Christianity and Islam each claimed to be the sole custodian of God's final revelation to mankind, and neither admitted salvation outside its own system of beliefs,' Hinduism and Buddhism have never entertained any notion of exclusivity; hence the total absence of any idea of apostasy. Articles on apostasy in encyclopedias pass the latter two religions by.4
APOSTASY IN ISLAM: KORAN, HADITH, DOCUMENTS, AND CASE STUDIES5
Definitions
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; ftri 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 wilful 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 or that God has 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. 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 practices magic. A Muslim becomes an apostate if he defames the Prophet's character, morals, or virtues, and denies Muhammad's prophethood and that he was the seal of the prophets.
The Koran
It is clear quite clear that under Islamic law an apostate must be put to death. There is no dispute on this ruling among classical or modern Muslim scholars,7 and we shall return to the textual evidence for it. However, there is some controversy as to whether the Koran prescribes any punishment for apostasy in this world. Some modern scholars have argued that the apostate is threatened with punishment only in the next world, as, for example, at XVI.106:
Whoso disbelieveth in Allah after his belief-save him who is forced thereto and whose heart is still content with the Faith-but whoso findeth ease in disbelief: On them is wrath from Allah. Theirs will be an awful doom.
Similarly in III. 90-91:
Lo! those who disbelieve after their (profession of) belief, and afterward grow violent in disbelief: their repentance will not be accepted. And such are those who are astray. Lo! those who disbelieve, and die in disbelief, the (whole) earth full of gold would not be accepted from such an one if it were offered as a ransom (for his soul). Theirs will be a painful doom and they will have no helpers.
However sura 11.217 is interpreted by no less an authority than al-Shafi,i (d. 820 GE.), the founder of one of the four orthodox schools of law of Sunni Islam, to mean that the death penalty should be prescribed for apostates. Sura 11.217 reads: ". . . But whoever of you recants and dies an unbeliever, his works shall come to nothing in this world and the next, and they are the companions of the fire for ever." Al-Tha alibi and al-Khazan concur. Al-Razi, in his commentary on 11.217, says the apostate should be killed.'
Similarly, IV.89:
They would have you disbelieve as they themselves have disbelieved, so that you may be all like alike. Do not befriend them until they have fled their homes for the cause of God. If they desert you seize them and put them to death wherever you find them. Look for neither friends nor helpers among them....
Baydawi (d, c. 13 15-16), in his celebrated commentary on the Koran, interprets this passage to mean: "Whosover turns back from his belief (irtada), openly or secretly, take him and kill him wheresoever ye find him, like any other infidel. Separate yourself from him altogether. Do not accept intercession in his regard."' Ibn Kathir, in his commentary on this passage, quoting Al-Suddi (d. 745), says that since the unbelievers have manifested their unbelief they should be killed.10
Abu'1 A`Ia' Mawdudi (1903-1979), the founder of the Jama'at-i Islami, is perhaps the most influential Muslim thinker of the twentieth century, being responsible for the Islamic resurgence in modern times. He called for a return to the Koran and a purified sunna as a way to revive and revitalize Islam. In his book on apostasy in Islam, Mawdudi argued that even the Koran prescribes the death penalty for all apostates. He points to sura IX: 11,12 for evidence:
But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then are they your brethren in religion. We detail our revelations for a people who have knowledge. And if they break their pledges after their treaty (hath been made with you) and assail your religion, then fight the heads of disbelief-Lo! they have no binding oaths in order that they may desist.
Mawdudi argues that
the following is the occasion for the revelation of this verse: During the pilgrimage (hajj) in A.H. 9 God Most High ordered a proclamation of an immunity. By virtue of this proclamation all those who, up to that time, were fighting against God and His Apostle and were attempting to obstruct the way of God's religion through all kinds of excesses and false covenants, were granted from that time a maximum respite of four months. During this period they were to ponder their own situation. If they wanted to accept Islam, they could accept it and they would be forgiven. If they wanted to leave the country, they could leave. Within this fixed period nothing would hinder them from leaving. Thereafter those remaining, who would neither accept Islam nor leave the country, would be dealt with by the sword. In this connection it was said: "If they repent and uphold the practice of prayer and almsgiving, then they are your brothers in religion. If after this, however, they break their covenant, then war should be waged against the leaders of kufr (infidelity). Here "covenant breaking" in no way can be construed to mean "breaking of political covenants." Rather, the context clearly determines its meaning to be "confessing Islam and then renouncing it." Thereafter the meaning of "fight the heads of disbelief' (IX:11,12) can only mean that war should be waged against the leaders instigating apostasy.n
Hadth
Here we find many traditions demanding the death penalty for apostasy. According to Ibn `Abbas, the Prophet said, "Kill him who changes his religion" or "behead him."" The only argument was as to the nature of the death penalty. Bukhari recounts this gruesome tradition:
Narrated Anas: Some people from the tribe of UkI came to the Prophet and embraced Islam. The climate of Medina did not suit them, so the Prophet ordered them to go to the (herd of milch) camels of charity to drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). They did so, and after they had recovered from their ailment they turned renegades (reverted from Islam, irtada) and killed the shepherd of the camels and took the camels away. The Prophet sent (some people) in their pursuit and so they were caught and brought, and the Prophet ordered that their hands and legs should be cut off and that their eyes should be branded with heated pieces of iron, and that their cut hands and legs should not be cauterised, till they die.13
Abu Dawud has collected the following saying of the Prophet:
Ikrimah said: Ali burned some people who retreated from Islam. When IN `Abbas was informed of it he said, If it had been 1, 1 would not have them burned, for the apostle of Allah said: Do not inflict Allah's punishment on anyone. But would have killed them on account of the statement of the Apostle of Allah, Kill those who change their religion.14
In other words, kill the apostates (with the sword), but certainly not by burning them, as that is Allah's way of punishing transgressors in the next world. According to a tradition of `A'isha's, apostates are to be slain, crucified, or banished." Should the apostate be given a chance to repent? Traditions differ enormously. In one tradition, Mu adh 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."" But in Abu Dawud's version of this tradition, it seems they tried in vain to convert the apostate for twenty nights: "Abu Burdah said: A man who turned back from Islam was brought to Abu Musa. He invited him to repent for twenty days or about so. Mu`adh then came and invited him (to embrace Islam) but he refused. So he was beheaded."" Abu Dawud also gives an example of the Prophet forgiving an apostate-once the latter had agreed to come back to the fold, of course." However, Ibn Hanbal and others have traditions according to which God does not accept repentance of an apostate.
