|
Dear members of the list,
Assalamu Alaikum. Iam forwarding to you Dr Jamals view on
apostacy from his reply in a dialogue in 2005.
Shah Abdul Hannan
|
Abdul - United States |
| Profession |
|
|
Question |
How about the hadith that claims "Kill whoever changes his
religion."
(a) If a person changes his religion, is it considered
as a profound insult to Allah and to all Muslims but Allah says in the
Quran "Let there be no compulsion in the religion" (2:256).
(b) What about the status of the hadith. Is it sahih (sound),
hadith al-ahad(isolated) or dhaif (weak)?
(c) What if a person
changes religion from Christianity to Judaism. Does this hadith still
apply to that person?
Please shed some light on this hadith.
|
|
Answer |
The question of apostasy has been debated among
scholars based on their interpretations of some hadiths since the Qur'an
does not specify any worldly punishment for it. For example, there was a
case at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) where a
man came to him in three consecutive days and told him that he wanted to
apostate. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) never took any
action against him, and when the man finally left Madina, the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) never sent anyone to arrest him, let
alone kill him. This hadith appears in more than one version in Sahih
Muslim and is authentic.
This is why some scholars distinguished
between individual apostasy and apostasy which is accompanied by high
treason. For example, one version of a hadith narrated by `A'isha
concerning apostasy (Â…and one who left his religion and fought against
Muslims).
The topic is broad and most Muslims are acquainted only
with the only common view and interpretation of these hadiths.
The
rule of "no compulsion in religion" which appears in several verses in the
Qur'an and is consistent with its message of willing submission to God.
These verses are no doubt definitive and explicit. Other texts, in the
Qur'an or Sunnah, which are speculative (mutashabih or texts that could be
interpreted in more than one way without violating basic rules of
interpretation) in meaning must be interpreted or re-interpreted in the
light of the definitive.
|
***************************************************************************
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise.
If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
|
