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Apologetics

Islam and Religious Freedom

On May 31, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

Limitations on Religious Freedom in Islam: The Witness of the Qur’an and Prophetic Traditions

Abdullah SaeedABC RELIGION AND ETHICS 23 MAY 2014

In the face of a global trend toward religious freedom which began in the seventeenth century, Islam seems to be the only major religion to maintain that conversion away from the religion – apostasy – must be punished with death. In a number of Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, apostasy laws and the associated death penalty still prevail.

Given this situation, it is important to explore the issue of apostasy and ways of rethinking this in the context of Islam, as part of an argument for freedom of religion among Muslims.

Contrary to popular belief, the Qur’an contains many texts – revealed in both the Meccan and Medinan periods – that uphold the right to freedom of religion. These texts recognize each individual’s right to believe or not to believe in God. The Prophet Muhammad respected this right throughout his life.

However, traditional Islamic law and theology developed a range of limitations on this freedom in the post-prophetic period. The most notable of these are the laws relating to apostasy, blasphemy, heresy and hypocrisy. Many of these limitations were developed during the post-prophetic period on the premise of the protection of religion (hifz al-din). Andrew March summarizes this concept:

“Religion consists of divine rules which God has revealed through prophets to guide mankind to truth in matters of belief and to good in matters of behaviour and social relations. Religion constrains mankind by these rules and brings them into submission to their commands and prohibitions so that they may attain the happiness of this world and the next.”

In line with the notion of “protection of religion,” conversion from Islam to another religion (apostasy) was not considered a “right” from the jurists’ point of view. Indeed, most jurists considered conversion from Islam a crime. For them, Islam is the only valid religion and its authority and authenticity are beyond doubt: having recognized this, a Muslim should not even contemplate leaving Islam. From this perspective, an individual leaving Islam is considered to be following a path that will ultimately lead to eternal damnation in hell, which calls for community intervention.

Moreover, the jurists argued, apostasy that openly challenges the validity of Islam could undermine the ranks of the Muslims. Indeed, the most dangerous thing for a community is the chaos caused by disruption to its commonly held beliefs, causing intellectual disarray and a lack of trust in what preserves its order. Thus, the apostasy of a Muslim could be considered much more dangerous than mere unbelief, because apostates have been exposed to the proof and evidence that led to belief in Islam by free choice, whereas a non-Muslim by birth has not had this opportunity. For these reasons, when the jurists discussed protection of religion, they did not include the freedom to convert to another religion as part of such protection.

From the jurists’ point of view, apostasy was punishable with the death penalty. This penalty was developed on the basis of certain sayings (hadith) attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. The most obvious of these is the hadith that states: “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.” There are several other examples of hadith in which the Prophet reportedly ordered the execution of specific individuals, and these are often used to bolster the argument that the appropriate punishment for conversion from Islam is death.

Not all Muslim scholars today take this view, however, and they argue for a different reading of such texts. For instance, Taha Jabir al-Alwani, one of today’s leading Muslim scholars, notes that although the Qur’an is quick to condemn the act of a Muslim abandoning Islam, it does not prescribe a worldly punishment for this action. In al-Alwani’s view, apostasy during the time of Prophet Muhammad was foremost a political issue, so that if someone left Islam without causing harm to others there was no earthly punishment for that person. He argues that this is made evident by the records stating that during the time of the Prophet some people would convert to Islam in the morning and then leave Islam at night.

Looking to the historical evidence, Mohammad Hashim Kamali, another leading Muslim thinker based in Malaysia, suggests that the Prophet did not treat apostasy as a proscribed offence (had), but instead pardoned many individuals who had embraced Islam, renounced it, then embraced it again.

Traditional Islamic law has, admittedly, sometimes adopted more restrictive approaches to freedom of religion than is evidenced by the teachings of the Qur’an or the actions of the Prophet. This has, in some cases, brought traditional Islamic law into conflict with modern standards pertaining to freedom of religion, such as that framed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.”

Nonetheless, it must be said that a coherent picture of the protection of an individual’s right to freedom of religion can be discerned from examination of texts from the Qur’an and various associated prophetic traditions. The Qur’an presents religion as a human good whose protection is of utmost importance. Protecting the right of an individual to believe and practice the faith and religion of his or her choice is one of the most important functions of the community and government.

In the Qur’an, God’s plan for humankind is not that everyone should follow the same path; instead, belief is left to individual conscience and personal reflection, and should be sincere. From the perspective of the Qur’an, forcing belief on another does not result in genuine belief, which is an essential element of faith. The Qur’an therefore condemns hypocrisy and hypocrites in many verses, and exhorts sincerity (9:68; 63:1). It also condemns attitudes that promote blind imitation of ancestral precedents at the expense of independent thought and personal conviction (2:170). The Qur’an declares: “Had God willed it, He would have guided all to the right path” (see 10:99; 13:31; 16:9). Furthermore, on the Day of Judgment individuals will stand before God and be questioned about what they did or failed to do (10:41). Accountability is thus very closely connected to the individual and the personal responsibility to choose (4:115; 72:23).

