The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam — Page 35
35 FIRST ARGUMENT OF ULEMA ‘All a ma Shabb i r Ahmad ‘Uthm a n i has presented the one and only argument in his booklet, Ash-Shih a b. He develops his argument in the following manner. He quotes the following part of the verse 55 of Al- Baqarah: which he translates as: "O nation of Ban i Isr a ’ i l! you wronged your souls by making a calf an object of worship. You should now turn toward God and, then murder your own people. " and basing his thesis on this translation of his he tries to substantiate it by arguing thus: "Although there are many verses of the Holy Qur’an which prescribe death penalty for an apostate there is one incident recorded in the Qur’an with such clear exposition and elucidation—regarding the killing of a group of apostates, under the command from God—that, for those who have fear of God in them, there is no room left, not even a wee bit, for any other interpretation of it. 32 The context does not imply any fighting, or cutting off of a passage, or any other offence—with the sole exception of the offence of apostasy, for which 32 As if, the verses of the Holy Qur’an that I have recited here, before you, do permit (God forbid!) a considerable leeway of interpretation, but the incident noted in this particular verse [‘All a ma ‘Uthm a ni postulates] allows no interpretation. [Author]