Re: The punishment of apostate
Bella,
You asked if Islam tolerates criticism of the faith?
Will Christians, those who believe in their faith, have tolerance for anyone who ridicules Jesus (AS). Would Jews, those who believe, have tolerance for anyone who criticizes Moses (AS). No, they won’t. Naturally, they won’t. It’s because they have love for these Prophets. You staunchly adhere to your belief system of secular humanism, would you ‘tolerate’ it if someone criticized you? And is it unreasonable for you to become more and more angry if the criticism you receive becomes harsher and harsher? No, it isn’t.
people criticise christianity all the time here in western countries. i have told plenty of christians that i dont think it makes any sense and no one seems to ever get offended the way muslims do! and yes you can criticise my secular humanism all you want, beause i respect your POV and your opinion regarding my belief.
What is worse than criticism is killing. The Prophet SAWS forgave people who made attempts to kill him. He was criticized and scorned by his own uncle. He showed tolerance.
So, bella…if you wanna know if Islam persecutes people for criticising Islam, then look for the answer in the seerah. We are lesser human beings than the Prophet SAWS…we don’t have the discipline to even pray our namaz, nor to control our egos and practice sabar. Look to the Prophet SAWS for the answer to your question because it him that we are supposed to follow and emulate. The answer to your question carries greater validity when you look at how the leader led his life because that is set as the standard…not the followers. The former is a stronger indication.
You go to a company and you see a few employees that are slacking off and disorganized, basically they’re not following the rules. Does this mean that the company advocates such chaos? No. Look at the handbook of the company that was created by the leader or founder. It contains the rules, the expectations, the standards, the way of life in this company. Some workers will follow the rules and expectations better than others. But if you want a better and clearer idea/answer as to whether this company advocates intolerance, disorganization etc etc…ask the leader. If he’s not there or if he’s left the world…refer to the handbook, that tells you what is acceptable conduct and what isn’t. *** Use the handbook to confirm whether or not what the workers are doing is acceptable. Don’t use the workers to confirm the standards that were set; this is what you have been doing it seems.
If you use the followers’ actions to form an overall opinion of the faith, then every faith will seem cruel to you…Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, …Heck even the secularists.
even some posters here mentioned criticising religion in a muslim country is not allowed. psyah mentioned in his post that saying negatgive things about prophet is not tolerated and gave me reasons for it as well.