MURTADD (A.), ''one who turns back",
especially from Islam, an apostate. Apostasy is
called irtidad or ridda; it may be committed verbally by
denying a principle of belief or by an action, for example
treating a copy of the Kur'an with disrespect.
1. In the Kur'an, the apostate is threatened with
punishment in the next world only; the "wrath of
God" will fall upon him according to a sura of the
latest Meccan period (XVI, 108-9) and severe punishment
(^adhdb) "except he did it under compulsion and
his heart is steadfast in belief. Similarly, it is written
in the Medinan sura III, 80 ff., "... This is the
punishment for them, that the curse of Allah, the
Angels and of men is upon them for all time (82); the
punishment shall not be lightened for them and they
shall not be granted alleviation, (83) except for those
who later repent and make good their fault, for Allah
is forgiving and merciful. (84) Those who disbelieve
after believing and increase in unbelief, shall not have
their repentance accepted; they are the erring ones.
(85) Those who are unbelievers and die as
unbelievers, from none of them shall be accepted the
earth-full of gold, even if he should wish to ransom
himself with it; this is a painful punishment for them
and there will be no helpers for them" (cf. also IV,
136; V, 59; IX, 67). Sura II, 214, is to be interpreted
in the same way, although it is adduced by al-Shafi'i
as the main evidence for the death penalty, "... He
among you who falls away from his belief and dies an
unbeliever—these, their works are fruitless in this
world and the next, and they are the companions of
the fire for ever".
2. There is little echo of these punishments in the
next world in the Traditions (cf. Ibn Madja, Hudud,
bab 2; Ibn Hanbal, i, 409, 430, 464-5; v, 4, 5).
Instead, we have in many traditions a new element,
the death penalty. Thus Ibn 'Abbas transmits an
utterance of the Prophet, "Slay him, who changes his
religion" or "behead him" (Ibn Madja, Hudud, bab 2;
al-Nasa'i, Tahrim al-dam, bab 14; al-Tayalisi, no.
2689; Malik, Akdiya, tr. 15; cf. also al-Bukhari,
Istitabat al-murtaddin, bab 2; al-Tirmidhi, Hudud, bab
25; Abu Dawud, Hudud, bab 1; Ibn Hanbal, i, 217,
282, 322). According to another tradition of Ibn
'Abbas and 'A'isha, the Prophet is said to have permitted
the blood to be shed of him "who abandons his
religion and separates himself from the community
(djama'a)" (al-Bukhari, Diyat, bab 6; Muslim, Kasama,
tr. 25, 26; al-Nasa'i, Tahrim al-dam, bab 5, 14; Kasama,
bab 6; Ibn Madja, Hudud, bab 1; Abu Dawud, Hudud,
bab 1; al-Tirmidhl, Diyat, bab 10; Fitan, bab 1; Ibn
Hanbal, i, 382, 444). But there was no agreement
from the first on the nature of the death penalty; thus
'Ikrima (d. 106/724) and Anas b. Malik (d. 91/710)
criticise 'Ali for having burned apostates (al-Bukhari,
Istitabat al-murtaddm, bab 2; al-Tirmidhi, Hudud, bab
25; Abu Dawud, Hudud, bab 1; Ibn Hanbal, i, 217;
according to a variant the reference is to Zindiks or
Zutt, who served idols; al-Nasa'i, Tahrim al-dam, bab
14; Ibn Hanbal, i, 282, 322). According to a tradition
of 'A'isha's, apostates are to be slain, crucified or
banished (al-Nasa°I, Tahrim al-dam, bab 11; Kasdma,
bdb 13; Abu Dawud, Hudud, bab 1).
On the question whether the apostate should be
given an opportunity to repent, traditions differ.
According to one tradition of Abu Burda (d.
104/722), Mu'adh b. Djabal refused to sit down until
an apostate brought before him had been slain "in
accordance with the decision of God and of his apostle"
(al-Bukhan, Maghdzi, bab 60; Istitabat almurtaddin,
bab 2; Ahkam, bab 12; Muslim, Imdra, tr. 15;
Abu Dawud, Hudud, bab 1; Ibn Hanbal, v, 231). In
the same tradition in Abu Dawud, however, it is
added that they had tried in vain for 20 nights to convert
the apostate. The caliph Umar is also represented
as disapproving of this proceeding with the
words: "Did you then not shut him up for three days
and give him a round loaf (raghif) daily and try to
induce him to repent. Perhaps he would have
repented and returned to obedience to God. O God!
I was not there, I did not order it and I do not
approve; see, it was thus reported to me" (Malik,
Akdiya, tr. 15). There are also traditions according to
which God does not accept the repentance of an
apostate (Ibn Hanbal, v, 2) and others according to
which even the Prophet forgave apostates (al-Nasa'i,
Tahrim al-dam, babs 14, 15; Abu Dawud, Hudud, bdb 1;
Ibn Hanbal, i, 247; al-Tabari, Tafsir, iii, 223).
3. a. In Fikh, there is unanimity that the male
apostate must be put to death, but only if he is grown
up (baligh) and compos mentis ('akil) and has not acted
under compulsion (mukhtar). A woman, on the other
hand, is imprisoned, according to Hanafi and Shi'i
teaching, until she again adopts Islam, while according
to al-Awza'i, Ibn Hanbal (al-Tirmidhi, Hudud,
bdb 25), the Malikis and Shafi'is (cf. Umm, i, 131,
where al-Shafi'i vigorously attacks Abu Yusuf who is
not mentioned by name) she also is put to death.
