Aghajari's death sentence sparked protests and a review

SENTENCED TO DEATH
Hashem Aghajari, a history professor in Tehran (pictured), was sentenced to death for apostasy in Nov 2002
He had said Muslims should not follow clerics "like monkeys"
The sentence sparked off a month of student protests and was quashed by Iran's Supreme Court
Abdul Rahman began a new life in Italy after his trial for apostasy in Kabul collapsed

This is an article written by someone but sadly i cant comment on the website as I am considered a bit of a crackpot so my comment ont this article is below it

Monday, 21 April 2008
(BBC News) - I was staggered to learn that the Quran does not say anything about punishing apostates and that its proponents use two hadiths instead to support their view.
There's a widespread belief that the penalty for leaving Islam is death - hence, perhaps, the killing of a British teacher last week. But Shiraz Maher believes attitudes may be softening. Ziya Miral's parents disowned him when he converted from Islam to Christianity. "They said 'go away, you're not our son.' They told people I died in an accident rather than having the shame of their son leaving Islam."

It's too easy to say this is just a cultural problem
Shiraz MaherBorn and raised in Turkey, he decided to convert to Christianity after moving to university. He knew telling his parents would be a difficult moment even though they're not particularly observant Muslims, and he planned to break the news to them gently. In the end, events overtook him. Before heading back to Turkey for the holidays, Ziya briefly visited a Christian summer camp where he was filmed eating a bowl of spaghetti.
They kept saying: 'The punishment is death, do you know the punishment is death?'
Sophia on her parents' reaction to her converting to ChristianityThe first his parents heard of his conversion was when they saw Ziya on the national news being described as "an evil missionary" intent on "brainwashing" Turkish children. His parents decided they would rather tell people that he was dead than acknowledge he was a Christian. And Ziya, who now lives in the UK, is not alone in this experience. Sophia, which is not her real name, faced similar pressures when she decided to become a Christian. Coming from a Pakistani background but living in east London, 28-year-old Sophia spoke about the extreme cultural pressures her family put her under.


"They kept saying: 'The punishment is death, do you know the punishment is death?'" In the end, Sophia ran away from home. Her mother tracked her down and turned up at her baptism. "I got up to get baptised, that's when my mother got up, ran to the front and tried to pull me out of the water. "My brother was really angry. He reacted and phoned me on my mobile and just said: 'I'm coming down to burn that church.'" For Sophia and Ziya, a lot of the prejudice they faced seemed to be borne out of cultural ideas, which are particularly ingrained in the South Asian community relating to notions of family honour.

Aghajari's death sentence sparked protests and a reviewBut it's too easy to say this is just a cultural problem. Dig a little deeper and you find that there is a theological argument which advocates the death penalty for apostates, which has serious implications for British society. Last week, British teacher Daud Hassan Ali, 64, was shot dead in Somalia. His widow, Margaret Ali, said her husband was targeted by Islamists who "believe it is ok to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith". Those renouncing their faith for atheism or agnosticism are viewed in a similar way to those who adopt another faith. A poll conducted by the Policy Exchange last year suggested that over a third of young British Muslims believe that the death penalty should apply for apostasy. Until recently, I would have shared that view, but since personally rejecting extremism myself, I've been re-examining the issues which I once regarded as conclusive. Discretion I was staggered to learn that the Quran does not say anything about punishing apostates and that its proponents use two hadiths instead to support their view. Hadiths are the recorded traditions and sayings of the Prophet which, in addition to the Quran, provide an additional source of Islamic law. The hadiths which relate to apostasy are linguistically ambiguous and open to interpretation. Distinguished scholars told me that the hadiths actually speak about a death penalty for treason, not apostasy. And even then, they stressed the punishment is discretionary.
"I believe the classical law of apostasy in Islam is wrong and based on a misunderstanding"
Usama Hassan

Scientist and imamDr Hisham Hellyer is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies at University of Oxford, and has researched classical Islamic law. He believes the death penalty punishment is no longer applicable and should be suspended under certain circumstances. Usama Hassan, a Cambridge-educated scientist and an imam, goes further and says the classical scholars were wrong in how they interpreted the Quran. He is unequivocal in denouncing those who advocate the death penalty. "I believe the classical law of apostasy in Islam is wrong and based on a misunderstanding of the original sources, because the Quran and Hadith don't actually talk about a death penalty for apostasy." Last year Egypt's Grand Mufti, Ali Gomaa, unequivocally told the Washington Post that the death penalty for apostasy simply no longer applies. It provoked a flurry of debate in Egypt and the wider Middle East. Traitor The idea of killing apostates has become a resurgent theme in recent years, a fact closely-related to the increasing politicisation of Islam since 9/11. It epitomises the "us and them" mentality felt by many Muslims between themselves and the West. And there's an uncomfortable conclusion to all this.
"Muslim attitudes towards apostasy are a metaphor for the wider struggle taking place within Islam"
Shiraz Maher

If there is a death penalty for treason, then who defines what treason is? Earlier this year a group of men from Birmingham pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to kidnap and behead a British Muslim solider because they regarded him as a traitor. Joining the British army was to them treason against Islam. So while the debate surrounding one aspect of apostasy continues, it is simultaneously throwing up an entirely new series of challenges around other issues including what should be considered treason against Islam. Muslim attitudes towards apostasy are a metaphor for the wider struggle taking place within Islam, between those who argue for a progressive form of Islam and those who argue for more dogmatic interpretations. Attitudes to apostasy may be a useful barometer for judging where it's headed.

