My friend, Kamal, loves Home Depot. Why? Because of its generous return policy. Bring back your purchase with a receipt within 90 days and get your money back. So whenever Kamal has a one-time need for equipment, he buys it at Home Depot ... only to return it for a full refund within 90 days!
Yet he believes in a "no return, no refund" policy for those who may be dissatisfied with Islam.
As a proud Muslim, I completely disagree with this notion. Sadly though, many face harassment and persecution at the hands of the so called Muslim governments who insist that the punishment for leaving Islam is death.
Meet Yosef Nadarkhani, one such gentleman, born to Muslim parents in Iran whose dissatisfaction with Iran's oppressive perversion of Islam led him to Christianity at the age of 19. He was serving as a pastor in October 2009 when he was arrested for apostasy and later sentenced to death by hanging in 2010. The Iranian supreme court hinged his fate to a simple question: was he a Muslim before converting to Christianity or not? So now that the 11th branch of Iran's Gilan Provincial Court has declared that Nadarkhani belong to a Muslim family and therefore must recant his Christian faith, he could be executed within a week.
And Kamal is not the only one against this "no return, no refund" policy when it comes to leaving Islam. A 2011 Pew survey showed that 86% of Jordanians, 84% of Egyptians, 76% of Pakistanis, 51% of Nigerians and 30% of Indonesians supporting death penalty for apostasy. Remember, there are well over 500 million Muslims just in these five countries. In corporate terms, that's like 350 employees who have never read (or misread) their company's policy and procedures manual: The Quran.
The Quran refers to apostasy several times (2:217, 3:86-90, 4:137, 9:66, 9:74, 16:106-109, 4:88-91, 47:25-27) and yet never prescribes any worldly punishment for it, let alone death.
So how do millions of Muslims justify such a barbaric act in the name of Islam? Well, because their clerics claim that leaving Islam is not just apostasy, but treason - a crime punishable by death.
What non-sense. Merriam-Webster dictionary's defines treason as, "the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family or the betrayal of trust." Apostasy, conversely, poses no danger to the government or anyone's sovereignty.
Actually, Islam does not even allow anyone to brand another person as an apostate. It is a self-declaration. And Islam's return policy is, in fact, even more generous than the Home Depot:
"Those who believe, then disbelieve, then again believe, then disbelieve and thereafter go on increasing in disbelief, Allah will never forgive them, nor guide them to any way of deliverance" (4:138).
Thus, I ask these self proclaimed scholars: How would someone "again believe" if the punishment for disbelieving was death in the first place?
But declaring apostasy a crime punishable by death, Iranian clerics display a clear insecurity. But God's trust in His "product" appears to be far more than Home Depot's trust in their tools.
"He who turns back on his heels shall not harm Allah a whit" (3:145).
Hold on you Iranian clerics. Before quoting Ibne Khtal, Tulaiha, Aswad Anasi, Maqees Sababah or the seven men from the tribes of Ukal and Uraynah (whom Prophet Muhammad sentenced to death) to support your decision, realize that all of them were punished for committing murders, not changing their faith. The rule at Home Depot is similar: you break the tool; you pay the price.
Nadarkhani should not have to pay any price; instead he should be free to practice any faith. The fact that he has been imprisoned for the past two years is enough to make me, a Muslim, sick to my stomach. How can these Iranian clerics enforce him to believe in Islam when God says in the Quran (10:100), "If thy Lord had enforced His Will, surely all those on the earth would have believed without exception. Will thou than take it upon thyself to force people to become believers?"
Despite all this data, I was unable to change Kamal's position on the issue. So I asked him, "what would you do if Home Depot abolished their return policy altogether?"
"That's easy" he said. "I will switch to the other home improvement store, Lowes".
And then we wonder why Nadarkhani changed his faith...
Faheem Younus is an adjunct faculty member for religion and history at the Community Colleges of Baltimore County and a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He can be reached at Faheem.Younus@Ahmadiyya.us
Follow Dr. Faheem Younus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FaheemYounus
Mustafa Akyol: The Case of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani -- Apostasy from Islam is a Right, Not A Crime
Harris Zafar: Pastor Nadarkhani, Islam and Punishment for Apostasy
Rev. Chuck Currie: The Ahmadiyya Community Rejects Revenge And Embraces Peace
Harris Zafar: Iran's Death Penalty for Christian Pastor Violates the Quran
I went bact to sit with my friend. The preacher starting abut Jesus and his decobles on the. A storm came, and they had to wake Jesus their God. The preacher start talking about Jesus dieing on the cross, and risen in three days. I listeb. He also said Islam has has no morals. The preacher kept talking. I sat in my seat and listen. The sermom went on then he finish, and the preach said he talk to the visitors. He ran from me. The members came to me and start talking about the sermom, and they ask me what I think. I said I do not have to wake my God up, because he wake me up. My God (Allah) created the heavenn,earth all surround it. He know all things. We Talk about Jesus being God. I said God created all people, and Adam and Eve was created without a living mother or father. My God did have to be born and come to the world as a man. he is the creator. Then the big one! Jesus died on the cross for mankind sins. I said my Allah do not have to died. God is all living things. He belittle himself to die on a cross. He is the bigining of all thing. They ran off and left me.
