Editing Sharia (section)

==== Apostasy ====
{{Main|Apostasy in Islam}}
[[File:Apostasy laws world map.svg|alt=|thumb|upright=1.15|Countries that criminalize [[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy from Islam]] as of 2020. Some Muslim-majority countries impose the death penalty or a prison sentence for apostasy from Islam or ban non-Muslims from proselytizing .<ref>[http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/28/which-countries-still-outlaw-apostasy-and-blasphemy/ Which countries still outlaw apostasy and blasphemy?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160725201505/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/28/which-countries-still-outlaw-apostasy-and-blasphemy/ |date=25 July 2016 }} Pew Research Center, United States (May 2014)</ref>]]
[[File:Execution of a Moroccan Jewess by Alfred Dehodencq.jpg|thumb|left| Execution of a [[Moroccan Jews|Moroccan Jewish]] woman ([[Sol Hachuel]]) on the grounds of leaving Islam ([[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]]), painting by [[Alfred Dehodencq]]]]
According to Islam, apostasy from Islam is a sin<ref name=jstor-1570336>{{cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=Rudolph |last2=Vries |first2=Gert J. J. De |title=Apostasy in Islam |journal=Die Welt des Islams |date=1976 |volume=17 |issue=1/4 |pages=1–25 |doi= 10.2307/1570336 |jstor=1570336}}</ref><ref name="Lewis-1995-229">{{cite book|last1= Lewis|first1= Bernard|title= The Middle East, a Brief History of the Last 2000 Years|date= 1995|publisher= Touchstone Books|isbn= 978-0684807126|page= 229|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1ajwK7ejowwC&q=%22crime+as+well+as+a+sin%22+lewis&pg=PT234|access-date= 27 November 2015|archive-date= 27 December 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201227213725/https://books.google.com/books?id=1ajwK7ejowwC&q=%22crime+as+well+as+a+sin%22+lewis&pg=PT234|url-status= live}}</ref> while [[Al-Baqara 256]] says "there is no compulsion in religion".<ref name="qref|2|256">{{qref|2|256|b=yl}}</ref> Typically there is a waiting period to allow the apostate time to repent and to return to Islam.<ref name=jstor-1570336/><ref name=aromar/><ref name="KEY">{{cite book|author1= Kecia Ali|author2= Oliver Leaman|title= Islam: the key concepts|publisher= Routledge|year= 2008|page= 10|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H5-CdzqmuXsC&pg=PA10|access-date= 29 November 2013|isbn= 978-0415396387|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131212074154/http://books.google.com/books?id=H5-CdzqmuXsC&pg=PA10|archive-date= 12 December 2013}}</ref><ref name=johnesposito>{{cite book|author= John L. Esposito|title= The Oxford dictionary of Islam|publisher= Oxford University Press|year= 2004|page= 22|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA22|access-date= 28 November 2013|isbn= 978-0195125597|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131212075502/http://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA22|archive-date= 12 December 2013}}</ref> [[Wael Hallaq]] writes that "[in] a culture whose lynchpin is religion, religious principles and religious morality, apostasy is in some way equivalent to high treason in the modern nation-state".<ref name="waelhallaq">{{cite book|last1= Wael|first1= B. Hallaq|title= Sharī'a: Theory, Practice and Transformations|date= 2009|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn= 978-0-521-86147-2|page= 319|author1-link= Wael Hallaq}}</ref> Early Islamic jurists set the standard for apostasy from Islam so high that practically no apostasy verdict could be passed before the 11th century,<ref name="Princeton.Enc.2013">{{cite book |editor1=Gerhard Bowering|others=associate editors Patricia Crone, Wadid Kadi, Devin J. Stewart and Muhammad Qasim Zaman; assistant editor Mahan Mirza|title = The Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic political thought |date = 2013 |publisher = [[Princeton University Press]] |location = Princeton, N.J. |isbn = 978-0691134840 |page = 40}}</ref> but later jurists lowered the bar for applying the death penalty, allowing judges to interpret the apostasy law in different ways,<ref name="Princeton.Enc.2013"/> which they did sometimes leniently and sometimes strictly.{{sfn|Vikør|2005|p=291}} In the late 19th century, criminal penalties for apostasy fell into disuse, although civil penalties were still applied.<ref name=jstor-1570336/>

