See, for example, Shaykh Hurr al-`āmili, who has seven pages...

See, for example, Shaykh Hurr al-`āmili, who has seven pages of ahādith under the title “abwāb haddi ‘l-murtad — sections on the punishment for murtad” in the 18th volume of his Wasii’ilu ‘sh-Shi`a . What about the Sunni Fiqh? The Sunni fiqh is also in agreement with the views mentioned above on the punishment for apostasy. Soon after the Prophet’s death, the Sunni caliphate started a widespread campaign of fighting some tribes in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula.

The justification used by the caliphate was that the tribes had turned away from Islam; they had become murtad. Even historians describe it as “ waq`atu ‘r-ridda — the event of apostasy”. Although we do not agree with the accusation levelled against some of those who were killed as “apostates,”(10) but the justification presented by the caliphate shows that the Sunnis also agree with the Sh`iah fiqh on punishment for those who become murtad .

The Sunni author of the authoritative al-Fiqh `ala ‘l-Madhāhibi ‘l-Arba`ah writes, “The four (Sunni) Imams agree that it is obligatory to kill a person whose apostasy against Islam is proven.”(11) The Sunni jurists, however, do not differentiate neither between the fitri and the milli apostate nor between male and female apostate. (12) NOTES: ___________________________________________ 1.

For the discussion on the place of the Qur’ān and the sunnah in shari`ah, see my An Introduction to the Islamic Shari`ah. 2. Those who know Arabic and have the aptitude to handle the fiqh istidlāli text may refer to the late Ayatullāh al-Khu’i’sMabāni Takmilati Minhāji ‘s-Salihiyn, vol. 1, pp. 324-337 for the ahādith used by our jurists. 3. Furu al-Kāfi, vol. 7, p. 257. This hadith has also been quoted by Shaykh as-Sadiq, Kitabu Man la Yahdhuruhu al-Faqāh, vol.

3, p.89, and Shaykh at-Tusi, Tahdhibu ‘l-Ahkām, vol. 10, p. 136 4. Tahdhibu ‘l-Ahkām, vol. 10, p. 139 5. Furu` al-Kāfi, vol. 7, p. 257. It has also been quoted by Shaykh at-Tusi, Tahdhibu ‘l-Ahkām, vol. 10, 138. 6. Man La Yahzuruhu ‘l-Faqih, vol. 4, p. 76. 7. Furā` al-Kāfi, vol. 7, p. 256; it has also been quoted by Shaykh at-Tusi, Tahdhibu ‘l-Ahkām, vol. 10, p. 136. 8. For the authenticity of these ahādith, see Sayyid Abu ‘l-Qāsim al-Khā’i, Mabāni Takmilati Minhāji ‘s-Sālihiyn, vol. 1, pp.

324-337 and also the transcript of his lectures by Shaykh al-Gharawi, at-Tanqāh, vol. 3, p. 224-229. 9. Jawāhiru ‘l-Kalām, vol. 41, p. 605.