The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam — Page 19
19 be accepted today as correct. Only that definition will be acceptable which would first find application in the time of the Holy Prophet sa and, thereafter, goes on finding application in every subsequent era—without having even a single moment to elapse in which that definition becomes inoperative. Moreover, that definition may not just apply to the case of Pakistan, but it must find applicability, without exception, in every country of the world whether it is in the East or West, and whether it is in the North or South. But this particular definition is strangely flawed in that it cannot be made applicable to the pre-1974 period. It cannot be applicable even to the time of the Promised Messiah as because a multitude of Ahmad i s have died prior to the formulation of this particular definition— they departed from this world in a state of being described as Muslims, long before this definition was invented. In the absence of this definition, and owing to the fact that nobody’s mind had conceived of such a definition, they were to be considered Muslims contrary to this definition. Then, there is the case of all those Muslims who existed prior to the time of the Promised Messiah as. What would you say about them? Because they, obviously, did not deny the Promised Messiah as , so for them only L a il a ha illAll a h , Mu h ammadur Ras u lull a h was enough. Thus, a definition which cannot find application in the earlier times is wrong and inapplicable even in this day and age.