Punishment for Apostasy: Arguments from Two Traditionally Trained Muslim Scholars in Favor of its Abolition

Abstract

This article explores and compares the views of two traditionally educated Muslim scholars, namely Taha Jabir al-Alwani (d 2016) and Hussein Ali Montazeri (d 2009), about the classical rulings on apostasy in Islam. The article argues that both al-Alwani, a Sunni scholar educated at al-Azhar, and Montazeri, a graduate of the Shiʿi seminary in Qom, defend freedom of religion in the sense of converting from Islam to another religion—an idea that stands in sharp opposition to the classical rulings on apostasy in Islamic sources which prescribe capital punishment for such an act. As the article demonstrates, these scholars’ views, despite certain differences in their method of argumentation, advance the development of new ideas about religious freedom in Islamic scholarship, especially among traditional circles.