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 an underage boy apostatizes, he is imprisoned until he comes of age; 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 Shila, a woman is imprisoned until she repents and adopts Islam once more, but according to the influential Ibn Hanbal and the Malikis and Shafi`is, 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, burned, 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 11 (1308-1309) made torture legal.
Should attempts be made at conversion? Some jurists accept the distinction between Murtadd Fitri and Murtadd Milli, and argue that the former be put to death immediately. Others, leaning on sura IV.137 ("Lo! those who believe, then disbelieve and then (again) believe, then disbelieve, and then increase in disbelief, Allah will never pardon them, nor will he guide them unto a way"), insist on three attempts at conversion, or have the apostate imprisoned for three days. Others argue that one should wait for the cycle of the five times of prayer and ask the apostate to perform the prayers at each. Only if he refuses at each prayer time is the death penalty to be applied. If he repents and embraces Islam once more, he is released.19
The murtadd, of course, is denied a Muslim burial, but he also suffers other civil disabilities. His property is taken over by the believers; if he returns penitent, he is given back what remains. Others argue that the apostate's rights of ownership are merely suspended; only if the dies outside the territory under Islam does he forfeit his property to the Muslim community. If either the husband or wife apostasizes, a divorce takes place ipso facto; the wife is entitled to her whole dower, but no pronouncement of divorce is necessary. According to some jurists, if husband and wife apostasize together, their marriage is still valid. However, if either the wife or husband singly returns to Islam, their marriage is dissolved .211 According to Abu Hanifa, legal activities such as manumission, endowment, testament and sale are suspended. But not all jurists agree. Some Shili jurists would ask the Islamic law toward apostates to be applied even outside the Dar al-Islam, in non-Muslim countries.
Finally, according to the Shafi'is it is not only apostasy from Islam that is to be punished with death, but also apostasy from other religions that is unaccompanied by conversion to Islam. For example, a Jew who becomes a Christian must be put to death, since the Prophet has ordered in general that everyone "who adopts any other religion" shall be put to death.21
Documents
There are four major schools of law in Sunni Islam; I shall quote representative documents concerning apostasy from three of them. I shall also quote one modern Sunni pronouncement on apostasy, and a modern Shia declaration.
Malik ibn Anas
Malik ibn Anas (d. 795 c.E.) developed his ideas in Medina, where he is said to have known one of the last survivors of the companions of the Prophet. His doctrine is recorded in the work al-Muwatta', which has been adopted by most Muslims in Africa, with the exception of Lower Egypt, Zanzibar, and South Africa.
1410: Zayd b. Aslam reported that the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) declared that the man who leaves the fold of Islam should be executed.
1411: Muhammad b. 'Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Qari' reported that a man came to `Umar b. al-Khattab from Abu Musa Ashar (Yemen). 'Umar b. al-Khattab asked him about the condition of the people there. He gave the information. 'Umar b. al-Khattab then said: Have you anything extraordinary to report? The man said: Yes. A man had left the fold of Islam and became an infidel. He asked: What treatment had been meted out to him? He replied: We caught him and beheaded him. `Umar declared: It would have been better if you had cast him in prison for three days and given him one bread each day and asked him to repent. Perhaps he would have repented and obeyed the commands of the Lord. 'Umar added: Oh, Allah, I was not present there, neither did I give any order, nor did I feel happy when I learnt it. (chap. 440)
Ahu Hanifa
Abu Hanufa (d. 767 c.E.), the founder of the Hanif-t, was born in Iraq. His school is said to have given more scope to reason and logic than the other schools. The Muslims of India and Turkey follow this school.
We shall quote from the greatest compendium of Hanifi law, called the Hiduya, which was compiled by Burhan al-Din Ali al-Marghinani (d. 1197):
When a Mussulman apostatizes from the faith, an exposition thereof is to be laid before him, in such a manner that if his apostasy should have arisen from any religious doubts or scruples, those may be removed. The reason for laying an exposition of the faith before him is that it is possible some doubts or errors may have arisen in his mind, which may be removed by such exposition; and as there are only two modes of repelling the sin of apostasy, namely, destruction or Islam, and Islam is preferable to destruction, the evil is rather to be removed by means of an exposition of the faith; but yet this exposition of the faith is not incumbent, (according to what the learned have remarked upon this head), since a call to the faith has already reached the apostate.
An apostate is to be imprisoned for three days, within which time if he return to the faith, it is well: but if not, he must be slain.-It is recorded in the Jana Sagheer that "an exposition of the faith is to be laid before an apostate, and if he refuse the faith, he must be slain:"-and with respect to what is above stated, that "he is to be imprisoned for three days," it only implies that if he require a delay, three days may be granted him, as such is the term generally admitted and allowed for the purpose of consideration. It is recorded from Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf that the granting of a delay of three days is laudable, whether the apostate require it or not: and it is recorded from Shafi`i that it is incumbent on the Imam to delay for three days, and that it is not lawful for him to put the apostate to death before the lapse of that time; since it is most probable that a Mussulman will not apostatise but from some doubt or error arising in his mind; wherefore some time is necessary for consideration; and this is fixed at three days. The arguments of our doctors upon this point are twofold.-First, God says, in the Koran, "Slay the unbelievers," without any reserve of a delay of three days being granted to them: and the prophet has also said "Slay the man who changes his religion," without mentioning anything concerning a delay: secondly, an apostate is an infidel enemy, who has received a call to the faith, wherefore he may be slain upon the instant, without any delay. An apostate is termed on this occasion an infidel enemy, because he is undoubtedly such; and he is not protected, since he has not required a protection; neither is he a Zimmee [Dhimmi], because capitation-tax has not been accepted from him; hence it is proved that he is an infidel enemy. It is to be observed that, in these rules, there is no difference made between an apostate who is a freeman, and one who is a slave, as the arguments upon which they are established apply equally to both descriptions.
