The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law. It’s based on the Qur’an: “They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.” (Qur’an 4:89)
A hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
This is still the position of all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, both Sunni and Shi’ite. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most renowned and prominent Muslim cleric in the world, has stated: “The Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-‘ashriyyah, Al-Ja’fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.”
Qaradawi also once famously said: “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today.”
“‘How can you ally with Kafirs? You will burn in Jahannam fire’: Ex-Muslim man narrates threats he received after ‘Ghar Wapsi’ to Hinduism,” OpIndia, June 24, 2022 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar has obtained a recording of a phone conversation wherein a woman is heard persuading Shaikh Jafar Qureshi, an ex-Muslim to turn back to Islam. The 46-year-old Qureshi renounced Islam and accepted Hinduism in the Mandasaur district of Madhya Pradesh on May 27, 2022.
Qureshi was given the initiation to Hinduism by performing ritual worship by Mahamandaleshwar Swami Chidambaranand Saraswati at the Pashupatinath temple. From May 28 Shaikh Jafar Qureshi was known by his new name Chetan Singh Rajput.
In the telephonic conversation, the girl attempted to convince Qureshi to reaffirm his commitment to Islam. She rebuked Shaikh Jafar Qureshi aka Chetan Singh Rajput for allying with the ‘Kafirs'(non-Muslims). She claimed that Qureshi was convinced to convert to Hinduism with the sole intention of demeaning Muslims. She kept asking Qureshi to swear in the name of Allah and his parents that he would get back to Islam.
According to the reports, the ritual worship for Qureshi to adopt the Sanatan Dharma was organized by Mahamandaleshwar Swami Chidambaranand Saraswati of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad Mahanirvani Sangh on May 27. Swami who gave Qureshi his new name asked to him clean his body with the cow dung and the holy gau mutra. Mahamandaleshwar Swami Chidambaranand Saraswati said that the religious ritual was not conducted for conversion, but ‘gharvapsi’ (homecoming).
It is notable here that in the Hindu faith, there is no concept of ‘conversion’, but those who had strayed away from the Sanatana Dharma can ‘come back’, by performing certain rituals. This process is popular as ‘Ghar Waspsi’ (coming back home) in Hindi-speaking areas.
Qureshi had also termed the process as ‘gharvapsi’. He said that he has been following the Hindu religion since his childhood and that he never liked the Islamist people who possess fanatical thinking.
A Dainik Bhaskar team, meanwhile, went to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh to meet Chetan Singh Rajput, who told the Hindi daily that he has been receiving numerous calls since May 27 asking him to rejoin Islam. Chetan claimed that he has also informed the cops about this. However, when the Dainik Bhaskar team reached out to Anurag Sujania, the Mandsaur SP, he said that the police had not received any complaints regarding the same….
Qureshi further stated the woman tried to continuously convince him to renounce Hinduism and accept Islam by and scaring him with the concept of Jahannam (hell) in Islam. Qureshi recalled the woman telling him, “Brother, you will certainly burn in the ever-flaming pit of fire in Jahannam (hell). I asked her whether she has experienced Jahannam (hell). She called me up multiple times and each time I tried to give her a patient hearing, but eventually, I stopped picking up her call,” said Qureshi.
He went on to say that the woman had warned him that if he didn’t change his religion from Hinduism to Islam again he would not be spared. “After a while, these individuals who are presently willing to support you won’t care as much. I am aware of how dangerous they are. You won’t be spared by them. You will be killed,“ Qureshi remembered her admonishing him….
