Toward Removing the Punishment of Apostasy in Islam
‘Freedom of religion’ is a strong principle in Islam. The Qur’an neither mentions nor prescribes any temporal punishment for apostasy. No one during the time of the Prophet was killed solely for apostasy. Abolishing all types of temporal punishments for apostasy: Acknowledgement of the alteration of the subject and context; the invalidity of akhbār al-haād in matters of critical importance such as the life of a human being; the invalidity of hadiths that run counter to Qur’anic dictates; and the abrogation of the punishments for apostasy because of ‘impairing’ Islam.