The repentance of an apostate is sufficiently manifested in his formally renouncing all religions except the religion of Islam, because apostates are not a sect: or if he formally renounce the religion which he embraced upon his apostasy, it suffices, since thus the end is obtained.
If any person kill an apostate, before an exposition of the faith has been laid open to him, it is abominable, (that is, it is laudable to let him continue unmolested). Nothing however, is incurred by the slayer; because the infidelity of an alien renders the killing of him admissible; and an exposition of the faith, after a call to the faith, is not necessary.
If a Mussulman woman become an apostate, she is not put to death, but is imprisoned, until she returns to the faith. Shafi'i maintains that she is to be put to death; because of the tradition before cited; and also, because, as men are put to death for apostasy solely for this reason, that it is a crime of great magnitude, and therefore requires that its punishment be proportionally severe, (namely, death), so the apostasy of a woman being likewise (like that of a man) a crime of great magnitude, it follows that her punishment should be the same as that of a man. The arguments of our doctors upon this point are twofold.
First, the prophet has forbidden the slaying of women, without making any distinction between those who are apostates, and those who are original infidels. Secondly, the original principle in the retribution of offences is to delay it to a future state, (in other words, not to inflict punishment here, but to refer it to hereafter), since if retribution were executed in this world, it would render defective the state of trial, as men would avoid committing sin from apprehension of punishment, and therefore would be in the state of persons acting under compulsion, and not of free agents: but in the case of apostasy of men the punishment is not deferred to a future state, because it is indispensably requisite to repel their present wickedness, (namely, their becoming enemies to the faith), which wickedness cannot be conceived of women, who are, by natural weakness of frame, incapable thereof: contrary to men.
A female apostate, therefore, is the same as an original female infidel; and as the killing of the one is forbidden, so is the killing of the other also. She is however, to be imprisoned, until she returns to the faith; because, as she refuses the right of God after having acknowledged it, she must be compelled, by means of imprisonment, to render God his right, in the same manner as she would be imprisoned on account of the right of the individual. It is written in the Jama Sagheer,-"A female apostate is to be compelled to return to the faith, whether she be free, or a slave"-The slave is to be compelled by her master;-she is to be compelled, for the reasons already recited; and this compulsion is to be executed by her master, because in this a regard is had to the right both of God and of the master. It is elsewhere mentioned that a female apostate must be daily beaten with severity until she return to the faith.21
AI-Shafi'f
Al-Shafil? (d. 820 c.E.), who was considered a moderate in most of his positions, taught in Iraq and then in Egypt. The adherents of his school are to be found in Indonesia, Lower Egypt, Malaysia, and Yemen. He placed great stress on the sunna of the Prophet, as embodied in the hadith, as a source of the Sharma.
We shall quote from the celebrated Minhaj al-talihin a manual of Shafi'i law compiled by al-Nawawi (1233-1277 c.E.):
Apostasy consists in the abjuration of Islam, either mentally, or by words, or by acts incompatible with faith. As to oral abjuration, it matters little whether the words are said in joke, or through a spirit of contradiction, or in good faith. But before such words can be considered as a sign of apostasy they must contain a precise declaration:
(1) That one does not believe in the existence of the Creator, or of His apostles; or
(2) That Muhammad, or one of the other apostles, is an imposter; or
(3) That one considers lawful what is strictly forbidden by the ijmd`, e.g., the crime of fornication; or
(4) That one considers to be forbidden what is lawful according to the ijmd'.
(5) That one is not obliged to follow the precepts of the ijmd°, as well positive as negative; or
(6) That one intends shortly to change one's religion; Or that one has doubts upon the subject of the truth of Islam, etc.
As to acts, these are not considered to be incompatible with faith, unless they show a clear indication of a mockery or denial of religion, as, e.g., throwing the Koran upon a muck heap or prostrating oneself before an idol, or worshipping the sun. No account is taken of the apostasy of a minor or a lunatic, nor of acts committed under violent compulsion. Even where the guilty person, after pronouncing the words or committing the acts, becomes mad, he may not be put to death until he has recovered his sanity. This favour, however, does not, according to our school, extend to the case of drunken-ness. Apostasy, and a dec laration of having returned from one's errors, pronounced by a drunken person, have the ordinary legal consequences.
Witnesses need not recount in all their details the facts that constitute apostasy; they may confine themselves to affirming that the guilty person is an apostate. Other authorities are of the contrary opinion; but the majority go so far as to make no account of the mere denial of the accused, even where the assertions of the witnesses are made in general terms. But where, on the other hand, the accused declares that he acted under compulsion, and the circumstances render this assertion plausible, e.g., if he has been kept a prisoner by infidels, he has a presumption in his favour, provided he takes an oath; but this presumption does not arise in the absence of such circumstances. Only where the two witnesses required by law do not declare that `the accused is apostate,' but that `the words pronounced by him are words implying apostasy,' and the accused then maintain that he only pronounced them under compulsion, the presumption is in his favour, and it is not necessary for him to give more detailed explanations. Where, after the death of an individual whose faith has never been suspected, one of his sons who are both Muslims declares that his father abjured Islam and died impenitent, and adds the cause of the apostasy, this son alone is excluded from the succession, and his portion escheats to the State as a tax; but his deposition has no effect upon the rights of his coinheritors. The same rule applies also where the cause of the crime is not mentioned and the son limits himself to saying that his father died apostate.