Abdul
Abdul Majid
s The Death Penalty Proscribed In The West For A Muslim Who Abandons The Prayer?
The Islamic state would apply the punishments you mentioned only in the case of legally-qualified sane Muslims who unequivocally refuse to pray and consider themselves free of any such obligation, or unequivocally express denial of any indisputably obligatory belief (such as belief in the Quran) or ruling (such as the prohibition of intoxicants).
Why death is the punishment for Apostasy
http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/811/apostasy
Let me respond to some of the thoughtful comments:
1. Yes, Kamal is a friend. I accept my friends with all their weaknesses as they accept me with my weaknesses.
2. The example of Home Depot was deliberately used to highlight the absurdity of this false notion of “death for apostasy.” Seems like it worked.
3. A handful of “Hadeeth” that the supporters of this punishment always quote, can all be refuted. I did not have the space in the article to go into them individually.
4. Who said Ahmadiyya are trying to claim exclusivity over this interpretation? In fact many scholars present the same interpretation (yes, including some from al-Azhar). That is precisely why the argument is stronger. Let’s not pit one Muslim against another.
5. Remember, Holy Quran is the highest level of evidence for any Islamic dialogue. And the notion of death for the apostate goes against so many verses of Holy Quran.
Ok, so here is an interesting question: If Pew did a similar survey of American Muslims today, what % of them do you think would agree that in Islam the punishment for apostasy is death?
Thoughts?
Dr Faheem is right, you can interpret any and all sayings of Prophet Muhammad but at the end of the day, what does the Quran have to say about this? Take it back full circle.
As Muslims our litmus test is the Quran not hadith. Hadith have to support the Quran.
Besides, the Ahmadiyya movement is only a very small minority in the Muslims world and it is not true that they are the only one promoting this un-Islamic practice. Tariq Ramadan and Dr. Jamal Badawi, two well known contemporary scholars has condemn this custom. Mr. Ramadan has been very active and successful with other scholars, leaders, professor in the Islamic world to bring this alien Islamic custom to bear on other Muslims majority countries, e.g Morocco and Egypt.
"The Islamic Research Department of Al-Azhar University has called the penalty for apostasy as null and void and has said that the ways of repentance are open for the whole life. ... So an apostate can repent over his mistake anytime during his life and there would be no fixed period for it." [Al-Alamul Islami, the weekly organ of Rabita Alam al-Islami, 23rd August 2002, quoted in Dr. M. E. Subhani, Global Media Publications, 2005, p. 25]"
Your other point also very well taken. All Muslim sects must must must join hands to eradicate these practices. As Allah says in the Quran, the best among you is the one who is th emost righteous among you'...and since there is no 'righteousometer'...why not give eachother the benefit of doubt and band together against the evil!
well said overall.
Nevertheless, we have to remind each other of the hardship, adversity and tribulation the Prophet went through with his people and never even once resort to retaliation or vengeance.
"O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, Allah is Ever Well-Acquainted with what you do. (Quran 4:135)
Bottom line is that Ahmadiyya Movement is not embellishing any truth or is the business of self-aggrandizement. It is trying to bring about change within the global Muslim community so that they move away from this draconian thinking that has absolutely no place in Islam. It is protecting the voice of Islam as all of the Muslim ummah should do.
If there are other scholars also participating in this cause, great! More power to them. I am sure that K. N Chaudhry is not holding any argument that proves the superiority of Ahmadiyya Muslim over other sects, in fact its the opposite. Its more about working together to get rid of this evil incarnate.
Countries like Iran, Pakistan, and Indonesia are heavily populated by Muslims and they have nothing to show for when it comes to a good paradigm of Islam.
Think about it.
Thank you.
Wonderful article addressing an egregious wrong.
As to a lesser wrong. Has anyone pointed out to your friend that, by knowingly abusing the Home Depot policy, your friend is actually a thief? I know I don't need to point out that the policy is intended to deal with dissatisfaction with, or failure of, the tool. I'm also aware that you use the example to point out that ethics are often situationally applied to fit the needs of the person applying the "ethics" but this is not a grey area. Your friend is stealing from Home Depot as much as as if he were putting the tool under his coat and running out the door.
You seem none too busy.
All you're doing is wasting your time telling me we are wasting our time.
Besides, how is that stealing when its legal. Please brush up on your local jurisprudence or state law.