El_Machinae said:
There is a Muslim group in Canada that is currently requesting that the label "apostate" be banned if used to inspire violence or hatred. I find this to be an interesting development.
In their opinion, being labelled as 'apostate' reduces their security. They have received death threats from people, and they believe that these threats are from people who consider them to be 'drifters' from Islam.
So, we can have a Free Speech discussion. Can we get rid of the word 'apostate' or 'heretic' if we reasonably believe that it incites violence against the victim?
I don't see how banning the word "apostate" will deter religious violence. It is made clear in the Quran and ahadith the penalty for leaving the Islamic faith.
Quran:
4:89 They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them,
9:66 Make ye no excuses: ye have rejected Faith after ye had accepted it. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you, for that they are in sin
16:106 Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief,- except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty.
Supported in the Sahih Hadith:
Bukhari Volume 6, Book 61, Number 577:
I heard the Prophet saying, "In the last days (of
the world) there will appear young people with foolish thoughts
and ideas. They will give good talks, but they will go out of
Islam as an arrow goes out of its game, their faith will not exceed
their throats. So, wherever you find them, kill them, for there
will be a reward for their killers on the Day of Resurrection."
Bukhari Volume 4, Book 63, Number 260:
Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn 'Abbas,
who said, "Had I been in his place I would not have burnt
them, as the Prophet said, 'Don't punish (anybody) with Allah's
Punishment.' No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet
said, "If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill
him."
A better solution would be for this Muslim group to begin a movement, gain recognition and influence among the true moderates and finally take this matter all the way to the prominent Islamic interpretators and commentators. Call for these verses and narrations to be collectively modernized, reinterpreted or omitted.
