Another Look at the Historical Documents of Apostasy

Apostasy is a matter that affects people’s lives. In most the apostate is sentenced to death. Religious and jurisprudential government of Islamic Republic of Iran from one hand and the opposite views on the other hands add to the importance of this matter. The present article aims at studying and reviewing the quality and the quantity of what has been stated in the historical reports about apostasy and the killing of apostates. The main discussion is about the time of prophetic mission and the Holy Prophet’s practice as the Muslims’ major jurisprudential source. The article concludes that according to historical reports the execution of the people who were accused of apostasy is not clear and the order to kill them was given by the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was for other reasons. In addition, it seems that in a number of cases the murder of the apostates was influenced by the atmosphere at the time of the first caliph and the Raddeh wars in the Early Islam that many Muslims were killed on charges of conversion.