A Critique of the Apostates Punishment in Islam and Other Religions

Throughout the history, serious questions have been posed on how the apostates should be encountered and in this regard, considerable discussions have been taken place in legal-jurisprudential and theological schools. This implication took a more serious status after issuance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which sees ideological freedom as the natural right of human. Since violent and severe penal reactions regarding the punishment of the apostates has been reported mostly among the followers of divine religions, the majority of the objections have been drawn to the divine religions. However, not only in Islamic Sharia, but also in Jewish and Christian ones, the sin of killing every human being who has not committed human murdering or not caused corruption equal to killing of all human beings and this is the greatest fault. This paper intends to prove that in none of the religions, neither in Islam, nor in the other divine religions, there is unfair punishment and the holiness of the divine prophets is exempted from any stage of violence.