Deoband to reconsider death sentence for apostasy

DELHI 4 January 2010:  The death penalty for apostasy is ‘extreme’ and is counter to all four schools of Islamic law, an official spokesman for the reformist Deobandi seminary in India said tonight.

His comment does not amount to a formal veto of the practise whose implementation varies in Muslim countries.

But his views could signal a shift in attitude to a phenomenon which causes misery and terror for converts around the world.

Adil Siddiqui, Deoband PRO, agreed to submit a written question drafted by Lapido Media representatives on Tuesday 4 January to a shura headed by the Chief Mufti of Deoband’s Dar-ul-Uloom in Uttar Pradesh with a view to considering a fatwa outlawing the practice.

The sect is the second most important seminary for mualim in the world, after al-Azher University in Cairo.

The Lapido Media group who made the trip to Deoband six hours’ drive east from Delhi, included Indian journalist Vishal Arora and retired director of the Lahore-based Open Theological Seminary, Zafir Ismail.

Siddiqui denied that Islam opposed conversion.  ‘If a Muslim decides to change his religion, and become a Christian, all four schools of fiqh (personal law) allow it.’

We confronted him with the story of Hannah Shah, published pseudonymously by Continuum last year that will appear in paperback in June.

The autobiography tells of a Deobandi imam of a British mosque whose 33-year old daughter still has police protection 14 years after she converted to Christianity.

Said Siddiqui:  ‘I think it’s extreme.  Islam gives liberty to everyone.’

He agreed to hand the written question to the Mufti.

Experts remain sceptical about his comments, indicating the lack of candour or scholarship at the highest levels of the sect. 

Ziya Meral a Turkish researcher, who wrote the widely acclaimed report No Place to Call Home: the Experiences of Apostates from Islam and Failures of the International Community', published by CSW in 2008 said:  'He is wrong.  Four schools unanimously agree on death for a male apostate, but show variations on the treatment of a female apostate and whether a male apostate should get a chance for repentance and how long this repentance should be.

'It would be encouraging to see such a fatwa, but even if such a fatwa is issued, along with increasing reforming voices on the topic, the main concern in today's world is not official death penalty, which is rarely applied, but immense persecution and pressure from states, communities, radical groups and families. 

'What needs to be addressed is the gross human rights violations faced by converts and the serious failures of Muslim majority states in not only protecting the converts but also in creating cultures of impunity.'

Hannah Shah, now 33, said any fatwah would take time to seep down to ordinary Muslims.  'I will believe it when I see it.'

She added:  ‘A fatwah from the top of the Deobandi sect would be absolutely amazing.

‘It would take time, but it would make a massive difference, not just to my family but to other people.’

She said she did not know how many converts were in hiding in Britain, because no research had been done, but a fatwah would help them have the courage to speak out, as she had done.

Perhaps even more significantly for a movement traditionally opposed to ijtihad – or independent reinterpration of the shariah according to contemporary circumstances – Mr Siddiqui said: ‘Ideas can change, and our thinking changes.’

He appeared to contradict the pronouncement by renowned American scholar Wilfred Cantwell Smith who is quoted in the school’s official history as saying ‘the door of ijtihad is closed tight’.

He said:  ‘We are changing according to the requirements of the time’.

The Deobandi school, founded in 1866 trains imams for 18 of the UK’s 26 madrasahs, and issues guidance in the form of regular fatwas and a website.

Its prestige is based on its resistance to the British Raj which led to Partition in 1947.

It was founded to prepare the Muslim character for jihad, should the circumstances require it, and Deobandis still regard themselves as ‘freedom fighters’.

Strongly influenced by the severe views of the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, the Deoband school now has 3,500 students – and is building for more.

The Taleban – a word which means student - are the most famous of its alumni.