Why is it that if a Muslim chooses to convert to another religion, he has to be killed? I am not sure about my facts, but I have always wondered about this
Salam, Sara.
I took some time to think about your question, which must also be on the minds of many people.
We Muslims believe that Islam is an action of the heart. In other words, all aspects of the Qur'an and the Sunnah stress the fact that no one is to be forced to accept Islam, whether through conversion or through remaining a Muslim.
Many verses in the Qur'an testify to this fact, where we read what means:
*{And say: The truth is from your Lord, so let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve.}*(Al-Kahf 18:29)
The very meaning of the Arabic word deen, which is translated into English as "religion," relates more to the heart and the inner self of man. Many other occurrences in the Qur'an testify to this fact and make the killing of someone because of that person changing his or her religion a taboo.
A close study of the life of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which serves as an example for all Muslims to learn how to practice Islam and carry out its injunctions, will show us that he never killed people who changed their religion or left Islam, for the reason of their leaving Islam.
In incidents when the Prophet commended the killing of some people, it was because they had committed an offense to the Muslim community, threatening its safety, or because they had killed someone and were killed themselves in retaliation. Therefore, killing them had nothing to do with their apostasy.
In fact, many Islamic scholars support the view that there is no prescribed punishment (hadd) for apostasy. In doing this, they use both reason and strong evidence from Qur'an and Sunnah.
Hadd is a punishment allocated and defined by Shari`ah as a punishment for infringing a certain prohibition or limit. For example, the hadd for adultery is lashing for an unmarried adulterer and adulteress. The number of the lashes allocated for the carrying out of this punishment is 100 lashes. Therefore, if someone who has committed adultery and is proven guilty is lashed 100 lashes, this will mean that the hadd has not been applied. This means no one can decrease or increase the degree of the punishment.
The hadd is a well-defined punishment, and is explained by Allah in both the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Furthermore, the hadd cannot be reneged. That is to say, there is no pardon once a person is proven guilty. For example, if someone is proven to have consumed alcohol and is brought for punishment, a judge cannot forgive and release this person without applying the hadd on him.
