Apostasy: A Crime Still in Want of Clarification

Clarification of the meaning of apostasy and its application is one of the complexities of Islamic jurisprudence. This complication is doubled when «the Islamic state» aims to implement this agenda in «the modern world». Islamic juristconsults have elaborated on inborn apostasy and aquired apostasy mentioning verdicts for each in details. Some contemporary authors have also contributed to the satisfaction of seekers of knowledge about these verdicts، which are not repeated in this article. What is included here is a glance at the background of this concept in the Koran، quotations، and Islamic jurisprudence. It is a study of the concept of apostasy and the implementation of jurisconsult''s about it، and emphasizes the fact that sometimes change of religion is due to factors outside one''s control inevitably effecting change in human intellect and mind. Hence the punishment for apostasy is questionable because of its conceptual ambiguity and the punishment for it should be more discretionary than set.