Does the Brotherhood’s position on religious freedom or apostasy require more explanation?

In issue No. 31, December 1978, another reader asks a similar question about the concept of apostasy and the attitude of Islam to the apostate. The answer of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Khateeb comes as follows:

“It is no secret to anyone today that there are ongoing attempts to undermine Islam. Even some of those who belong to Islam are trying to destroy it from within; but Islam will be protected from the attempts of the evil forces till the end of time.

To convert away from Islam is “treason” that should carry the death penalty, according to Sunni Islam’s topmost religious authority. The penalty for an open apostate, departing from the community, is well stipulated in Sharia as well as and enshrined in the Qur’an and Sunna. The Qur’an reads [which means]: “And whoever of you reverts from his religion [to disbelief] and dies while he is a disbeliever …” [Ch. 2 V. 217]. The Prophetic Saying is also clear that: “Whoever changed his religion, then kill him.” So what is apostasy? What is the ruling on the apostate (al-murtadd)?

Apostasy (Riddah) refers to when a Muslim becomes a disbeliever by saying a clear statement to that effect, or by uttering words which imply that (i.e., which imply kufr or disbelief), or he does something that implies that (i.e., an action which implies kufr or disbelief).  The Qurān clearly says that,  “There is no compulsion in the religion.” (2:256) However, Islam clearly says: No! You cannot become an apostate. After coming into the fold of Islam, rejection of the Islam’s fundamentals is not tolerated. If there are doubts in your mind about the fundamental beliefs of Islam, then question, discuss, debate, study, and solve them- BUT- you are not allowed to leave Islam or desert your own ‘fitra’![1]

In fact, this is very typical of the Brotherhood’s Mufti. His fatwa response is full of fallacies and flaws, which requires careful analysis in order to reveal the nature and magnitude of the selective approach adopted by the Brotherhood:

Firstly: The Sheikh says: “The penalty for an open apostate, departing from the community, is well stipulated in Sharia as well as enshrined in the Quran and Sunna. The Quran reads [which means]: “And whoever of you reverts from his religion [to disbelief] and dies while he is a disbeliever …” [Ch. 2 V. 217]. The Prophetic saying is also clear that: “Whoever changed his religion, then kill him.”

Using Islam’s primary source of legislation, the Quran talks in many instances about apostasy and its punishment in the hereafter, without mentioning any punishment in this life, as in Chapter 2 (op.cit. verse 217).

The Quranic verse confirms that the apostate is a kafir (disbeliever or infidel), with no reference whatsoever to a specific worldly punishment for his disbelief or infidelity.  As for the Prophet’s statement that “whoever changes his religion, kill him” in the light of his explanation “the one who leaves his religion and abandons his people,” Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, himself, in his interpretation of it further explained that, at the time of continuous wars against the Islamic nascent state in Arabia, apostates represented the threat of disclosing the secrets of the new community to its many enemies. For Ibn Taymiyah, the term apostasy meant: “detachment from the group” “threatening the existence of his people,” by joining the ranks of the enemies.[2] Dr. Salim al-Awa adds that it must be emphasized that the irtidād that we are discussing here ‎involves open rejection, without any force and with full realization of ‎what one’s statements or actions imply. If a Muslim has a genuine ‎doubt on an Islamic matter, that process of doubting does not ‎automatically classify him as a murtadd.‎ As long as he is still in state of doubt, the punishment of irtidād is ‎suspended. A murtadd must fully realize the implications of his open ‎rejection and what it means–casting doubt on the truth and honesty of ‎Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as the Messenger of God.[3]‎

Secondly: It is an undisputed fact that Islam does not force anyone to convert to it, but a non-Muslim might ask: What about a Muslim who inherited his parent’s religion? What if he could not be convinced, at a given stage in his life, of his religion?  He did not choose Islam, but Islam was chosen for him.  Even scholars of Islam are not able to convince him of his religion which he grew up with. Similarly, some people might ask: Why is it allowed for a non-Muslim to convert to Islam, while a Muslim is not allowed to convert to another religion?!

Here, Dr. Al-Awwa[4] decides that “Hereditary Islam is a knee-deep religiosity, and it is not preferable. A Muslim should always seek to acquire his faith and attain his conviction all on his own. If he did his best but reached nowhere, then he is not a kafir. The late Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Shaltut maintains that: “[And] there is group of jurists, such as al-Jahiz and al-Anbari, one of the leading imams of the Mu’tazila school of thought, that no Mujtahid, a legal scholar, may be held wrong for the expression of his individual finding. According to this widely accepted tradition, it is he who knows the truth and does not believe in it out of stubbornness and arrogance, is to be held wrong. Thus, the Mujtahid cannot be considered a disbeliever even if his Ijtihad (Legal reasoning) leads him to blatant, outward disbelief. This is because of his intention was set on finding the truth, nothing but the truth. If we label him as a kafir, it will mean that we are criminalizing jihad in its entirety which is rejected by the law and the mind.”[5]

Thirdly, one of the major fallacies in Sheikh Al-Khteeb’s fatwa is to adopt the concept of apostasy as synonymous with “high treason”. This comparison is false in essence. The sheikh tends to confuse religious belief with the principle of citizenship. The apostate betrays himself and must pay the heavy price for his betrayal. To him, the betrayal of the homeland also transcends the individual to the community where the collateral damage is not inflicted on the traitor alone. On another side, would the sheikh accept that an English, an American or a French convert be accused of high treason by their former co-religionists? What would the Brotherhood’s position be if one of these new Muslims happened to be tried for treason back in his/her country?

Fourthly: Sheikh Al-Khateeb says that the apostate has every right to get convincing answers to the questions and doubts that he entertains about his religion. Yet he wittingly ignores the hypothesis that suggests that many clerics failed astonishingly in explaining the religions that they represent. Many have tried to convince him and even press him to repent but in vain. The sheikh actually believes that the attempts to convince the apostate of his wrong decision constitute the Islamic “freedom of opinion and thought,” as a one-sided intellectual race.

[1]In Issue No. 31, Al-Da’wa Magazine. December 1978‎

[2]See Jamal al-Banna – Freedom of Opinion in Islam

[3]Mohamed Selim Al-Awwa – Islamic jurisprudence in the way of renewal.

[4]This was aninterviewI had with Al-Awwa for the Cairo newspaper.

[5]Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltut – Islamic Creed and Sharia – Dar al-Shorouk Publishing House.