The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam — Page 134
134 Prophet sa said: "Medina is like a furnace, that cleanses the matter. That he was a wrong kind of man, and he left Islam despite Holy Prophet’s sa efforts to keep him in Islam. Medina’s environment threw him out as the goldsmith’s furnace removes the impurities. " 124 Thus, it is evident that the man was an apostate in Holy Prophet’s view. He had asked three times that his Islam be taken away from him. When he left Medina, even then the Holy Prophet did not order his killing. How is this possible that Hadrat Ab u Bakr ra , Hadrat Umar ra , Hadrat ‘Al i ra knew what was the punishment of apostasy, but only the Holy Prophet sa was unaware of that? Second Hadith: At the time of the Treaty of Hudaibiya, one of the terms that the Holy Prophet sa accepted was that if any Muslim recanted Islam and went to Mecca, the non-believers would not send him back 125. If the punishment in Islam was clear that anyone who commits apostasy should be killed, then the Holy Prophet sa would never have shown leniency in this matter of religious belief. Third Hadith: Then there is another tradition mentioned earlier that an apostate came to Hadrat 124 S a hih Bukh a r i , Kit a bu Fa da ’ilil Mad i nati, B a bun Al-Mad i natu Tanfil Khabatha , Hadith No. 1883. [Publisher] 125 ‘Abdul Malik Bin Hish a m, Al-S i ratun Nabawiyya , part III, page 203, Maktabatul Kuly a tul ’Azhariyya, Egypt. [Publisher]