An attempt should be made to induce the apostate to return from his or her errors, though according to one authority this is only a commendable proceeding. The exhortation should take place immediately, or, according to one jurist, in the first three days; and if it is of no effect, the guilty man or woman should be put to death. Where, on the contrary, the guilty party returns from his or her errors, this conversion must be accepted as sincere, and the converted person left alone; unless, according to some authorities, he has embraced an occult religion such as the Zend, whose adherents, while professing Islam, are none the less infidels in their heart, or some doctrine admitting of a mystic or allegorical interpretation of the Koran.
The child of an apostate remains a Muslim, without regard to the time of its conception, or to one of its parents remaining a Muslim or not. One authority, however, considers the child whose father and mother have abjured the faith to be an apostate, while another considers such a child to be by origin an infidel. (The child should be considered as an apostate. This is what the jurists of Iraq have handed down to us as the universally accepted theory.)
As to the ownership of the property of an apostate dead in impenitence, it remains in suspense, i.e., the law considers it as lost from the moment of abjuration of the faith; but in case of repentance it is considered never to have been lost. However, there are several other theories upon the subject, though all authorities agree that debts contracted before apostasy, as well as the personal maintenance of the apostate during the period of exhortation, are Charges upon the estate. It is the same with any damages due in consequence of pecuniary prejudice caused to other persons, the maintenance of his wives, whose marriage remains in suspense, and the maintenance of his descendant or descendants. Where it is admitted that ownership remains in suspense, the same principle must be applied to dispositions subsequent to apostasy, in so far as they are capable of being suspended, such an enfranchisement by will, and legacies, which all remain intact where the exhortation is successful, though not otherwise. On the other hand, dispositions which, by their very nature, do not admit of such suspension, such as sale, pledging, gift, and enfranchisement by contract, are null and void ab initio, though Shafi°i, in his first period, wished to leave them in suspense. All authorities, however, are agreed that an apostate's property may in no case be left at his disposition, but must be deposited in charge of some person of irreproachable character. But a female slave may not be so entrusted to a man; she must be entrusted to some trustworthy woman. An apostate's property must be leased out, and it is to the court that his slave undergoing enfranchisement by contract should make his periodical payments.24
A Sunni Muslim Pronouncement on Apostasy from Lebanon25
Several years ago a Lebanese family in Germany requested official information from the Office of the Muftu2b in Lebanon regarding the law of apostasy in Islam. The translation of the response is as follows:
In the Name of the Merciful and Compassionate Allah, Dar al-Fatwa in the Republic of Lebanon, Beirut. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe; blessings and peace be upon our Master Muhammad, the Apostle of Allah, and upon his Family, his Companions, his Followers and those who have found the way through him.
A question has come: "What is the stand of the Islamic Law regarding the Muslim who has renounced Islam and embraced another religion'?" The answer is, with Allah's help: Etymologically, raddah (renouncing) means to go back on a thing to something else. As far as religious law is concerned, it means the severing of the continuity of Islam. The murtadd (apostate) is the one who has renounced Islam. The state of raddah (apostasy), should it continue and he die in it, will nullify the value of his work. Such a person will have died outside Islam. This is based on the saying of the Exalted One (i.e., Allah, in the Qur'an): "Those who among you renounce their religion and die as unbelievers, their works would have failed them."
The loss of the merit of one's works is linked to two conditions: apostasy, and dying in the state of apostasy. These two conditions are necessary and are not the same. Should the apostate renounce his apostasy and return to Islam, his status would be valid as long as he gave these two testimonies:
"I testify that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah."
(The second testimony) should be a clear declaration that he is free from every religion which is contrary to Islam; that he no longer adheres to the faith which had caused him to apostatize; that he is not innocent from the transgression he fell into on account of his apostasy.
The person who renounces his apostasy is not obliged to repeat the performance of everything he had accomplished prior to his apostasy (i.e., while he was still a practicing Muslim), such as the hajj (pilgrimage) and the prayers. His works will no longer be counted as having failed him, now that he has returned to Islam. But he must perform all that he has missed during the raddah and the period leading up to it. For he is still under obligation, (even) while he was in the state of apostasy, to perform all that is required of a Muslim.
Now, should the apostate (male or female) persist in his apostasy, he should be given the opportunity to repent, prior to his being put to death, out of respect for his Islam. A misunderstanding on his part may have taken place, and there would thus be an opportunity to rectify it. Often apostasy takes place on account of an offer (of inducement). So Islam must be presented to the apostate, things should be clarified, and his sin made manifest. He should be imprisoned for three days, so that he may have the opportunity to reflect upon his situation. This three-day period has been deemed adequate. But if the man or the woman has not repented of his or her raddah, but has continued to persist in it, then he or she should be put to death. (This is in harmony with) Muhammad's saying, may Allah's blessings and peace be upon him: "Kill him who changes his religion," as related by the Hadith authority al-Bukhari (in his Hadith collection). He who executes the apostate is the imam (ruler or leader in Islam) or, with his permission, his deputy. When a person deserves capital punishment, in accordance with the will of Allah, the carrying out of the penalty is left to the imam or the one he has authorized. But if some person, other than the imam or his deputy, has not abided by this rule and executed the apostate, that person should be punished because he has usurped the function of the imam. This punishment is not specifically described. It is left to the judge to decide the amount of the punishment in order that it will keep people from usurping the role of the imam.
An apostate may not be buried in the cemetery of the Muslims. since by his apostasy he has departed from them.
