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MOROCCO: HIGH RELIGIOUS COMMITTEE SAYS APOSTATES SHOULD NOT BE KILLED

February 6, 2017: Morocco’s High Religious  Committee has retracted its Islamic ruling stating that apostasy is punishable by death and has decided to permit Muslims to change their religion.
The High Religious Committee in charge of issuing Fatwas (Islamic rulings) released a book in 2012 where it articulated its position on apostasy and argued that a Muslim who changes his or her religion should be punished with death, drawing on a widespread jurisprudence tradition.
Recently, however, the same entity issued a document titled “The Way of the Scholars,” in which it backtracked on its position of killing apostates. Instead, it redefined apostasy not as a religious issue but as a political stand more closely aligned with “high treason.”
The view that the apostate should not be killed in Islam is not a new one and can be found in the teachings of Sufyan al-Thawri in the first century AH. The scholar reviewed historical situations where the prophet Mohammed acted on the ruling, as opposed to the times he did not order the killing of the apostates. He concluded that killings occurred for political purposes and were not decisions based on religion. The apostates could, theoretically, disclose the secrets of the then fragile Islamic nation.
The reasons behind  Morocco’s High Religious Committee’s change in position are not different from those advocated by Sufyan al-Thawri. Their newly released statement says:
“The most accurate understanding, and the most consistent with the Islamic legislation and the practical way of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is that the killing of the apostate is meant for the traitor of the group, the one disclosing secrets, […] the equivalent of treason in international law.”
The High Religious Committee presented the Prophet’s statement that “whoever changes his religion, kill him” in the light of his explanation “the one who leaves his religion and abandons his people.” The statement further explains that, at the time of continuous wars against the Islamic revolution in Arabia, apostates represented the threat of disclosing the secrets of new Ummah to its many enemies.
The document  went to explain that during the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Prophet Mohammed himself observed the provisions stating that whomever became a Muslim and renounced it must be allowed to return to Quraich, the Muslim nations’ most powerful enemy at the time. When a Bedouin decided to leave Islam after the Treaty, therefore, the prophet simply let him go.
Using Islam’s primary source of legislation, the High Religious Committee stated that the Quran talks in many instances about apostasy and its punishment in the hereafter, without mentioning any punishment in this life as in Chapter 2 verse 217 that says:  “And whoever of you reverts from his religion [to disbelief] and dies while he is a disbeliever – for those, their deeds have become worthless in this world and the Hereafter, and those are the companions of the Fire, they will abide therein eternally.”
The document also explained that the famous Wars of Apostasy launched by Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the Muslims world’s first Caliph, were in line with his effort to keep the newly established state together and fight all sorts of internal divisions. This was a decision based on political reasoning rather than by religious motivations. (Sources: moroccoworldnews.com, 06/02/2017)

IRAN: 15 PRISONERS EXECUTED
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TAIWAN COMMUTES SENTENCE FOR 2 PINOYS ON DEATH ROW
PUNTLAND: MILITARY COURT SENTENCES 7 HARAKAT SHEBAB OPERATIVES TO DEATH
NIGERIA: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE 5 YEARS AFTER HACKING ANOTHER TO DEATH
PHILIPPINES: LEGISLATORS WATER DOWN DEATH PENALTY BILL
UAE: SHARJAH COURT ORDERS DEATH SENTENCE TO PAKISTANI FOR KILLING WIFE
NIGERIA: AMOSUN PARDONS THREE PRISONERS, COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE ON TWO INMATES
NIGERIA: ABUJA HIGH COURT SENTENCES RANDY SOLDIER TO DEATH
MYANMAR: ROHINGYA MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAID ON POLICE POST
INDIA: MAN GETS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR RAPE AND MURDER IN MADHYA PRADESH
IRAN COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES OF SIX JUVENILE OFFENDERS
PENNSYLVANIA (USA): FEDERAL APPEALS COURT BARS AUTOMATIC SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR FORMER DEATH ROW PRISONERS
VIETNAM TO BUILD FIVE MORE LETHAL INJECTION VENUES
ALABAMA (USA): SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES BILL TO UNDO JUDICIAL OVERRIDE
BANGLADESH: 6 TO WALK GALLOWS FOR KILLING VAN-PULLER IN KUSHTIA
EGYPT: TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR U.S. EMBASSY CLASHES
SYRIA: ASSAD 'HANGS 13,000 AT SLAUGHTERHOUSE JAIL WHERE PRISONERS COUNT DISCARDED SLIPPERS TO KNOW HOW MANY HAVE DIED'
THAILAND: AUSTRALIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
HANDS OFF CAIN URGES THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT TO TAKE ACTION ON THE DJALALI CASE
JORDAN: COURT SENTENCES FIVE TO DEATH OVER IRBID ATTACK
IRANIAN SCIENTIST SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ESPIONAGE, CONTACT WITH ISRAELIS
KUWAIT: CITIZEN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING SPOUSE
PAKISTAN: TWO BROTHERS HANGED AT LAHORE’S KOT LAKHPAT JAIL
SINGAPORE: FORMER POLICEMAN TO HANG AFTER APPEAL DISMISSED
MALAYSIA: TWO FRIENDS SENT TO THE GALLOWS FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
IRAN: EIGHT PRISONERS HANGED, INCLUDING TWO MINORS
IRAN: MAN AND WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH BY STONING
SRI LANKA: PRESIDENT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCES OF 60 INMATES TO LIFE
GUYANA: TWO BARTICA MASSACRE ACCUSED SENTENCED TO DEATH BY HANGING

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