UMBS’s Hon.Asuman Kiyingi disturbed by the case of Mariam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman sentenced to death allegedly for refusing to revert to Islam

Apostasy, or riddah in Arabic, literally means defection or backsliding.As an Islamic legal term, it means denouncing Islam as one’s religion by a Muslim.

‘The case of Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman sentenced to death allegedly for refusing to revert to Islam after becoming Christian is very disturbing. It projects Islam as some kind of prison where believers are locked up with no choice or freedom of conscience. Luckily there is no where in the Holy Quran where death is prescribed as punishment for change of religion. Let us all unite in saving the beautiful face and image of Islam by asking the Sudanese authorities to release Mariam and repeal the repressive unislamic laws on apostacy.’,Hon.Asuman Kiyingi told UMBS.com.

There is no single verse in the Qur’an that prescribes an earthly punishment for apostasy. Verses about apostasy in the Qur’an speak only about God’s punishment of the apostate in the Hereafter. The following Qur’anic verses illustrate two examples:

[Your enemies will not cease to fight against you till they have turned you away from your faith, if they can. But if any of you should turn away from his/her faith and die as a denier [of the truth] – these it is whose works will bear no fruit in this world and in the life to come; and these it is who are destined for the fire, therein to abide.] (Al-Baqarah 2:217)

[Behold, as for those who come to believe, and then deny the truth, and again come to believe, and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of truth – God will not forgive them, nor will guide them in any way.] (An-Nisaa’ 4:137)

It is important to note in the above verse that if the Qur’an prescribes capital punishment for apostasy, then the apostate should be killed after the first instance of apostasy. As such there would be no opportunity to “again come to believe and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of truth”. In spite of these acts of repeated apostasy, no capital punishment is prescribed for them.

The silence of the Qur’an on any prescribed mandatory capital for apostasy is quite revealing. More revealing is the fact that there is overwhelming evidence in the Qur’an of freedom of conscious, belief, and worship. The following verses gives an example of this:

[And say [O Muhammad]: ‘The truth [has now come] you’re your Sustainer: let, then, him or her who wills, believe in it, and let him or her who wills, reject it.] (Al-Kahf 18:29)

[There shall be no coercion in matters of faith.] (Al-Baqarah 2:256)

[And so, [O Prophet,] exhort them; your task is only to exhort. You can not compel them [to believe].] (Al-Ghashiyah 88:21-22)

[Thus, [O Prophet,] if they argue with you, say, “I have surrendered my whole being unto God, and [so have] all who follow me’ – and ask those who have been vouchsafed revelation aforetime, as well as the unlettered people, ‘Have you [too] surrendered yourselves unto Him?’ And if they surrender themselves unto Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away – behold, your duty is no more than to deliver the message: for God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His creatures.] (Aal `Imran 3:20)

It is inconceivable to attain that peace if a person is forced or coerced into becoming a Muslim or remaining a Muslim against his or her free will. It is also inconceivable to say, “Yes, no one is forced to become a Muslim, but once he or she accepts Islam willingly, it is forbidden to reject it.” Such an argument under whatever excuse or justification is inconsistent with the many conclusive verses in the Qur’an on freedom of belief which is above all an inner feeling of acceptance and conviction.