Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag told the judge: "I
am a Christian and I never committed apostasy"
A court ruling in Sudan sentencing a heavily
pregnant woman to death has reignited debate about punishment for apostasy.
Dr Meriam Yahya Ibrahim was condemned to hang for
allegedly leaving Islam and marrying a Christian man.
The court said that by doing so, she had abandoned her religious faith
and was guilty of apostasy, which carries the ultimate penalty under Islamic
law in the country.
But some liberal religious scholars have argued apostasy is not even a
crime.
They back up their beliefs by citing the Koranic verse which states:
"There shall be no compulsion in religion."
Sudan
is among the countries that back severe punishments for people deemed to have
abandoned Islam
Other more conservative Muslims refer to the words of the
Prophet Muhammad in the Hadith saying: "It is not permissible to spill the
blood of a Muslim except in three [instances]: A life for a life; a married
person who commits adultery; and one who forsakes his religion and separates
from the community."
Day
of judgement
Islam's legal system - Sharia - says apostasy covers a wide
range of offences, including conversion to another religion, idol worship, or
mistreating the Koran.
While some scholars favour the death penalty, others say the
punishment should be left to God on the day of judgement.
The late Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's religious and political
leader, famously denounced the author Salman Rushdie as an apostate for his
novel The Satanic Verses - and said he should be killed.
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