Apostasy in Islam A Historical and Scriptural Anlysis

Apostasy in Islam A Historical and Scriptural Anlysis

The subject of this book is a highly sensitive and important one. The author rightly concentrates on rigorous evidence, to examine the historical origins of the debate in detail, as well as the many moral and contextual issues surrounding it. Disputing arguments put forward by proponents of the death penalty he contends that both the Qur’an and the Sunnah promote freedom of belief including the act of exiting the Faith and do not support capital punishment for the sin of al-riddah. This work has been written at a time of great complexity and vulnerability when a true understanding of the higher intents and values of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, maq¥|id al-sharÏ¢ah, is sorely needed. The author employs a strong evidence-based approach examining in detail the Qur’an and authentic Hadith, taking into consideration traditional approaches to the study of the Islamic textual sciences and other fields of knowledge, as well as analyzing scholastic interpretation.