PETALING JAYA (Dec 1, 2006): There is a significant body of opinion among the ulama from the earliest Islamic history that apostasy is not a capital crime, and not punishable by death, Sisters in Islam (SIS) said.

SIS programme manager Norhayati Kaprawi said the Quran was silent on the worldly punishment for apostasy, and Surah al-Baqarah 2:256 explicitly states: "Let there be no compulsion in religion".

"Surah Yunus 10:99 also states that 'Had your Lord willed, everyone on earth would have believed. Do you then force people to become believers?'," she said in a press statement yesterday.

Norhayati said noted International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) scholar Prof Hashim Kamali, who wrote Freedom of Expression in Islam, has also highlighted that two leading jurists of the generation succeeding the Prophet's Companions - Ibrahim al-Naka'I and Sufyan al-Thawri - both held that apostates should never be condemned to death.

"The renowned Hanafi jurist, Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi, wrote that even though renunciation of faith is the greatest of offences, it is a matter between man and his Creator, and its punishment is postponed to the Day of Judgment.

"The Maliki jurist Abul Walid al-Baji and the renowned Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah have both held that apostasy is a sin which carries no hudud punishment, that is, death.

"The Sheikh of al-Azhar, who was Egypt's former grand mufti, Dr Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, also declared that apostasy is not a capital crime."

Norhayati said SIS viewed with concern the opinions of two IIUM lecturers at a convention on Wednesday that apostasy was punishable by death and was also a crime under the Federal Constitution.

"Unfortunately, the conference by IIUM and the Syariah Judiciary Department of Malaysia, which was supposed to focus on practical solutions for apostasy, presented only one view," she said.

"It did not include other notable scholars nor did it include the experiences of those affected by the conflict of laws on conversion, nor the lawyers who represent them."

Norhayati said it was disturbing that in seeking practical solutions to an issue which has life and death consequences, the IIUM convention did not encompass the diversity of opinion within the Islamic heritage on the issue.