Re: The punishment of apostate
I don’t care for praise from you, much less condescending praise. I have expressed my opinions in this manner before, this isn’t the first time. However, I think you didn’t understand my current resoonse. Muqaw fitnah reference was about the jews who pretended to be Muslim with a deliberate attempt to convert out of the faith. Many of the early converts to Islam were servants, poor people. They had nothing worldly to gain from their conversion to Islam, but they had much to lose. They didn’t gain wealth or status or power, they were risking their livelihood and lives. Many were tortured. So, firstly, the Prophet SAWS did not impose Islam on them; there was no compulsion. As Allah says in the Quran that upon the Prophet is only the duty of reminding. So, these converts were not forced, but they made huge sacrifices to accept Islam in the sense that it involved great risk. So, picture these new converts…some who have been through mental and physical torture…have begun to practice Islam. It’s a new thing for them, much to learn and get used to, they still may be a bit shaky. And all of a sudden they see a huge number of Muslims suddenly convert out of Islam. How do you think they would feel? Confused and hurt and doubtful. See you only see this as “freedom of speech”…this is more than speech, it’s deception, it’s underhanded. You accused me of lies..well what do you call this particular tactic if not a huge lie? They were not being stopped from expressing their criticism of Islam. Heck they were even encouraged to share what was written in the Bible and Torah, so they were not stopped from expressing or sharing. But was it necessary to resort to this underhanded tactic and others? Was it necessary to tell people to stay away from the messenger, to ostracize him? To plan to kill him? Getting your kids to throw stones at him? This is not just speech or expression…these are dangerous actions. I am surprised you merely see this as “freedom of speech and expression”…or you might see it as “freedom to oppose/disbelieve”…but it’s more than that, worse than that, I would say you’ve over-simplified it by calling is “speech” or “expression.” I don’t say the following with any intent to be snarky to you. I only started learning about the seerah of the Prophet and the Quran with tafsir maybe little over a year ago. It has removed some of my misconceptions and opened my mind. I suggest you do the same, not to convert to Islam but to gain a better understanding of it. If you read Quran, do so with tafsir not just translation, latter is inadequate. And reading the seerah of the Prophet can clear up misconceptions. Sometimes reading on your own provides greater clarification than a debate, esp an online one.