Murder in the Name of Allah — Page 61
Recantation under Islam. Justice Munir's observation must be read with reference to the. Prophet's reprimand to Usama b. Zayd. In the raid of Ghalib b. Abdullah al-Kalbi, according to Ibn Ishaq, a man was killed by Usama b. Zayd and another. Reporting this incident, Usama b. Zayd said:. When I and a man of Ansar overtook him and attacked him with our weapons he pronounced the Shahadah, but we did not stay our hands and killed him. When we came to the Prophetsa and told him what had happened, he said: ‘Who will absolve you, Usama, from ignoring the confession of faith?' I told him that the man had pronounced the words merely to escape death, but he repeated his question and continued to do so until I wished that I had never been a Muslim before that day and that. I had never killed the man. I asked him to forgive me and promised that. I would never kill a man who pronounced the Shahadah. The Prophetsa said: 'You will say it after me (after my death), Usama?' and I said that. I would. 5. The Prophetsa knew that despite his concern for the lives of Shahadah-pronouncing Muslims, they would still be killed by misguided people under Islam's name. According to the report in the Musnad Imam. Ahmad Hanbal, the Prophets also asked Osama whether he had opened his victim's heart to check the authenticity of his faith. And yet the power-hungry and politically orientated ulema continue to incite ignorant Muslims to kill their Muslim brothers - Muslims whose viewpoint differed slightly from their own - as if, on opening their hearts, they had discovered the faith of such Muslims was false. . Regarding recantation, the Quran uses the word irtadda, which means that no one has the right to declare any other Muslim murtadd. As. Imam Raghib Isfahani explains, the word irtidad means to retrace one's steps back to the point from where one came. The word is especially associated with recantation - returning to kufr (disbelief) from Islam, e. g. 'Lo! Those who turn their backs after the guidance hath been manifested unto them'; (47. 26) and 'whoso of you becometh renegade from his religion'. (5. 55). The Holy Quran has used the word 'ridda' in the intransitive measure (i. e. iftial) which means that everyone has an option but noone has been given the right to declare another an apostate. It is a voluntary action and no outside agency can play any part in it. It is this aspect of free will which distinguishes irtidad from the Christian and. Maududian concept of apostasy, which we discussed in the last chapter. Apostasy and its punishment requires an external authority, the church or state. It is like execution or, rather, murder. Irtidad is like 61