Saturday, January 8, 2011

Apostates arrested in Iran; Maududi on apostasy.


No compulsion in Islam and Islam grants freedom of religion! Two afghan converts to Christianity are awaiting sentence. Last 30 days are filled with news of wave of hate and crime against Christians living in Islamic nations. Even amid the outrage, if there is one, Iranian officials arrested dozens of Iranians who converted to Christianity (report).

Report says:
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Amid widespread outrage over Christian persecution, Iranian authorities said they arrested dozens of Christians who had converted from Islam.

Tehran Gov. Morteza Tamadon said Iranian Christians were arrested during the Christmas holiday for converting from Islam or trying to convert others to Christianity.

"Just like the Taliban, who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, (evangelicals) have crafted a movement in the name of Christianity," he was quoted by Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying.

The Wall Street Journal reports that about 1 percent of the Iranian population is Christian. Iran enjoys a relatively open religious society, though Iranian law prohibits Bibles and the Christian mass in Persian. Christians don't allow Muslims into their services.

An Iranian evangelical group in Canada, the Journal notes, claims plainclothes security guards stormed Christian households during the Christmas season looking for religious items.

The international community condemned Christian persecution after 21 people died New Year's Day when a Coptic Christian church in Egypt was bombed. Christians in Nigeria were also the target of recent attacks and the United Nations estimates that about half of the Christian population in Iraq has fled the country.
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Abul Ala Maududi is arguably the most popular Islamic scholar in modern times. His works and literature are found in all most all Islamic institutions. Even those organizations which claim to represent moderate Islam sponsor his writings and suggest Young Muslims to read from his works.

In this work, Maududi asserts that apostates be put to death. He says it is not just Sunna, which we all know, but Koran equally condemns apostates to death. Read full article from here. I just present a part of it below:

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The Proof from the Qur'an for the Commandment to Execute the Apostate

Here I wish briefly to offer proof that will quiet the doubt in the hearts of those who, for lack of sources of information, may think that perhaps the punishment of death did not exist in Islam but was added at a later time by the "mawlawis" (religious leaders) on their own.

God Most High declares in the Qur'an:
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. (9:11,12)
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" (9:11,12) can only mean that war should be waged against the leaders instigating apostasy.
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Read the full article from above given link.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Post shows lack of knowledge and misquoted references.
1. There is no punishment for apostasy in Islam:
This is another widely prevailing misconception about Islam. It is generally thought that the Qur’aan provides a death sentence for those who desert the religion of Islam. The Qur’aan speaks repeatedly of people going back to unbelief after believing, but never once does it
say that they should be killed or punished. This was in the Law of the Old Testament that has been abrogated in the Glorious Qur’aan. Here again we see the superiority of the Glorious Qur’aan in abrogating the punishment of death for apostasy and replacing it with a more just
Law. Quotes from the Old Testament: Deut. Chapter 13 vs.6:- “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7. Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8. Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9. But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand
shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God”. Now compare with the new Law of the Glorious Qur’aan:
“Those who disbelieve after their believing then increase in disbelief, their repentance is not accepted, and these are they that go astray” (Glorious Qur’aan – Chapter 3. v. 90).
“And whoever of you turns back from his religion, then he dies while an unbeliever — these it is whose works go for nothing in this world and the Hereafter” (Glorious Qur’aan Chapter-2. v. 217).
“O you who believe, should anyone of you turn back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him” (Glorious Qur’aan 5. v. 54).
The Qur’aan exposes a plan of the Jews to adopt Islam first and then desert it, thus creating the impression that Islam was not a religion worth following (Q-3:72). Such a scheme could never have entered their minds while living at Madinah, where the Government was Muslim, if according to the Quranic law, apostasy were punishable 196 with death. The misconception seems to have arisen from the fact that people who, after becoming apostates, joined the enemy, were treated as enemies, or that, where an apostate took the life of a Muslim, he was put to death, not for changing his religion, but for committing murder.

Anonymous said...

