Andrew G. Bostom. M.D.

Abdul Rahman faced death at the hands of our Afghan allies for the “crime” of converting to Christianity. Even though, following appeals by world leaders, including the Pope, Mr. Rahman appears to have received a “dispensation” by the Karzai Government -- for “mental health”, or other reasons -- he is and remains guilty as per Afghan religious leaders, and sacred Islamic Law (the Shari’a).

In the light of Koran 2:256 "There is no compulsion in religion", why has apostasy from Islam always been punished so harshly? In Leaving Islam, Ibn Warraq notes that the apostasy of a Muslim individual whose parents were Muslim is seen as an infectious, dangerous and incurable disease in the body of an ummah (people) threatening peoples lives, and that is why this rotten limb should be severed.

Punishment by death for apostasy is firmly rooted in the most holy Muslim texts. Koran 4:89 states: “They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah’s way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.”

One of the most authoritative Koranic commentators, Baydawi (d. 1315/16) interprets this passage thus: “Whosoever turns back from belief (irtada), openly or secretly, take him and kill him wheresoever ye find him, like any other infidel." Ibn Kathir’s (d. 1373) venerated commentary on Koran 4:89 concurs, maintaining that as the unbelievers have manifested their unbelief, they should be punished by death.

These draconian judgments are reiterated in a number of hadith (i.e., collections of the putative words and deeds of Muhammad, as compiled by pious transmitters). There is also a consensus by all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (i.e., Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi, and Shafi’i), as well as Shi’ite jurists, that apostates from Islam must be put to death.

The 1991 Al-Azhar (Cairo) Islamic Research Academy-endorsed Shafi’i manual of Islamic Law ‘Umdat al-Salik states: “Leaving Islam is the ugliest form of unbelief (kufr) and the worst…. When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostasizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed. In such a case, it is obligatory…to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed. “

At this stage, perhaps the only way to assure that Mr. Rahman avoids a tragic fate (“We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so there’s nothing left,” maintained Abdul Raoulf a “moderate” cleric jailed for his previous opposition to the Taliban) is to find sanctuary for him outside of Afghanistan.

Denial or obfuscation of the role played by the very essence of Islam—Shari’a—will never remove this murderous scimitar of Damocles hanging over the heads of hapless “apostates” such as Abdul Rahman, and others, perhaps untold thousands, if not more, like him, throughout the Muslim world.

Andrew Bostom is author of The Legacy of Jihad. This is excerpted from AmericanThinker.com of March 26.