Punishment of Apostacy in Islam — Page 7
7 belief were firmly re-established in human society according to God’s design. In another verse it is said: They will not stop fighting you until they turn you back from your faith, if they can. The works of those from among you who turn back from their faith and die in a state of disbelief shall be vain in this world and the next. These are the inmates of the fire, therein shall they abide (2:218). Definition of Apostate This means that whoever turns back from his faith, that is to say, whoever, out of fear of the sword or being unsettled by opposition, announces that he abjures Islam, is an apostate. In the idiom of Islam an apostate is not one concerning whom someone else says that he has abjured Islam. There is no mention of any such person in the Holy Quran. It says that if a person announces voluntarily that he has abjured Islam and thereafter dies in his state of disbelief, the works of such a one will be vain in this world and the next and he will be an inmate of the fire wherein he shall abide. Thus the punishment of a person who voluntarily abjures Islam after having believed, is the same as that of a disbeliever who voluntarily abstains from accepting Islam. There is no mention here, or anywhere else, of any punishment for an apostate in this world which may be inflicted by human hands, politically or administratively. The Holy Quran says: Surely, those who have turned away after guidance has been made manifest to them have been deceived by Satan who has beguiled them with false hopes