A survey based on face-to-face interviews conducted in 80 languages by the Pew Research Center between 2008 and 2012 among thousands of Muslims in many countries, found varied views on the death penalty for those who leave Islam to become an atheist or to convert to another religion. Similar views are expressed by the non-theistic International Humanist and Ethical Union. In this survey, Muslims who favored making Sharia the law of the land were asked for their views on the death penalty for apostasy from Islam. Wael Hallaq states the death penalty reflects a later reality and does not stand in accord with the deeds of the Prophet. Section 112(1) of the new law states that a Muslim who declares himself non-Muslim commits a crime punishable with death, or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding thirty years, depending on evidence. For example, the discussion about corporate personhood — the idea that a business has the same rights as a person — in the United States was a heated one. One of the ways that God works in the healing process, if we ask him to, is to reveal to us what those bad choices were.

Blue is associated with ancient Turks who believed that God was the blue sky. It wasn’t until I took a cross-country road trip after college and ended up camping in a secluded area in eastern Texas that I really saw the night sky in all its glory. Previously al-Hallaj had been punished for talking about being at one with God by being shaved, pilloried and beaten with the flat of a sword. In Luke, Jesus blesses those “who hunger now, for you will be satisfied” and pronounces “woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” Again, it sounds like the authors of Luke have Jesus talking about physical hunger. I like your humble approach as well. Which country would you least like to visit? Brunei is the latest Muslim country to enact a law that makes apostasy a crime punishable with death. He was released and left the country to find refuge in Italy. The Moscow Community was the first to be registered by the state in 1994. Russian Rodnovers believe in Rod, the supreme God, and in lesser deities who include Perun and Dazhbog. For example, the Ridda wars (civil wars of apostasy) shook the Muslim community in 632 AD, immediately after the death of Muhammad.

In March 2006, an Afghan citizen Abdul Rahman was charged with apostasy and could have faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity. The blasphemy laws and Article 98(f) of Egyptian Penal Code, as amended by Law 147, has been used to prosecute Muslims who have converted to Christianity. A 2010 Pew Research Center poll showed that 84% of Egyptian Muslims believe those who leave Islam should be punished by death. Prevailing Hanafi jurisprudence, per consensus of its school of Islamic scholars, prescribes death penalty for the crime of apostasy. In addition to death, the family of the accused can be deprived of all property and possessions, and the individual’s marriage is considered dissolved in accordance with Hanafi Sunni jurisprudence. From the 7th century through the 18th century, atheists, materialists, Sufi, and Shii sects were accused and executed for apostasy in Islam. It is believed that this position developed in the 5th century BCE following the severing of its ties to Tyre following the 480 BCE Battle of Himera. It is believed there are only seven archangels. Despite these edicts, there was constant pressure on non-Muslims to convert to Islam, and apostates from Islam continued to be persecuted, punished and threatened with execution, particularly in eastern and Levant parts of the then Ottoman Empire.

Contemporary Egyptian jurisprudence prohibits apostasy from Islam, but has also remained silent about death penalty. For example, in May 2007, Bahaa El-Din El-Akkad, a former Egyptian Muslim and someone who worked on Dawah to spread Islam, was imprisoned after he converted to Christianity, under the charge of “blasphemy against Islam”. Some atheist Bangladeshis have been targeted for practicing free speech and “disrespecting” Islam, such as Humayun Azad, who was the target of a failed machete assassination attempt, and Avijit Roy, who was killed with a machete. Overall, the figures in the 2012 survey suggest that the percentage of Muslims in the countries surveyed who approve the death penalty for Muslims who leave Islam to become an atheist or convert to another religion varies widely, from 0.4% (in Kazakhstan) to 78.2% (in Afghanistan). These values do not include Muslims who may not support sharia but do support the death penalty for apostasy. As of 2014, apostasy was a capital offense in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Montazeri defines different types of apostasy; he argues that capital punishment should be reserved for those who desert Islam out of malice and enmity towards the Muslim community, and not those who convert to another religion after investigation and research.