According to Imam Abu Hanifa, may the mercy of Allah be upon him, the female apostate should not be put to death, but must be imprisoned until she islamizes. Reference is then made to Khatib al-Sharbini, Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, and other authorities. Allah knows best. May Allah bless our Master Muhammad, his Family and his Companions. Thanks be to God, the Lord of the universe.
Beirut, the 14th of Rabi' al-Thani in the year 1410 A.H. 13 November 1989.
Signed:
Signed:
Deputy to the Mufti of the Republic of Lebanon
A Shf`a Muslim Pronouncement on Apostasv27
The following Shia pronouncement on apostasy in Islam appeared in the ultraconservative Tehran daily Kayhan International, March 1986.
Introduction
In Islam, apostasy is a flagrant sin and guilt for which certain punishments have been specified in figh (Islamic law). Apostasy means to renounce the religion or a religious principle after accepting it. In other words, one's departure from Islam to atheism is called apostasy.
A person who abandons Islam and adopts atheism is called an apostate. There are special laws concerning apostates in the Islamic figh. In this lesson, we will be familiarized with them. With regard to the above-mentioned points, we will continue to discuss the issue of apostasy and apostates in the following parts: (There follows an outline.)
1. Types of apostasy: As it was mentioned, apostasy means to return from Islam to atheism and polytheism. That is why it can also be called "reaction." Therefore, from the standpoint of Islam and the Islamic figh, reaction is to actually give up Tawhid (monotheism) and return to atheism and polytheism. Reaction is to abandon monotheism and take up paganism, idolatry, and materialism. Reaction is to return from faith and knowledge to ignorance. Therefore, the exact examples of reaction in the current world, especially Muslim-inhabited regions, are apostate materialists, Marxists, and polytheistic capitalists and Zionists who have abandoned Tawhid and resorted to Trinity and racism. Heretical groups in the Muslim world, such as Ba'athists and the likes of them are reactionary and apostate. Because by denying the genuineness of Islam, or many of its rules, they have practically become apostate and contracted the fatal disease of apostasy and reaction.
Apostasy has two types: one is "voluntary" apostasy and the other is "innate" apostasy. Therefore, there are also two types of apostates: voluntary apostates and innate apostates who are treated according to different rules. In the jurisprudential book of Tahrir al-Wassilah voluntary and innate apostates are defined as follows:
An apostate, that is, one who abandons Islam and takes up atheism, may be of two types:
a. Voluntary apostate: a person whose parents, or either of them, were Muslim at the time of his or her development in the mother's womb and who takes up atheism after growing up.
b. Innate apostate: a person who is born of atheist parents and who accepts Islam after growing up, but returns to atheism later.'"
2. The way to prove one's apostasy: After the meaning of apostasy and its two types have been clarified, this question may come to mind: How can a person's apostasy be proven`?
In response, I should say that, since Islam is an easy religion, it has adopted an easy and untroubled manner in this connection, which does not involve any slander and accusation. Here, before anything else, the judge attaches importance to the confession of the accused person. Whatever the charged person says about himself or herself, the judge takes it as an evidence. If the charged person confesses to his apostasy, his word will be accepted; if he denies the charge of apostasy and claims Islam, again his word will be taken as valid.
Tahrir al-Wassilah reads so in this regard:
Apostasy is proven in two ways: First, the person himself confesses to his apostasy twice. Second, two just and truthful men bear witness to the person's apostasy. But women's testimonies do not prove apostasy in any case: either they bear witness individually, in a group or beside a man.29
There should also be several conditions or prerequisites in a person charged with apostasy to be convicted of this guilt. These conditions are: adulthood, wisdom, free will, and intention. Therefore, apostasy does not apply to children, lunatics, and those who have been forced to pretend it. Also, apostasy does not apply for a Muslim who utters a blasphemous word or commits a blasphemous act neglectfully or jokingly and without intention, or in a coma, or in anger; that is to say, he is still a Muslim and considered a Muslim.
If a person utters or does something indicative of apostasy, and he claims that he was compelled to do so, or did not have real intention and uttered it unconsciously, his or her claim is accepted, even though there is already ample proof of his having done a blasphemous act.30
3. The punishment of apostates: The punishment that Islam has considered for voluntary and innate apostates differ.
a. Voluntary apostate: If this apostate is a man, the following punishment will be imposed upon him:
His wife is separated from him (that is, she becomes forbidden to him) and, as though her husband is dead, she should not marry another man for a certain period of time and after that period, she can marry someone else if she wants.
In addition to this, the property of a male apostate is divided among his lawful heirs. In this division, they won't await his death and his property is distributed among them while he is still living; of course, his debts are first repaid (and the apostate himself is executed). The repentance of a voluntary apostate is not accepted and has no effect in regaining his property and wife. His inward repentance will be accepted by God (that is to say, the other worldly chastisement will be lifted from him).
In some cases, a voluntary apostate's apparent repentance is also accepted and as a result his prayers and worship will be accepted, his body will be clean and touchable again; he will be allowed to gain new property through legitimate ways such as trade, work, and inheritance. He can also marry a Muslim woman or marry his former wife again."
This is the punishment of a male voluntary apostate. As you observe, Islam considers him a dead person and issues the rule of the dead about his property and wife.
