Punishment of Apostacy in Islam — Page 45
45 Punishment of Apostacy: Hadees Another complication which is sought to be introduced into the discussion of this subject is that though there is no clear authority in the Holy Quran that apostacy is punishable as an offence, yet there is evidence in the hadees that it was so treated by the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, and by his immediate successors. Any such affirmation amounts to an enormity. It is well understood that no action of the Holy Prophet or any of his immediate successors could possibly be in conflict with the Holy Quran. All that the Holy Prophet did or said was illustrative of some direction or injunction of the Holy Quran. He himself warned that if anything was attributed to him which was in conflict with the Holy Quran, it must be rejected as false. It is well known that the integrity of the Holy Quran is guaranteed by God Almighty, as is said: Surely, We Ourself have sent down this Exhortation, and We will, most certainly, safeguard it (15:10). The safeguarding of the Holy Quran which is here guaranteed is absolute and has many aspects. One of them is that the text of the Holy Quran would always be preserved intact. There is no such guarantee with regard to hadees. Whatever else may be said about hadees, it must be acknowledged that if a hadees is irreconcilable with the Holy Quran, it must be rejected altogether. Therefore, in the face of the emphatic and repeated