Countless people who could have accepted Islam but did not because some of the Sharia laws appeared to them harsh and horrible and not acceptable is a disservice to humanity and to Islam.
Many scholars over the years have raised objections to these laws that fundamentally violate the fundamental principles of the Quran.
There are thousands of Sharia laws in existence –both Shafi and Hanifa have about 6 thousand laws. Where as the Quran has about 300. Therefore these are interpretations of different scholars over the years.
People are fallible and captives of their times. What they saw and exposed is much more limited that today. Over the years the tools given in Islam to aquire knowledge and wisdom such as Ijtihad and ijma etc have not been applied.
One such law is the Murtad law of apostasy killing law.
In depth reaseach ca by any decent reasonable person. harsh and horrible hudud laws laid down in the Sharia repulsed them. Sharia These do not appeal to human mind or reason.
Islam provides powerful tools to interpret and understand principles and laws that are laid down in the Quran and applied and practiced by Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]. These are ‘ijtihad’ or analytical reasoning or a process of deduction, ‘ijma’ or consensus, shura or consultation. Throughout the history of the Muslim world these tools often have been misused and reduced to blind followings of the early scholars who were fallible and captives of their times as all human beings are. With the progression of time and each succeeding generations some of the wrong Islamic Since the 11th and 12th centuries when the insecure Islamic systematically the door
Furthermore, apostasy issue is related to a fundamental principle of freedom, which is central to Islam and it has many other ramifications.
Shah
Abdul Halim
[Chairman
of Islamic Information Bureau, Bangladesh]
“In fact
there is not a single instance that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did
treat apostasy as a prescribed offence under hudud (capital
punishment) only for leaving Islam. The Prophet (pbuh) never put
anyone to death for apostasy alone rather he let such person go
unharmed. No one was sentenced to death solely for renunciation of
faith unless accompanied by hostility and treason or was linked to
an act of political betrayal of the community. As a matter of fact
the Quran is completely silent on the question of death as a
punishment for apostasy. Apostasy does not qualify for temporal
punishment.” [Islam
& Pluralism: A Contemporary Approach]
Organization:
Sisters In Islam
[Sisters
in Islam (SIS) is an independent non-governmental organisation,
formed in 1988, which believes in an Islam that upholds the
principles of equality, justice, freedom and dignity]
“Based
on these three reasons and the Qur'anic principle of freedom of
religion, prominent
ulama from the seventh to the twentieth centuries have come out with
the position that there can be no death penalty for apostasy.
According
to Professor Hashim Kamali in his award-winning book, Freedom of
Expression in Islam, two leading jurists of the generation
succeeding the Companions, Ibrahim al-Naka'I and Sufyan al-Thawri,
both
held that the apostate should be re-invited to Islam, but should
never be condemned to death.
The renowned Hanafi jurist, Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi wrote that even
though renunciation of faith is the greatest of offences, it is a
matter between man and his Creator, and its punishment is postponed
to the Day of Judgement. The Maliki
jurist Abul Walid al-Baji and the renowned Hanbali jurist Ibn
Taymiyyah have both held that apostasy is a sin which carries no
hadd punishment.
…Those
in the vanguard of the Islamic movement that wants to turn this
country into an Islamic state must ask themselves, why would
Malaysians support the concept of an Islamic state which assert
different rights for Muslim men, Muslim women and non-Muslims and
minorities, rather than equal rights for all? Why would those whose
equal status and rights are recognised by a democratic system
support the creation of such an Islamic state? If an Islamic state
means a dictatorial theocratic political system that condemns those
who question or challenge its authority as apostates or deviants,
and then impose the death penalty on them, then why would those
whose fundamental liberties are protected by a democratic state
support such an intolerant concept of an Islamic state?”
[Islam,
Apostasy and PAS]
Ibrahim
Hooper
[National
Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations]
"Islam advocates both freedom of religion
and freedom of conscience. That position is supported by the Quran,
Islam's revealed text, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and
the opinions of Islamic scholars both past and present. ... Islamic
scholars say the original rulings on apostasy were similar to those
for treasonous acts in legal systems worldwide and do not apply to
an individual's choice of religion. ... Freedom from coercion also
implies freedom to practice another faith. ... Religious decisions
should be matters of personal choice, not a cause for state
intervention. Faith imposed by force is not true belief. [Islam
and religious freedom]
Dr.
Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin
[Youngest
national mufti, Malaysia]
Islamic leaders must squarely
address the questions of apostates and other challenges, and not
further damage the Muslim community by their own failure to live up
to religious values. ...
Asked to comment on tensions
raised by the issue of apostasy, Asri said religious leaders were
culpable because they divert focus from the reasons that lead
Muslims to apostasise. Instead, they issued threats of punitive
measures against apostates and non-Muslim supporters. [Malaysia:
Nation's youngest mufti speaks out on apostasy]
Dr.
Radwan Masmoudi
[Founder,
member of the Board, and President of the Center of the Study of
Islam & Democracy (CSID)]
"Freedom of religion
is the only way to build a strong, moral society," says Radwan
Masmoudi, "where people can deal with each other with dignity,
respect, trust, and fairness." Progressive thinkers such as
Masmoudi advocate "liberal Islam," which considers freedom
of conscience a sacred right as well as a central democratic
doctrine. They argue that Muslims must recover the Koranic teaching
that human beings are created free, and that violations of basic
liberties--including freedom of worship--contradict human nature and
the will of God. [The
Unmentionable Freedom]
Dr.
Azizah al-Hibri
["Azizah
Y. al-Hibri is a professor at the T. C. Williams School of Law,
University of Richmond; founder and president of KARAMAH: Muslim
Women Lawyers for Human Rights.]
"The whole
punishment for Muslims who leave their people is not about change of
religion at all, whether Christianity or even lack of belief in God,
because God guaranteed for Muslims freedom of faith and freedom of
conscience. The whole idea was, if they were in a state of war and
this person left and joined the enemy who is fighting them, then he
becomes the enemy, and then you fight him like you fight the enemy.
That's what needs to be understood." [CNN
Interview]
Dr.
Reza Aslan
[Research
Associate at the University of Southern California's Center on Public
Diplomacy; author of "No God But God]
"It's
important, first of all, to understand that the Koran says nothing
about apostasy at all. There is no punishment in apostasy. This idea
of death as a punishment for apostasy actually arose at a time in
which Islam and the state were one. So, apostasy and treason were
considered the same thing. And, therefore, the punishment of death
was for all of it.
Not all Islamic law -- schools of
Islamic law actually agree upon this, just the very conservative
ones. And there are few more conservative schools of law than in
Afghanistan." [Anderson
Cooper 360 Degrees: Death to Christian Converts?