The words of the great Faqih Imam Khomeini indicate that, if a voluntary apostate repents, he will be relieved of death punishment. However, some of the earlier Faqihs such as Allamah Helli believed that a voluntary apostate should be executed immediately and that his repentance was not acceptable.32
Imam Khomeini's statement in this regard is based on common law and rationality. Some of the former Faqihs like Eskafi and Sahib al-Massalik were of the same opinion. Concerning the documents invoked by the opponents of this opinion, Sahib al-Massalik says, "Reliable jurisprudential documents generally indicate that an apostate's repentance is acceptable, and any different interpretation of these documents is doubtful .1133
A similar statement has also been narrated from the Sunnis. For example, alha Ibn Khuwaylid Asadi, a well-known apostate in the early years of Islam who was defeated after apostasy and rebellion against Muslims, repented after some time (and thus was pardoned). In the Nahavand battle, he was one of the commanders of the Muslims' army and was killed in that battle.34
But the punishment of a female voluntary apostate is as follows:
Her property remains in her ownership and is not transferred to her lawful heirs, unless she dies. (A female apostate is not executed on charges of apostasy.) She is separated from her husband without any need to remain unmarried for a certain period, of course if no intercourse has taken place between her and her husband. But if they have had sexual intercourse, she should remain unmarried for a certain period as of the moment of her apostasy just as if she were divorced. If the woman repents in the middle of the period of remaining unmarried, she will become the wife of her former husband without any need to hold marriage ceremonies again.35
Therefore, a female apostate is never executed but is imprisoned. b. Innate apostate: An innate apostate is treated in this way:
His or her property is not transferred to the heirs as a result of apostasy. An innate man or woman is separated from his or her spouse as a penalty for apostasy. In case of repenting before the expiration of the period that the woman has to remain unmarried, they will again belong to each other. But if repentance is uttered after the expiration of this special period, they will no longer be each other's wife and husband.16
An innate apostate is not executed if he repents. This is a matter agreed on by all.fayihs (Islamic jurists).
4. Apostate's repentance: The case of an apostate's repentance has become clear and, therefore, there is no need to explain it again.
5. A view of the Koranic verses about apostasy: There are many verses in the Glorious Koran and numerous narrations in Islamic historical and narrative books that help us have a deep understanding of the phenomenon of apostasy. Let us take a look at some of them:
O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people, He shall love them and they shall love Him, lowly before the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah's way and shall not fear the censure of any censurer; this is Allah's grace, He gives it to whom He pleases, and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing. (V.54)
And they will not cease fighting with you until they turn you back from your religion, if they can; and whoever of you turns back from his religion, then he dies while an unbeliever-these it is whose works shall go for nothing in this world and the hereafter; and they are the inmates of the fire; therein they shall abide. (11.217)
Surely (as for) those who return on their backs after that guidance has become manifest to them, the Shaitan has made it a light matter to them; and He gives them respite.
That is because they say to those who hate what Allah has revealed: We will obey you in some of the affairs; and Allah knows their secrets.
But how will it be when the angels cause them to die, smiting their backs.
That is because they follow what is displeasing to Allah and are averse to His pleasure, therefore He has made null their deeds. (XLVII.25-28)
O you who believe! If you obey a party from among those who have been given the Book, they will turn you back as unbelievers after you have believed. (111.1m)
And Muhammad is no more than an apostle; the apostles have already passed away before him. If then he dies or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns hack upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least, and Allah will reward the grateful. (111.144)
As you observe, these verses have approached apostasy from different aspects and meditation upon them will shed light on many issues.
6. Answer to a controversial question: In connection with the subject of apostasy and the punishment that the holy religion of Islam has considered for it, the narrow minded or the enemies of justice and truth may attempt to create doubt in the people's minds by raising a question and taking advantage of it opportunistically in their anti-Islamic propaganda. This is the question: Do the Muslims not claim that Islam is the religion of the freedom of belief and creed and that there is no compulsion in choosing one's opinion? Then why has Islam considered such heavy penalties and punishment for apostasy?
The answer to this irrelevant question is this: Yes, Islam and the Glorious Koran have denied compulsion and coercion in belief, and the Exalted God says so in the Glorious Koran: "There is no compulsion in religion" (11.256). But the issue of apostasy differs from the free adoption of an opinion or belief.
In other words, I should say that from the viewpoint of the Islamic figh, there is a skeptic who is seeking the truth and there is also an obstinate apostate. These two are basically different from each other.
A skeptic is one who does not want to take up a creed and follow a religion in a hereditary way. He or she is doubtful and hesitant of what parents and family or society have inculcated upon his or her mind about God and Islam, and doubts whether they are true or not. That is why he doubts and thus embarks on studying and searching for the discovery of truth and reality.
Not only is this doubt not reproachable and bad from the viewpoint of Islam, but it is also praised. Because the Glorious Koran reproaches ancient nations for having imitated their ancestors in religion and creed. Even research facilities should be provided for the searching and studying of a skeptic out of the Muslims' public treasury. Because the root of this doubt lies in honesty, sincerity, and knowledge. Doubt is a very good passageway, but a very bad place to stop in.
However, apostasy is a matter of treason and ideological treachery, which originates from hostility and hypocrisy. The destiny of a person who has an inborn handicap is different from the destiny of one whose hand should be cut off due to the development of a dangerous and infectious disease.
The apostasy of a Muslim individual whose parents have also been Muslim is a very infectious, dangerous, and incurable disease that appears in the body of an ummah (people) and threatens people's lives, and that is why this rotten limb should be severed.
An apostate is an adversary who has penetrated the Islamic ummah as the faith column of the enemy of Islam and Muslims and who has taken advantage of his natural situation.
Apostasy is escape from the pattern of creation and nature and that is why the word "voluntary" has been adopted for such an apostate and that is the reason why the punishment of a voluntary apostate is heavier than that of an innate apostate. Can the penalty of escaping from the path and pattern of nature and creation be anything other than annihilation? This is the same thing that has been crystallized in the penal code of Islam.
The antiapostasy punishments of Islam are proper laws to rescue mankind from falling into the cesspool of treason, betrayal, and disloyalty and to remind the human being of his ideological commitments. A committed man should not violate his promise and vow, especially his promise to God. All the punitive laws of Islam have a similar goal. For example, they ask, why is a thief's hand cut for stealing five hundred or one thousand tomans? This is the denial of the value of the human being! But the fact is that a thief's hand is not cut off for the sake of a hundred or a thousand tomans, but his hand is severed for having deprived the human society of security. In other words, a thief's hand is cut for the revival of human values.
