Murder in the Name of Allah — Page 80
Murder in the Name of Allah of murdering his travelling companion. His execution was, therefore, obviously ordered as a result of his having been convicted as a murderer. (See also page 66. ) c) Another incident is that of Maqees b. Sababah who killed an Ansar in revenge for Hisham, his brother, who was accidentally killed during the campaign of Zeeqard. Thereafter, Maqees became an apostate. He was executed on account of the murder of the Ansar. (See also page 67. ). In each one of the above incidents, the executed person had committed murder. The three people had also happened to renounce their faith, but how can anyone shut his eyes to the murders and attribute their executions to their acts of apostasy? d) The advocates of capital punishment for apostasy rely heavily on a tradition which mentions the execution of a woman for apostasy. This tradition is most unreliable, to say the least. The truth of the matter is that the Holy Prophets never ordered the execution of a woman on account of her apostasy. The well-known treatise of jurisprudence, Hedayah, sets out the following:. The Holy Prophetsa forbade the killing of women for apostasy, because the principle of punitive regulations is that in such cases the penalty should be left for the hereafter, as a penalty imposed in this life would contravene the purpose of apostasy, being a trial calling to account what pertains to God alone. This can be departed from only when the object in view is to restrain the person concerned from continuing hostilities (during times of war). As women, by their very nature, are not capable of fighting, a woman apostate cannot be punished in any case. . Strangely enough, scholars like Maududi, who might be supposed to be fully aware of serious flaws in the reliability of these traditions, still adhere to weak traditions which have been rejected by most eminent. Muslim scholars. e)The incident of Abdullah Bin Sad has already been quoted on page 66. . Had there been any Quranic penalty for apostasy, the Holy Prophet's sa words to the effect that no one is above the law would be a clear reminder of his strict observance of God's laws. If death was the punishment for apostasy, how could the Holy Prophetsa disobey the commandments of God?. Companions. We have observed that neither the Holy Quran nor any reliable traditions of the Holy Prophetsa lend any support to those who advocate capital punishment for apostasy. But those advocates have some other tricks up 80