On May 8, 34-year-old Awali Kakaire strangled 30-year-old Mariam Nakirya for converting to Christianity. Kakaire was frequently away from his family for about a month at a time on business. His wife and children often attended Sunday service at a nearby church. He started suspecting that his wife had embraced Christianity after the local imam asked him why his family had been skipping mosque prayers and the Islamic school. On the day that Kakaire killed his wife, he got up at 6 a.m. and asked her to join him in the morning Islamic prayers. When she refused, he strangled her. Is what this husband did a normal part of Islam? Does Islam really teach that those who leave Islam are to be killed? The answer, from a Muslim point of view, is given by a Muslim, Bassam Zawadi, in an article entitled, “Of Course Apostates Should Be Killed.” In the article he says:

There seems to be a problem with many “modernist and liberal” Muslims out there who would like to “sugarcoat” the religion of Islam by distorting what it really teaches. There are those that go at length to deny that Islam teaches that apostates must be killed. They either deny the explicit hadith that speak about this or reinterpret it to only refer to those apostates that would fight the Muslims. This is false. I am not going to spend time in this article trying to prove that Islam does call for the killing of apostates and the rules and conditions behind killing apostates (e.g. the apostate must be interrogated first in order to refute what doubts he has for three days, etc.) for I am assuming that my readers already adhere to and have knowledge of the orthodox position regarding the matter. What I want to speak about in this article is the reason for Islam ordering the killing of apostates.

It is the modernist and liberal, also called reformed or moderate, Muslims who are trying to rewrite Islam, not the militant Muslims. The militants are simply following the teachings of their founder, Muhammad. Calling the militant Muslims radicals is a misnomer. For something to be radical, it must be a departure from what is normal. We have 1,400 years of history to look at, and it shows that normal Islam is a religion of the sword. Any time someone disagrees with Islam the solution is always the sword. To be honest, Bassam Zawadi does say that this only applies in Islamic controlled countries. He said:

Before I proceed, let me make it clear that when I speak about apostates that must be killed I am only referring to those apostates who live under an Islamic theocratic state and have openly declared their apostasy. What this means is that no Muslim has a right to go to or for example and start killing ex-Muslims, for he has no such authority to do so.

The fact is, other Muslim scholars would disagree on this last point. I only have to refer you to Muslim clerics who have put forth fatwas, ordering the death of Muslims in other, non-Muslim, countries because they have, in some way, offended Islam. In an article entitled “A Death Fatwa on Norwegian Apostates?” we learn about the appalling treatment of former Muslim converts to Christianity at an asylum-seekers’ center in Norway. The last time I heard, Norway is not an Islamic country, although it may be moving in that direction. Another Muslim scholar tells us why apostates must be killed. According to Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid of the Islam Question and Answer website, there are 6 reasons why those who leave Islam must be killed:

(1) This is the ruling of Allaah and His Messenger, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.” (reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 3017). (2) The one who has known the religion which Allaah revealed, entered it and practised it, then rejected it, despised it and left it, is a person who does not deserve to live on the earth of Allaah and eat from the provision of Allaah. (3) By leaving Islaam, the apostate opens the way for everyone who wants to leave the faith, thus spreading apostasy and encouraging it. (4) The apostate is not to be killed without warning. Even though his crime is so great, he is given a last chance, a respite of three days in which to repent. If he repents, he will be left alone; if he does not repent, then he will be killed. (5) If the punishment for murder and espionage (also known as high treason) is death, then what should be the punishment for the one who disbelieves in the Lord of mankind and despises and rejects His religion? Is espionage or shedding blood worse than leaving the religion of the Lord of mankind and rejecting it? (6) None of those who bleat about personal freedom and freedom of belief would put up with a neighbour’s child hitting their child or justify this as “personal freedom,” so how can they justify leaving the true religion and rejecting the sharee’ah which Allaah revealed to teach mankind about His unity and bring justice and fairness to all?

The following is from the Sharia Law Book, The Reliance of the Traveller. This book has the approval of the highest authorities in Islam. They tell us that it is an accurate expression of Islamic law in the English language.

o8.0 APOSTASY FROM ISLAM (RIDDA) (O: Leaving Islam is the ugliest form of unbelief (kufr) and the worst….. o8.1 When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed. o8.2 In such a case, it is obligatory for the caliph (A: or his representative) to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed.

I’ll come back to section 3 in a moment. The attempt to get the apostate to return to Islam must be done three times, over a three day period. If he does not return, he is to be killed. This next passage tells us there is no penalty for killing an apostate:

o8.4 There is no indemnity for killing an apostate (O: or any expiation, since it is killing someone who deserves to die)

The killing of someone who leaves Islam is not optional, it us obligatory. I gave you the six reasons why above. Section 3 says:

o8.3 If he is a freeman, no one besides the caliph or his representative may kill him. If someone else kills him, the killer is disciplined.

When a family member, like in the example at the beginning of this article, apostatizes, the family has the right to kill the apostate. As a matter of fact, they can kill a family member for any reason they deem necessary. Here are the rules for who must be punished for killing someone (retaliation).

ROT – O1.0 Who is Subject to Retaliation for Injurious Crimes o1.1 Retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right. o1.2 The following ARE NOT subject to retaliation: (1) a child or insane person (2) a Muslim for killing a non-Muslim (3) a Jew or Christian subject to the Islamic state for killing an apostate….because a subject is under its protection. (Dhemmi) (4) a father or mother for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring.

You will notice that a father or mother can kill their offspring, or their offspring’s offspring for whatever reason, and they are not guilty of a crime under Sharia Law. This is the law under which Muslims live, and the law they want to impose on the rest of the world. Sadly, a large portion of Muslims world wide support the death penalty for leaving Islam. According to a 2013 Pew Research Center report, 88 percent of Muslims in Egypt and 62 percent of Muslims in Pakistan favor the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion. This is also the majority view among Muslims in Malaysia, Jordan and the Palestinian territories. The chart on the right shows the percentage of the population of Muslim countries that want Sharia to be the law of the land. The majority of these countries have less than 50% of the population who want Sharia Law. However, if you look at Europe, you will see that Muslims don’t have to be in the majority to get their way. They use very kind of intimidation they can think of to force their will on the rest of the population. In America Muslims make up very small minority of the population, yet they are already making things difficult. It has become a great sin to say anything negative about this religion. There are efforts afoot, both in Canada and America, to make it a crime to defame Islam. In Canada the effort is through Motion M103, which we have reported on many times. In America it is House Bill 569, which is an effort to condemn anti-Muslim rhetoric. It was introduced, signed, and cosponsored by 145 out of 186 Democrats in the House at the time. It went nowhere because Republicans were in control. The push for censorship is coming from the left. We see it in leftist politicians and on college campuses. There is no doubt true Islam teaches that those who leave Islam are to be put to death after they are given the opportunity to return. All Muslims who know anything about their religion are aware of this. This is one of the reasons so many remain in Islam, even when they don’t practice it, or when they no longer believe in it. If we get Muslims into the Bible, it is not too difficult to get them to see the errors of Islam and its evil nature. When you read the testimony of those who have left Islam, you learn that two of the biggest issues for them is the effect it will have on their families, and the fact that they will be marked for death. It is time that this evil part of Islam be exposed, and that the mouths of those who say Islam doesn’t teach the death of apostates be stopped. It is difficult for me to understand why the media and politicians, especially those on the left, can’t see this. All they have to do is listen to the Muslim leaders’ own words, and look at their 1,400 years of history.