Look at some who commented

In truth, the Hadeeth of the Prophet is REVELATIONS from ALLAH. A Muslim becomes a Muslim because he acceptd and beliefs in the Quran and also the Hadeeth. A Muslim who rejects the hadeeth is no more a Muslim. I don't understand how the writer of this article can be so ignorant?

written by cabearth, April 21, 2008 21:39:23

have a question to ask, is it ok to have a person remain in a religion he or she no longer believes or has faith in for the purpose of family honour whereas this person may not fulfill the requirements of the religion wholeheartedly resulting in him or her not having satisfaction of being with God or is it better to have them explore and experience his or her own way of reaching God for as long as they do not harm others in their ways of reaching God who by the way is the same for all , just that God appears to each one of us in different way? Think about it!

please visit http://rayfire-viewpoint.blogspot.com/

written by rayfire, April 21, 2008 16:29:25

Surah 2: 98 – “Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers.” Surah 9:5 Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the non-believers wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. When someone carries out the above, he is obeying the koran. That is the difference

Surah 2: 98 – “Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers.” Surah 9:5 Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the non-believers wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. When someone carries out the above, he is obeying the koran. That is the difference

written by chanatak, April 21, 2008 18:58:44

"...Surah 9:5 Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the non-believers wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. When someone carries out the above, he is obeying the koran..." chanatak, your knowledge of Islam is very impressive indeed, not unlike that possessed by many in MT who are easily aroused when an article on Islam is published. And this has not changed, at least not in the last 12 months when I posted the comments below in response to one posted by theantijihadist: There is a technique among readers of the Quran in which a verse is lifted from the text and used on their own, completely isolated from its context. Such a technique have been in use by both non-Muslims (who are eager to criticise Islam) and Muslims (who are eager to find a pillar to hide from) to justify their views. Perhaps, I can best illustrate this technique by quoting a statement from Peter Drucker on the subject of Theory X in his book “Management”. On page 228, he says that “…One can kill a master, but one cannot oust him..” Tell this to any Indon illegal immigrant at a construction site, and he will conclude that Peter Drucker encourages killing or that it is alright to kill because Drucker said so. Tell that to any manager, and most will ask, “In what context did Drucker say that?” written by nanakassim, April 21, 2008 20:12:55
"...Surah 9:5 Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the non-believers wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. When someone carries out the above, he is obeying the koran..." chanatak, your knowledge of Islam is very impressive indeed, not unlike that possessed by many in MT who are easily aroused when an article on Islam is published. And this has not changed, at least not in the last 12 months when I posted the comments below in response to one posted by theantijihadist: There is a technique among readers of the Quran in which a verse is lifted from the text and used on their own, completely isolated from its context. Such a technique have been in use by both non-Muslims (who are eager to criticise Islam) and Muslims (who are eager to find a pillar to hide from) to justify their views. Perhaps, I can best illustrate this technique by quoting a statement from Peter Drucker on the subject of Theory X in his book “Management”. On page 228, he says that “…One can kill a master, but one cannot oust him..” Tell this to any Indon illegal immigrant at a construction site, and he will conclude that Peter Drucker encourages killing or that it is alright to kill because Drucker said so. Tell that to any manager, and most will ask, “In what context did Drucker say that?”

written by nanakassim, April 21, 2008 20:12:55

You may wonder why I paste this article and the comments made. For one thing I want the readers to be aware the seemingly use of the verses of the quran by the Muslim to give credence to their point of view although wrong. They to me are the same with Gert Wilder the dutch parliamentarian who produce fitna. He uses the verses as the Muslim do but because he is not a muslim we condemn him. Open your eyes please my malay muslim friend! Let's go to the purported hadiths as describe by cabearth. Yes, the Quran if I am not mistaken did say the Muhammad is a reveleation but what? his word or he himself. In the last sermon he gave as reported by a hadiths, he says those who follow the quran and my sunnah will never go astray. Noted not my hadiths but my Sunnah. So what is sunnah?, it is just not the saying (hadiths) but he himself as a whole. His attributes of Amanah( trust), Tabligh, Benar( Siddique) and Hikmah(bijaksana) are attributes which we should follow sadly, there is no hikmah in intrpretating the Quran. There is a lot of Hafiz but Ahli Tafsir is lacking what we have is parrotting and that is sad. What nanakasim, chanatak and rayfire says is not wrong but what is sad their intrepretation is literal and thus is the same as Gert Wilder. The Quran is not written in a chronological order. We have first to identify whether it is Makiyah or Madiniyah surah. It is important for Makiyah surah would always deal with faith but Madiniyah surah are more about laws as by then the Muslims has establish a nation.

The surah stated above, I believe is Madiniyah thus what it says about the enemies of Islam must be read in that context. We must remember we were always in the state of war thus we must look that ayat in that perspective. Some will argue that the ayat of the Quran is timeless, true, but then it must be understood in the right context. If we blame Girt Wilder for not understanding the Quran we too are wrong , for we intrepret the Quran without hikmah as reuqired by us. It is a shame indeed!