The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam — Page 64
64 plunder, to snatch away. It is idiomatically used opposite to the word salama , which signifies: peace and safety. Thus, one concludes that the word h arb carries the connotation of ‘creating disorder’ and, it is obvious, that sporadic episodes of stealing, murder, or destruction do not divest the entire society of peaceful conditions. 63 Rather, this situation arises only when a powerful, organized, group rises up to commit robbery, and murder, and wreak havoc and destruction. Therefore, the juridical theologians [i. e. , fuqah a ’ ] 64 have held that only such an individual, or organized group of individuals, deserves the aforesaid punishment, that commits armed robbery against the common people and, by the use of force, seeks to subvert the government’s rule of law, i. e. , one who can be dubbed as a bandit or a rebel. The individual offenders, who commit theft, pick pockets etc. are not included in this provision. 63 This is quite a rational argument presented here by Mual a n a Muhammad Shaf i ‘, because there was, otherwise, a danger that the juridical theologians (i. e. , fuqah a ’ ) would deduce from it that the Holy Qur’an prescribes such stiff punishments for anyone who has ever been guilty of banditry, or stealing; so that, if the offender’s offence has an aggravated character then, by all means, award him such torturous punishments that are far apart from what are commonly regarded as punishments. [Author] 64 Muft i Shaf i ‘, elucidating in this context, further states that he is not alone in holding this viewpoint. Rather, a sizeable number of fuqah a ’ share his views on this matter. [Author]