The punishment of aggression against the religion by apostasy

Tangible punishments:

Of the worldly punishments which Allah (may He be Exalted) described, and the Qur'anic texts and the prophetic Sunnah fixed are penalties of general crimes which affect general principles and basic needs of human life to protect human society, its safety, and protecting its interests against corruption, degradation, and deterioration.

It was part of Allah's Justice and Mercy with His Creatures that He legislated for them deterrent punishments to protect the five fundamentals upon which the honorable human life is based which require the availability of these matters, maintaining them, and preventing aggression against them, which are:

1- The protection of religion.

2- The protection of life.

3- The protection of reason.

4- The protection of honor.

5- The protection of properties.

These fundamentals are protected by all divine legislations and upon which all penalties of Islam were built. Since these matters are part of the firm settled interests, the Glorious Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunnah enacted sanctions to safeguard and maintain them against any aggression that may bring about corruptions to the society and to achieve its interests.

Hereunder, I shall explain the sanctions ordained by Allah for each crime that violate the previous five matters.

These punishments are divided into two categories:

1- A section is called prescribed punishments and just retaliation which are text sanctions and punishments precisely set by the Glorious Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunnah.

2- A section is called discretionary punishment which are delegable punishments that are transferred to the ruler to set a punishment for its doers to deter them.

As for the Prescribed Punishments, they contain: Apostasy, adultery, false accusation, wine drinking, theft, and highway robbery. Now, we shall mention a brief about each punishment as follows:

The punishment of aggression against the religion by apostasy:

The definition of apostasy is uttering the words of disbelief after having faith, so reverting from faith is called apostasy.[1]

An apostate is the one who leaves Islam to disbelief according to the convention of jurists.[2]

Qur'an considered apostasy one of the severest beguilement. Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allâh will not forgive them, nor guide them on the (Right) Way."[3]

That is because belief is one of the human essentials which all divine legislations agreed to the necessity of maintaining them. Therefore, Islam legislated the severest punishment to it in this world which is killing in addition to the punishment which the doer gets in the Hereafter.

Worldly punishment for this crime is killing. It was authentically proven that the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: "If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him."[4]

The killing which the Messenger (peace be upon him) decreed is worthy of this heinous crime where the apostate's staying among the society brings about evil to people and there is no use in leaving the apostates because Allah (may He be Exalted) does not permit the people of whims to play with the religion. The Glorious Qur'an explains the punishment of an apostate in Allah's saying: "And whosoever of you turns back from his religion and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this life and in the Hereafter, and they will be the dwellers of the Fire. They will abide therein forever." [5]

So, Allah (may He be Exalted) frustrated the actions of an apostate i.e., the removal of the impacts of his actions and reward whether in the world or in the Hereafter. The Qur'an decided that in several Ayahs, of which we mention Allah's Saying: "And whosoever disbelieves in the Oneness of Allah and in all the other Articles of Faith (i.e. His (Allahs), Angels, His Holy Books, His Messengers, the Day of Resurrection and Al Qadar (Divine Preordainments)), then fruitless is his work, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers."[6]

So, an apostate drops his Islamic rights in protecting himself, properties, honor, and performing Salah at him after death, and shrouding him in the Muslim graveyards among other rulings that attach him after his apostasy.