Some Islamic jurists continue to regard apostasy as a crime deserving the [[Capital and corporal punishment in Islam|death penalty]].<ref name=aromar>{{cite book|last= Omar|first= Abdul Rashied|editor1= Mohammed Abu-Nimer|editor2= David Augsburger|title= Peace-Building by, between, and beyond Muslims and Evangelical Christians|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HvrDWka4iRgC&pg=186|year=2009|publisher= Lexington Books|chapter= The Right to religious conversion: Between apostasy and proselytization|isbn= 978-0-7391-3523-5|pages= 179–94|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160111010040/https://books.google.com/books?id=HvrDWka4iRgC&pg=186|archive-date= 11 January 2016}}</ref> A number of liberal and progressive Islamic scholars have argued that apostasy should not be viewed as a crime.<ref name="ELLIOTT-3-26-2006">{{cite news|last1=Elliott|first1=Andrea|title=In Kabul, a Test for Shariah|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/weekinreview/26elliott.html?_r=0|access-date=28 November 2015|agency=New York Times|date=26 March 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111010040/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/weekinreview/26elliott.html?_r=0|archive-date=11 January 2016}}</ref>
<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news |first=Magdi |last=Abdelhadi |date=27 March 2006 |title=What Islam says on religious freedom |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4850080.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=14 October 2009 |url-status=live |archive-date=11 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211123527/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4850080.stm}}</ref><ref name=jstor-1570336/><ref name=bbcsudan>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27424064 |title=Sudan woman faces death for apostasy|work=BBC News |date=15 May 2014|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519054610/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27424064 |archive-date=19 May 2014 |quote=There is a long-running debate in Islam over whether apostasy is a crime. Some liberal scholars hold the view that it is not (...), Others say apostasy is (...). The latter is the dominant view in conservative Muslim states such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan (...).}}</ref> Others argue that the death penalty is an inappropriate punishment,<ref name= hassanibrahim>{{cite book|first =Hassan|last= Ibrahim |editor-first= Ibrahim M.|editor-last= Abu-Rabi'|date=2006|title= The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought|publisher= Blackwell Publishing|isbn =978-1-4051-2174-3|pages= 167–69}}</ref><ref name=smz>{{cite journal |last1=Zwemer |first1=Samuel M. |title=The Law of Apostasy |journal= The Muslim World |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages= 36–37, chapter 2 |issn= 0027-4909}}</ref> inconsistent with the Qur'anic verses such as [[Al-Baqara 256]] containing "no compulsion in religion";<ref name="ELLIOTT-3-26-2006"/> or that it was a man-made rule enacted in the early Islamic community to prevent and punish the equivalent of desertion or treason,<ref>{{cite book|author=John Esposito |year=2011|title=What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam|page=74|publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wSVQI3Ya2EC&pg=PA74|isbn=978-0199794133|author-link=John Esposito |access-date=18 April 2019 |url-status=live|archive-date=11 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611044119/https://books.google.com/books?id=2wSVQI3Ya2EC&pg=PA74}}</ref> and should be enforced only if apostasy becomes a mechanism of [[Fitna (word)|public disobedience and disorder]] (''fitna'').{{#tag:ref|According to the interpretation of [[Turkish Muslims|Turkish Muslim]] [[Islamic studies|scholar]] Ahmet Albayrak regarding apostasy from Islam as a form of wrongdoing, punishment for leaving Islam is not a sign of [[Religious intolerance|intolerance towards other religions]], and it is not aimed at one's freedom to leave Islam and [[Freedom of religion|to choose a different faith]]. In his opinion, it is more correct to say that the punishment is imposed as a safety precaution when conditions warrant the imposition of it; for example, the punishment is imposed if apostasy from Islam becomes a mechanism of [[Fitna (word)|public disobedience and disorder]] (''fitna'').<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Leaman |editor-first=Oliver |editor-link=Oliver Leaman |year=2006 |title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C |location=London and New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=526–527 |isbn=9780415775298}}</ref>|group=Note}} According to [[Khaled Abou El Fadl]], moderate Muslims do not believe that apostasy requires punishment.<ref name="GTWIFE">{{cite book|last1=Abou El Fadl |first1=Khaled|title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists|year=2007 |publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0061189036|page=158|author1-link=Khaled Abou El Fadl}}</ref> The death penalty<ref>{{cite web |date=16 May 2014 |title=UN rights office deeply concerned over Sudanese woman facing death for apostasy |url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47810 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417115144/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47810 |archive-date=17 April 2017 |access-date=17 April 2017 |website=UN News Centre}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=13 February 2012 |title=Saudi Arabia: Writer Faces Apostasy Trial |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/13/saudi-arabia-writer-faces-apostasy-trial |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417114956/https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/13/saudi-arabia-writer-faces-apostasy-trial |archive-date=17 April 2017 |access-date=17 April 2017 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> or other punishment for apostasy in Islam is a violation of universal [[human rights]], and an issue of [[freedom of faith]] and conscience.<ref name=hassanibrahim/><ref>{{cite book|title= Human Rights Diplomacy |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=U84ktW2N93QC&pg=64|year=1997|publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-15390-4|page=64|url-status=live|archive-date=11 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111010039/https://books.google.com/books?id=U84ktW2N93QC&pg=64}}</ref>

Twenty-three Muslim-majority countries, {{as of | 2013 | lc = on}}, penalized apostasy from Islam through their [[criminal law]]s.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/law/help/apostasy/index.php Laws Criminalizing Apostasy] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20171231144725/https://www.loc.gov/law/help/apostasy/index.php |date=31 December 2017 }} Library of Congress (2014)</ref>
{{As of | 2014}}, apostasy from Islam was a capital offense in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.<ref name=locapo>[https://www.loc.gov/law/help/apostasy/apostasy.pdf Laws Criminalizing Apostasy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011180050/http://www.loc.gov/law/help/apostasy/apostasy.pdf |date=11 October 2017 }} Library of Congress (2014)</ref><ref>[http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e174 Apostasy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904042337/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e174 |date=4 September 2014 }} Oxford Islamic Studies Online, Oxford University Press (2012)</ref> In other countries, Sharia courts could use family laws to void the Muslim apostate's [[marriage in Islam|marriage]] and to deny [[child custody|child-custody]] rights as well as [[inheritance]] rights.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Zwemer |first1= Samuel M. |title= The Law of Apostasy |journal= The Muslim World |volume= 14 |issue=4 |pages= 41–43, Chapter 2 |issn= 0027-4909}}</ref> In the years 1985–2006, four individuals were legally executed for apostasy from Islam: "one in Sudan in 1985; two in Iran, in 1989 and 1998; and one in Saudi Arabia in 1992."<ref name="ELLIOTT-3-26-2006"/> While modern states have rarely prosecuted apostasy, the issue has a "deep cultural resonance" in some Muslim societies and Islamists have tended to exploit it for political gain.<ref name="ELLIOTT-3-26-2006"/> [[Apostasy in Islam#Public opinion|In a 2008–2012 Pew Research Center poll]], public support for capital punishment for apostasy among Muslims ranged from 78% in Afghanistan to less than 1% in Kazakhstan, reaching over 50% in 6 of the 20 countries surveyed.