Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/pm.57.1.06
DEATH PENALTY FOR APOSTASY IN ISLAM
Ajla Čustović
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
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.
Keywords
Islam; Human Rights; Death Penalty; Apostasy; Sharia Law
Hrčak ID:
237646
URI
Publication date:
4.5.2020.
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