The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam — Page 59
59 it is the height of cruelty for anyone to deduce a sanction for a punitive "slaying of an apostate" from this verse. Since the context is clearly that of the idolaters—not of those who have accepted Islam— therefore, I wish that these ulema desist from their attempt to impute those ideas to the Holy Qur’an that are not even remotely connected to it. THE GENUINE CONTEXT Taking Maulaw i Maud u d i Sahib up on his suggestion that one must refer to the context of the verse in question, we now proceed to discuss the verses that immediately follow. This will enlighten the reader as to which type of people are being referred to here and as to whether the matter under discussion is "the punishment for apostasy is murder", or some other issue is being dealt with? Who should you fight against? It is stated: "Will you not fight a people who have broken their oaths, and who plotted to turn out the Messenger, and they were the first to