Death Penalty for Apostasy in Islam Cover Image

Smrtna kazna za otpadništvo u Islamu
Death Penalty for Apostasy in Islam

Author(s): Ajla Čustović
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Islam studies, Sociology of Religion, Sharia Law
Published by: Fakultet političkih znanosti u Zagrebu
Keywords: Islam; Human Rights; Death Penalty; Apostasy; Sharia Law;

Summary/Abstract: In this article, the author approaches one of the tension points within the problematics of Islam and liberal understanding of human rights – freedom of religion in opposition to the death penalty for apostasy in Islam. The author critically approaches the extreme interpretation of Islam – within which the death penalty for apostasy is practiced as one of the characteristics of Medina ideal – and, by adopting Tibi’s term, dismisses their attempts of revival of Prophet Muhammad’s time as “the invention of tradition”. Relying on progressive Islamic thought, the author approaches this problematics from two directions: first, through examination of the death penalty sources in Islam: Qur’an and the tradition of Prophet Muhammad, and second, through dismissal of the death penalty for apostasy as a practice which is contradictory to the idea of human rights.

  • Issue Year: LVII/2020
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 127-149
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Croatian