www.understanding-islam.org). According to the Scholars of UI site, punishment of death for Apostasy is not completely established since it is an issue on which Qur'an is silent and their are only some narratives from Books of Hadith that mention the killing of an apostate and they say that those narratives are not general in application , If these narratives were general , then the verse of the Qur'an from
Surah Al-Baqarah 2: 256 :
There is absolutely no compulsion in religion
Would loose all its meaning , and they further say that If a person is to be killed in case he converts to another religion, it would imply that the statement of the Qur'an only means that a person cannot be forced to accept Islam, but he CAN be forced to remain a Muslim throughout his life. It is quite obvious that such is not the case.
Now I would like to present the views of our Imam on this verse.
The Opinion of the Imam of our Mosque on this verse of the Qur'an
According to our Imam, this verse of the Qur'an only for non-muslims like Christians, Jews and Hindus who have not entered the folds of Islam, this verse "their is no compulsion in religion" only refers to those who have not embraced Islam but once you enter Islam, then you have to follow the commands and orders of Islam and live your life according to the teachings of Islam and if you donot follow the teachings of Islam like praying namaz, and wearing hijab then you would be forced to pray namaz and wear hijab.
Our Imam ,justified his argument by drawing our attention to a battle field where a non-fighter and a warrior is not forced to enter the battle but when he enters into the battle field on his choice, then he is bound to follow the commands and orders of the commander of the army otherwise ,he will be disqualified from the battle field.
I would like to inform you further on the argument of our Imam, according to him, after leaving the folds of Islam, an apostate will create fitnah by deviating other Muslims from the path of Islam which can be dangerous for Islam so this means that the following verse of the Qur'an:
Whoever kills a person without his being guilty of murder or of creating unrest in the land, is as though he kills the whole of mankind. (Al-Maaidah 5: 32)
Also applies on an apostate.
Our Imam actually presented his argument on the generally held view that "Their is no compulsion in Religion"
I do not completely agree with the views of our Imam and I donot agree that a person after becoming an apostate ,will necessarily deviate other muslims and it is like passing a judgment on the future action of a person who has just left Islam. What do you think?" />