By Jiou Park
This post will provide a survey of pre-modern Islamic law regarding apostasy (ridda), blasphemy, and the related concept of unbelief (kufr). The exploration of such concepts will serve as background for a forthcoming discussion on the application of blasphemy and apostasy laws in contemporary Muslim-majority countries.
In classical Islam, apostasy (ridda, or irtidād) refers to the voluntary renunciation of Islam by a Muslim, including conversion to another religion, defined as “turning away from Islam” or “severing the ties with Islam.”[1] Due to the requirement that apostasy need be voluntary, the crime of apostasy could only be established if the person in question is of adult age, sane, and had unambiguously accepted Islam.[2] A Muslim could commit apostasy in a number of different ways: through belief, action, or utterance.[3] Although general criteria establishing apostasy do not exist, examples of acts or utterances considered to constitute apostasy include the following: [4]
- denying the divinity of God;
- to attribute partners to God;
- To deny the prophethood of Muḥammad;
- To consider oneself a prophet;
- To repudiate the Qur’ān;
- To assert the createdness of the Qur’ān.
As can be seen from the above list, what is generally termed blasphemy often falls under the rubric of apostasy in classical Islamic law. In other words, insulting the Prophet or denying the existence of God are considered acts of apostasy, without a separate category of acts being defined as acts of blasphemy.
A concept related to apostasy is disbelief (kufr), and the act of declaring a Muslim an unbeliever, takfīr. This concept of unbelief, or ingratitude, is used to express the opposite of faith, and occupies an important place in Islamic thought as can be seen from its repeated appearance in the Qur’ān.[5] Due to the serious consequences of being declared an apostate, a Muslim who declares another Muslim to be a non-believer (takfīr al-Muslim) is traditionally an act that is heavily sanctioned if unsubstantiated.[6] Such precautions are deemed to be taken in light of the deleterious effect of a practice of takfīr can have on the unity of the Muslim community, as well as its potential for misuse. [7]
The appropriate punishment for apostasy was generally accepted to be the death penalty, usually by the sword of the Imam, in classical Islamic jurisprudence.[8] However, modern scholars have argued that the legal justification of this punishment is shaky, due to the contradictions between Qur’ānic verses and ḥādīths related to apostasy and the treatment of unbelievers.[9]
Indeed, Qur’ānic verses that deal with the subject of non-believers, and in particular believers who later turn to unbelief leave a significant room for interpretation in the question of penalty. Verses commonly invoked in the context of apostasy include the following: [10]
- When they come to you [believers], they say, ‘We believe,’ but they come disbelieving and leave disbelieving—God knows best what they are hiding. [5:61]
- Those who turn on their heels after being shown guidance are duped and tempted by Satan; they say to those who hate what God has sent down, ‘We will obey you in some matters’ —God knows their secret schemes. [47:25-26]
- If anyone seeks a religion other than [Islam] complete devotion to God, it will not be accepted from him: he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter. Why would God guide people who deny the truth, after they have believed and acknowledged that the Messenger is true, and after they have been shown clear proof? God does not guide evildoers: such people will be rewarded with rejection by God, by the angels, by all people, and so they will remain, with no relief or respite for their suffering. [3:85-88]
As can be seen from these verses, the Qur’ān does not prescribe a punishment for apostasy in this world. Rather, the apostate is to be punished in the after world. This absence of any prescribed punishment for apostasy in the Qur’ān also results in non-uniform classification of apostasy as a hudūd crime across legal schools, as well as the possibility of repentance for an apostate.[11]
Modern thinkers have also invoked the Qur’ānic prohibition of coercion in matters of religion, emblematically expressed in verse 2:256, to debate that apostasy should be punished: “There is no compulsion in religion: true guidance has become distinct from error, so whoever rejects false gods and believes in God has grasped the firmest hand-hold, one that will never break. God is all hearing and all knowing.”[12]
In addition to the punishment for committing apostasy, being declared, or accused as an apostate has other consequences in the realm or civil and personal status law. For example although the property rights of a Muslim accused of apostasy, or an apostate, is preserved, her right to inheritance is suspended.[13] Moreover, once a Muslim is declared an apostate, the marriage is automatically annulled.[14] Such additional consequences of apostasy have resulted in the use of accusations of apostasy in order to disputes unrelated to religious conduct.
Although the concept of apostasy itself may have remained relatively constant, the practical consequences of apostasy and its significance have gone through significant change in the modern world. In addition to the criticism heaped on apostasy laws as being incompatible with notions of freedom of religion and belief, the adoption of apostasy and blasphemy laws into codified and westernized legal systems have also resulted in uses previously unforeseen.[15] As a result, apostasy and blasphemy law, just like the act of takfīr, have been increasingly used in a way that have been criticized by Muslim scholars and jurists as deviating from the traditional concepts and their applications. The following commentaries will further explore the intersection of modern legal systems and the traditional concept of apostasy in select Muslim majority countries.
Notes:
[1] Abdullah Saeed, Apostasy, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/opr/t342/e0034?_hi=0&_pos=3; Oliver Leaman, Apostasy, The Exford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/opr/t236/e0066?_hi=0&_pos=2; Peters & De Vries (1976), Apostasy in Islam, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 1-25; Frank Griffel, Apostasy, in Gerhard Bowering et al. eds., The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, pp 40-41.
[2] Abdullah Saeed, Apostasy, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics, http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/opr/t342/e0034?_hi=0&_pos=3; Peters & De Vries (1976), Apostasy in Islam, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 1-25.
[3] Id.
[4] See Peters & De Vries (1976), Apostasy in Islam, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 3-4.
[5] Charles J. Adams, Kufr, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, available at http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/opr/t236MIW/e0467.
[6] See supra note 5 Adams; Declan O’Sulliva, Egyptian Cases of Blasphemy and Apostasy against Islam: Takfir al-Muslim, The International Journal of Human Rights, 7:2, 97-137.
[7] See id.; Ibrahim A. Karawan, Takfir, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, available at http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/opr/t236MIW/e0779,; Mawdudi on takfir […]
[8] See supra note 1.
[9] Id.; see also S. A. Rahman, Punishment of Apostasy in Islam, (1972), Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore; Mustafa Akyol, Islam’s Problem with Blasphemy, Jan. 13, 2015, The New York Times, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/opinion/islams-problem-with-blasphemy.html.
[10] The Qur’ān, M.A.S. Abdel Haleem trans., available at http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/book/islam-9780192831934?sura=2&astart=257.
[11] Wael B. Hallaq, Shari’a: Theory, Practice, Transformations, 318-19.
[12] The Qur’ān, M.A.S. Abdel Haleem trans., available at http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/book/islam-9780192831934?sura=2&astart=257.
[13] See Peters & De Vries (1976), Apostasy in Islam, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 7-9.
[14] See id.
[15] See, e.g., Freedom House Blasphemy Laws – Policing Belief https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Policing_Belief_Full.pdf; Human Rights Watch editorial http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/15/pakistan-s-blasphemy-law-goes-bollywood; Pakistan’s Tyranny of Blasphemy, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/21/opinion/pakistans-tyranny-of-blasphemy.html?_r=0; David A. Jordan, The Dark Ages of Islam: Ijtihad, Apostasy, and Human Rights in Contemporary Islamic Jusrisprudence, 9 Wash. & Lee R.E.A.L.J. 55 .