An objective and real proof of the fact that apostasy always has a treacherous and warlike nature and revolves around high political and social positions indeed, and not around the free adoption of a belief, as it is alleged, can be seen in the events of the early days of Islam.
After the demise of the Prophet of Islam (Praise Be Upon Him), most Arab tribes became apostate under the influence of their errant, arrogant, and idolatrous chiefs. These apostates were led by the false claimers of prophethood. Their first step after the Prophet's death was to attack Medina and other centers of Islam. In the wars that the bellicose apostates waged against Muslims, fifty or sixty thousand people were killed and the number of casualties is unprecedented in Arab history.
Their most heinous ringleaders were "Ablaha ibn Kalb" known as "Asswad Ghassi"; in Yemen "Musaylima Kadhdhab" at Hadramawt, and "Talha Ibn Khuwaylid Asadi" in the Bani Asad tribe. These wars, and similar wars, which occurred later, show the tyrannical nature of apostasy and justify the necessity of a decisive combat against it."
Another example, which is expressive of the insincere nature of the sinister phenomenon of apostasy, is the ruthless inhuman murder of faithful Muslims by Marxian apostates in Iran under the Shah's regime under the pretext of "changing their ideology." They committed these crimes as "revolutionary assassinations." Yet instead of assassinating the ringleaders of Sawak (the Shah's secret police), they murdered anti-Shah and anti-U.S. Muslims who worshiped God. This is the shameful face of apostasy.
Case Studies
Nawal al-Saadawi [Nawal al-Sacdawi]38
The well-known Egyptian feminist writer Nawal al-Saadawi appeared before the Personal Status Court of North Cairo on July 30, 2001. A case was filed against her in May, branding her an apostate and calling for a divorce from her husband, Sherif Hitata, on the basis of some remarks she made in the Egyptian weekly newspaper al-Midan. If either the husband or the wife apostasizes from Islam, a divorce takes place ipso facto. Ms. al-Saadawi was quoted as saying that the pilgrimage to Mecca, the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, was a relic of a pagan custom. She also apparently criticized the Islamic law of inheritance, whereby a woman receives only half of what a man does.
The charges against Nawal al-Saadawi are based on the hisba law, which allows an individual to file a complaint "on behalf of society" against another individual. On May 23, 2001, the public prosecutor (the sole authority competent to decide whether or not a complaint under the hisba law, introduced in 1996, can lead to prosecution) stated that there was no justification for any such charge against Nawal al-Saadawi.
On June 18 the Personal Status Court of North Cairo briefly examined the complaint against Nawal al-Saadawi but postponed its decision. On July 9, with an Amnesty International delegate in attendance in court, the decision was again postponed. Earlier, in May 2001, Amnesty International had written to the public prosecutor expressing its concerns about the case raised against the Egyptian feminist. The letter stated that if Nawal al-Saadawi is tried in relation to comments published in al-Midan newspaper, Amnesty International would defend her right to freedom of expression.
The Personal Status Court eventually dismissed all charges against Ms. alSaadawi, who said the decision was a victory for the freedom of expression and against the reactionary forces which use religion as a pretext to supress freedom of opinion and belief.
Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd39
In 1995 Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd (sometimes spelled Zeid), a university professor, faced similar charges to those leveled against Nawal al-Saadawi. On June 14, 1995, a Court of Appeal ruled that Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd had insulted the Islamic faith in his writings. It ordered a divorce from his wife, a professor of French literature, on the grounds that as a Muslim she should not remain married to an apostate. The Court of Cassation upheld the ruling in August 1996. Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd and his wife fled at first to Madrid and then to the Netherlands, where he is visiting professor of Islamic studies at Leiden University.
Amnesty International pointed out that
the right to freedom of opinion and expression is guaranteed by international and regional treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which Egypt is a state party. Article 19 of the ICCPR states,
"I. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice ......
Dr. Nasr Abu Zayd is a formidable scholar who has tried to bring to the study of the Koran modern literary and philosophical techniques that place texts in their historical context. One of Zayd's key arguments41
is the idea that, once the Quran was revealed to Muhammad, it entered history and became subject to historical and sociological laws or regularities [qawanin]. Irreversibly rent from its divine origins, the text became humanized [muta'annasj, embodying the particular cultural, political, and ideological elements of seventh-century Arabian society:
The Quran-the pivotal point of our discussion so far-is a fixed religious text, from the standpoint of the literal wording, but once it has been subjected to human reason [al-'aql al-insani] it becomes a "concept" [mafhum], which loses its fixedness as it moves and its meanings proliferate.... It is imperative here that we affirm that the state of the original sacred text is a metaphysical one about which we can know nothing except that which the text itself mentions and which always comes to us via a historically changing humanity . . . . 42
From the moment of its enunciation, the divine text was shaped, and continues to be reshaped, through the operation of human reason, such that the distance now separating it from the divine is so vast as to render the text all but human ....43
In other words, the abrupt break with the divine occurring at the moment of revelation results in the total secularization of the text, which henceforth becomes a book like any other: "Religious texts, in the final analysis, are nothing but linguistic texts, belonging to a specific cultural structure and produced in accord with the rules of that culture .1144
Mahmud Muhammad Taha
Another attempt at reforming Islam from within ended in tragedy. A Sudanese theologian, Mahmud Muhammad Taha, tried to minimize the role of the Koran as a source of law. Taha felt it was time to devise new laws that would better meet the needs of the people in the twentieth century. To propagate his principles, Taha founded the Republican Brethren. The religious authorities in Khartoum did not take kindly to his ideas and in 1968 declared Taha guilty of apostasy, for which, under Islamic law, the normal punishment is death. His writings were burned, but Taha himself managed to escape execution for seventeen years. He was again tried, and at age of seventy-six was publically hanged in Khartoum in January 1985.5
NOTES
1. "Apostasy," in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade (New York: Macmillan/Free Press, 1995), p. 355.