2. The Proof from the Qur'an for the Commandment to Execute the Apostate is totally misquoted and misunderstood:
The reference is quoted from Surah Tauba …Sura Tauba (or Bar'aat as it is also called) has a historical context and contains specific instructions for a specific period. During and/or around 9AH when almost 1/3rd Arabia was under Islamic influence, and was spreading rapidly after the peace treaty of Sulah-Hudaibiya, the enemies of the prophet were getting more and more frustrated and jealous. After conquest of Mecca, there were still many angry mushriks in Mecca who kept on plotting against Muslims and some broke peace treaty and killed Muslims. As in post it is said that “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” So this Verse guides how to deal with such transgressors. Another point to note is that the address is towards those who violated the peace treaty with the Prophet Muhammad. Naturally, Allah, in the Qur’an, is instructing the Prophet Muhammad to free himself from the peace treaty obligation, known as the Treaty of Hudaybiah; he made in the year 6 AH for a ten-year period. But the idolaters of Quraysh violated the treaty in the second year and raided a tribe who was an ally of the Prophet. The verse gives specific instruction to fight those who violated the treaty and killed allies of the Prophet. The meaning of the verse does not extend to other non-Muslims except under the exact similar conditions. Those who have never been allies of the Muslims have no treaty to violate, therefore, there should be no war with such countries or people unless they have aggressive designs against the Muslims. Hence its proved that this verse (if u actalty study Quran and not only read it with intent to malign Islam) is not for apostates.

admin said...

To above anonymous, (Reply 1)

You must be dinopak. Not that it matters.

Firstly, You should have shown what is misquoted here. The explanation of apostasy presented here is not my view. It is taken from Maududi's work and I provided the link for that work.

Secondly, this is not the only post on apostasy; there are other posts explaining it.

So, if you have a problem you should take up with Maududi; since he is no more you should take up with his followers i.e. (Jamait-e-Islaami.

Thirdly, you are speaking as if Islam is just Koran. If you look in to your Sunna, you find numerous hadith supporting death for apostasy.

When Aurangazeb seized power, he executed his brother on charges of apsostasy.

Fourthly, all 4 major schools of Sunni Islam support death penalty for apostasy including sufis. And so too Shias. This means sharia law as understood today awards death penalty for apostasy. This sharia was upheld by OIC in Cairo declaration of 1990.

Finally, if you want to do some thing significant then engage in discussion with these institutions like Al-Azhar and OIC and all those religious organizations and tell them how they are wrong with your 'stupid' interpretations.

admin said...

Reply 2.

First, get your chronological order of various incidents right.

Treaty of Hudaibiyya has no relation to sura 9 (Tauba).

Your Prophet claimed Quraysh broke the treaty and for this he invaded and conquered Mecca. So it ends treaty of Hudaibiyya.

Many of Quraysh have converted to Islam including his arch rival Abu Sufyan. Along with Meccans Prophet goes to war with Taif and Hunain.

There is gap of one year between invasion of Mecca and sura 9.

How mamy times you want to bring up Hudaibiyya treaty, Sir?

All Islamic apologists when pointing to who broke Hudaibiyya treaty they refer to Banu Bakr breaking treaty.

How come these same apologists fail to give names of those tribes who are waging war against Prophet and breaking treaties while explaining Sura 9 like you are doing?

I can quote so many Islamic scholars from classical period who said quite revealing things on Sura 9 since this is not the issue here, I will quit.

Regarding why so many countries remained Non Islamic, well I can equally ask why so many non Islamic civilizations became Islamic like Persian and Afghanistan. On this it will be good if you read some authentic history.

admin said...

Reply 3.

I already explained what this verse of no compulsion means and you can read that post if you care to:

No Compulsion in Islam.

The Mindset said...

Islam is like Underworld.
There is only a way inside there is no way out. Once you are in you are in, if you want to go out you we will be dead.

second, the Jizya tax can be compared to "Protection money " taken by Muslim Dons by Hindus.

You see there is a direct correlation between how underworld worked and Islam.