Riddah

Apostasy: abandoning Islam after having accepted it.

Also written · Ridda · Irtidad · Murtad · Murtadd · Riddat · Irtidaad · apostasy · leaving Islam · renouncing Islam · apostate · conversion out of Islam

The meaning

What Riddah means in Islam

Classical law treated open apostasy as a capital offence, drawing on prophetic reports rather than on the Qur'an, which mentions apostasy several times without prescribing any worldly penalty and states plainly that there is no compulsion in religion. Hanafis did not apply the death penalty to a woman who apostatised, and jurists across the schools required that repentance be invited first. Many contemporary scholars read the classical rulings as addressing public treason within a specific political order rather than private belief, and the question is actively debated.

Evidence · Scholars differ · The scholars read this one differently

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