2. Ibid.
3. Bernard Lewis, Islam and the West (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 175.
4. For example, James Hastings, ed., Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh: T & T Clark Ltd., 1910); Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1995).
5. The whole of this section on apostasy in Islam has leaned heavily on W. Heffening's excellent, terse article, "Murtadd," in Encyclopedia of Islam, 2d ed. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999); S. Zwemer, The Law ofApostasy in Islam (New York: Marshall Brothers Ltd., 1924); and "Apostasy from Islam," in Dictionary of Islam, ed. T. Hughes (1885; reprint. Delhi: Rupa & Co., 1988).
6. Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (d. 1108 C.E.), al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Qur'an (Cairo, 1324 A.H.).
7. For example, J. Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 187: "The male apostate from Islam, however, is killed: it is recommended to offer him return to Islam and to give him a reprieve of three days"; Bernard Lewis, The Middle East (New York: Scribner, 1995), p. 229: "Apostasy was a crime as well as a sin, and the apostate was damned both in this world and the next. His crime was treason-desertion and betrayal of the community to which he belonged, and to which he owed loyalty; his life and property were forfeit. He was a dead limb to be excised."
8. Zwemer, The Law of Apostasy in Islam, pp. 34-35. See also al-Razi, al- Tafsir al-Kahir (Cairo, 1308 A.H.), vol. 2, lines 17-20.
9. Zwemer, The Law of Apostasy in Islam, pp. 33-34.
10. Ibn Kathir, L'interpretation du Coran, trans. Fawzi Chaaban (Dar al- Fikr: Beyrouth, 1998), vol. 2, p. 128.
11. Abu'1 A`la' Mawoludi, The Punishment of the Apostate according to Islamic Law, trans. Syed Silas Husain and Ernest Hahn (1994), available online at www.answering-islam.org.
12. Ibn Maja, Hudud, bab 2; al-Nasa'i, Tahrim al-dam, hab 14; al-Tayalisi, no. 2689; Malik, Agdiva, tr. 15; al-Bukhari, Istitabat al-murtaddin, hab 2; al-Tirmidhi, Hudud, hah 25: Abu Dawud, Hudud, bab 1, Ibn Hanbal, i, 217, 282, 322.
13. al-Bukhari, Sahih, trans. M. M. Khan (Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1987), vol. 8, pp. 519-20.
14. Abu Dawud, Sunan, trans. Ahmad Hasan, vol. 3, Kitab al-Hudud, chap. 1605, Punishment of an Apostate, hadith no. 4337 (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1990), p. 1212.
15. al-Nasa t, Tahrim al-dam, bab 11; Qasama, bab 13; Abu Dawud, Hudud, huh 1.
16. al-Bukhan, Maghazi, bah 60; Istitabat al-murtaddin, bab 2; Ahkam, bab 12; Muslim, Imdra, In 15; Abu Dawud, Hudud, bab 1; Ibn Hanbal v, 231.
17. Dawud, Sunan, hadith no. 4342, pp. 1213-14.
18. Ibid., hadith no. 4346.
19. al-Shafili, Umm, I, 228; Abu Yusuf, Kharaj, 109. Cited by Heffening in "Murtadd."
20. "Apostasy from Islam," p. 16.
21. T. W. Juynboll, "Apostasy," in Encyclopaedia of Ethics and Religion, ed. Hastings, p. 626.
22. Malik ibn Anas, Al-Muwatta', trans. M. Rahimuddin (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1981), pp. 317-18.
23. Burhan al-Din All al-Marghinani, The Hedava, or Guide: A Commen- tarv on the Mussul nan Laws, trans. Charles Hamilton (London, 1791), vol. 2, pp. 225-28.
24. Nawawi, Minhaj al-talibin: A Manual of Mohammedan Law according to the School of Shafi'i, trans. E. C. Howard (London: Thacker, 1914).
25. Reproduced here with the kind permission of Dr. Ernest Hahn. It first appeared on the Web site www.answering-islam.org/Hahn/2statements.htm.
26. A mufti, a skilled legal expert in Shari`a (Muslim canonical law) who issues a legal opinion in the form of a fans (Islamic legal pronouncement) in response to a question. Dar al-Fatwra, lit., "the house of pronouncement."
27. Reproduced here with the kind permission of Dr. Ernest Hahn. It first appeared on the Web site www.answering-islam.org/Hahn/2statements.htm.
28. Ayatollah Imam Khomeini, Tahrir al-Wassilah, vol. 2, p. 367.
29. Ibid., p. 496.
30. Ibid., p. 495.
31. Ibid., p. 367.
32. Tabsarat al-Motammenin, new edition, p. 179.
33. Jawahir al-Kalam, new edition, vol. 41, p. 608.
34. Muhammad Ahmad Bashmil, Horub al-Raddah (Beirut), pp. 88, 106.
35. Khomeini, Tahrir al-Wassilah, vol. 2, p. 367.
36. Ibid.
37. Refer to Bashmil, Horub al-Raddah.
38. Amnesty International, "Egypt: Feminist Writer Threatened by Forced Divorce for Comments on Islam," Al Index (MDE 12/022/2001) [online, web.amnesty.org/80256 8F7005C/4453/0/4A84A51086D5C55480256A95003BAD5A?Open [July 27, 20011.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Charles Hirschkind, "Heresy or Hermeneutics: The Case of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd," Stanford Electronic Humanities Review 5 [online], www.stanford. edu/group/SHR/5-1/text/hirschkind.html [February 26, 19961.
42. Nasr Abu Zayd, Naqd al-Khitab al-Dini [The critique of religious discourse] (Cairo: Dar al-Thaqafa al-Jadida, 1993), p. 93.
43. Ibid., p. 96.
44. Ibid., p. 193.
45. Daniel Pipes, The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West (New York: Birch Lane Press, 1990), pp. 75-76.