Punishment of Apostacy in Islam — Page 64
64 of the tribes of Mazhaj and Najran. He killed the Muslim governor of the Yemen, Shahr bin Bazan, and forcibly married his widow and made himself the ruler of the whole of the Yemen. On being apprised of the rebellion of Aswad, the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, sent a letter to Muaz bin Jabal and the Muslims to oppose Aswad Ansi, who was killed by them and the news of his death arrived in Medina one day after the death of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him. One Laqeet bin Malik Azdi of Oman became an apostate and claimed to be a prophet. He collected together a force and established his authority over Oman, whence he expelled Jaafar and Abad who had been appointed functionaries in Oman (Tabari, Vol. IV, p. 1977). These claimants of prophethood had no concern with religion. Their only purpose was political domination and they were all rebels against the Islamic state. That was the only reason for fighting them. Their cases lend no support to the thesis that apostacy is punishable with death in Islam. They, like the other apostates, had raised the standard of rebellion against the Islamic state. They slaughtered Muslims, expelled the functionaries of the state from the regions over which they established their authority, assumed and exercised the powers of government, raised forces for fighting the Islamic state and some of them moved against Medina and laid siege to it. These were the reasons that they had to be fought. Obligation to Pay Zakat Even if these apostates and claimants had not been guilty of the