For the Qur’an, revealed religion is sacred and each scripture must be approached with respect. Both Judaism and Christianity, for example, are respected as “religions of the book” alongside Islam (5:69; 3:113-114). The same degree of respect, however, is not shown to belief-systems that involve practices such as idol worship, which were widespread in Arabia at the time of revelation: these beliefs and practices are not recognized as legitimate by the Qur’an. Despite this, the Qur’an urges Muslims to deal with all people – including idolaters – with respect, as long as they too show respect (49:11). The Qur’an also strongly rejects the idea of forcing anyone to adopt Islam, or of initiating hostilities toward any non-Muslim communities with whom Muslims had peaceful relations (9:4). As such, the Qur’an reflected a remarkable degree of tolerance towards other religions (5:69) at a time when religious tolerance was not generally the norm.

There is little disagreement among Muslim scholars on the legitimacy of conversion from one faith to another outside Islam. However, conversion of an individual from Islam to another religion has been consistently banned, and severe punishment applied as a deterrent. The question remains as to the extent to which the prohibition on conversion from Islam and its punishment are based on clear Qur’anic and prophetic guidance, and whether there is room to argue for moving away from the death penalty for conversion to simply consider conversion a sin, not a punishable crime.

An examination of the Qur’an suggests that it does indeed uphold the view that individuals had the freedom to convert from Islam – if they desired – in a broad sense. The Qur’an makes it clear that individuals in Mecca were free to decide not to follow the Prophet and his teachings (17:15; 18:29; 6:104), although it criticizes those Muslims who converted from Islam: “The truth [has now come] from your Sustainer: let, then, him who wills, believe in it, and let him who wills, reject it” (18:29). Similarly, the Qur’an strongly emphasizes that individuals should not be compelled to believe in Islam: “There is no coercion in matters of faith/religion” (2:256). The Prophet’s duty was to deliver the message, not to determine who should or should not believe this message (4:80; 24:54; 5:99; 64:12; 3:20; 88:21).

On a number of occasions, the Qur’an declares that those who move away from the true path of God and the Prophet are to be condemned and punished in the life after death (4:115; 72:23). However, in line with its view of individual and personal responsibility for matters of belief and religion, the Qur’an seems to allow Muslims the option to convert to their former religions or to any other religion during their lifetime (3:20; 64:12), even though it declares that this action will lead to the individual’s eternal damnation. The Qur’an also deals with what appears to be apostasy in several verses; but despite condemning those individuals who had – in some cases, repeatedly – committed the sin of apostasy (63:3), the Qur’an envisaged a natural death for them, rather than capital punishment.

There is no evidence to indicate that the Prophet Muhammad himself ever imposed the death penalty on an apostate for the simple act of conversion from Islam. Such penalties were imposed by the Prophet in a number of specific cases, and were related to crimes other than apostasy. Notably, a report in the hadith collection of Bukhari (one of the most important and reliable collections of hadith for Sunni Muslims) details a man who came to Medina and converted to Islam. Shortly after his arrival, this man wanted to return to his former religion and asked the Prophet for permission to do so. The Prophet let him go without imposing the death penalty, or any other punishment.

In early Islamic history, the question of apostasy appears to have been closely associated with the security of the Muslim community, and was defined in relation to combating treachery and aggression. As I’ve argued elsewhere, the issue of apostasy at the time was closely related to both the identity and the survival of Muslims. Unbelief (kufr) on its own was not used in the Islamic legal tradition as a justification for war or for any form of capital punishment. Nonetheless, the Qur’an asserts it is an individual’s responsibility to follow the approved path or not to follow it (27:92; 10:108).

The vast array of Qur’anic texts and the practice of the Prophet thus demonstrate that while apostasy itself is strongly discouraged, they leave the issue to the individual, respecting the right of the individual to believe or not to believe, to remain a Muslim or to leave Islam.

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Given the limitations that exist in traditional Islamic law on different aspects of religious freedom, it is difficult to argue for the universal religious freedom of an individual within a strictly traditional Islamic legal context. However, there is a remarkable degree of support for religious freedom as expressed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the two most important sources of Islam: the Qur’an and the practice of the Prophet.

Certainly, there are encouraging signs of change in Muslim-majority countries, and despite the limitations on freedom of religion in traditional Islamic law, many Muslim-majority countries are adopting the standards provided in Article 18. Obviously practice on the ground varies enormously, and much still needs to be done to implement these values.

To achieve a genuine and sustainable shift in attitude among Muslims, support for freedom of religion must come from the Islamic tradition. Islam plays a very important role in the social, cultural, political and legal affairs of most Muslim-majority states and there is evidence that Muslim communities are more receptive to change if it is justified based on Islamic traditions and ideas. As Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im has put it, “the implementation of international human rights norms in any society requires thoughtful and well-informed engagement with religion (broadly defined) because of its strong influence on human belief systems and behaviour.”

Abdullah Saeed is the Director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies and Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of The Qur’an: An Introduction, Freedom of Religion and Apostasy in Islam and Reading the Qur’an in the Twenty-First Century: A Contextualist Approach.

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