Although this punishment is not properly hadd (cf.
thereon, al-Shafii', Umm, vii, 330, 11. 20-2) it is
regarded as such by some jurists, as it is a question of
a hakk Allah (cf. e.g. al-Sarakhsi, Siyar, iv, 162); therefore
the execution of the punishment lies with the
imam; in the case of a slave, however, the mawla can
carry it out, as with any other hadd punishment.
Execution should be by the sword. According to the
above traditions, apostates must sometimes have been
tortured to death. The caliph 'Umar II had them tied
to a post and a lance thrust into their hearts (Abu
Yusuf, Kharadl, 112). Al-Badjuri expressly forbids any
form of torture, like burning, drowning, strangling,
impaling or flaying; according to him, Sultan Baybars
II (708-9/1308-9) was the first to introduce torture
(Snouck Hurgronje, Verspr. Geschriften, ii, 198). Lane
(Manners and customs, ch. iii, near the end) records the
case of a woman who had apostatised and was led
through the streets of Cairo on an ass, then strangled
in a boat in the middle of the Nile and thrown into the
river. (The throwing of a corpse into the Nile was
already usual in Cairo in the Fatimid period; cf. Mez,
Renaissance des Islams, 29.) In quite recent times,
followers of the Kadiyam or Ahmadiyya [q. v. ] sect in
Afghanistan were stoned to death (OM, v [1925],
138). In the former Turkish territory and Egypt, as
well as in Muslim lands under European rule, since
the middle of the 19th century, under European influence,
the execution of an apostate on a kadi's sentence
has been abolished, but we still have imprisonment
and deportation (cf. Isabel Burton, The inner Life of
Syria, London 1875, i, 180 ff.); but nevertheless,
renegades are not sure of their lives, as their Muslim
relatives endeavour secretly to dispose of them by
poison or otherwise. Occasionally modern Islamic
writers (such as those of the Ahmadiyya movement)
endeavour to prove that Islam knows of no death
penalty for apostasy; the Indian apologist Muhammad
'Ali lays great stress on the fact there is not once
an indication of the death penalty in the Ku'ran
(Zwemer, The law of apostasy in Islam, 17, 37-8, London
1924; OM, v [1925], 262).
One should here call attention to an agreement
which is probably not accidental. Since in Islam, in
addition to apostasy, unchastity and unnatural vice
are punished by death, even by stoning, according to
both Shafi'is and Maliki's, as well as blaspheming God
or a prophet, and magic, we find in Islam all crimes
punished by death which in the Mishna (Sanhednn, vii,
4) are threatened with stoning.
b. Whether attempts at conversion must be made is
a question of ikhtilaf. A number of jurists of the 1st-
2nd/7th-8th centuries deny this (as do the Zahiris) or
like 'Ata3 (d. 115/733) make a distinction between the
apostate born in Islam and one converted to Islam;
the former is to be put to death at once (so also the
Sh^is). Others insist on three attempts at conversion
(relying on sura IV, 136; cf. al-Tabari, Tafsir, v, 193-
4) or have him in the first place imprisoned for three
days (cf. above, 2). According to others again, one
should await the cycle of the five times of prayer and
ask him to perform the salat at each; only when he has
refused at each is the death punishment to be
enforced. If, however, he repents and professes Islam
once more, he is released (cf. thereon, al-Shafi'i,
Umm, i, 228; Abu Yusuf, Kharadj., 109). In later
times, istitdba was always applied.
c. Apart from the fact that apostasy deprives the
murtadd of burial with Muslim rites, it has certain civil
consequences. The property of the murtadd is fay'
according to al-Shafi'i and the Malikis; if the fugitive
murtadd returns penitent, he is given back what
remains (cf. Umm, i, 231, where al-Shafi'i opposes the
contrary Hanafi view). Others, especially later
Shaficis, regard the rights of ownership of the apostate
as suspended (mawkuj) and regard him as one who is
under guardianship (mahdjur); only if the fugitive
apostate dies in the dar al-harb does his property
become fay' (al-Shirazi, Muhadhdhab, Cairo 1343, ii,
240; cf. al-Shafi'i, Umm, vii, 355). Among the
Hanafis and Shafi'is, the estate is allotted by the kadi
to the legal heirs (cf. also the traditions in al-Darimi,
Fara^id, bob 40), the mudabbar and umm walad are set
free, even when the apostate escapes into the dar alharb,
for this is equivalent to his death. If he comes
back penitent, however, he receives of his property
what still exists; the heirs however are not liable for
compensation.—The marriage of the murtadd is void
(batil). Of his legal undertakings, the istilad is effective
(nafidh), i.e. the umm walad becomes free; the kitdba
also continues. Other legal activities, like manumission,
endowment, testament and sale are suspended
(mawkuf), according to Abu Hanifa; according to Abu
Yusuf, they are effective as in the case of a person in
good health; according to Muhammad al-Shaybani,
however, only as in the case of an invalid, i.e. they
cannot deal with more than one-third of the estate. In
the case of the female apostate, however, they are
always effective. If the apostate makes such legal
arrangements after his flight into the dar al-harb, they
are invalid (al-Sarakhsi, Siyar, iv, 152; cf. also Abu
Yusuf, Kharadj, 111). But since according to Shafi'i
and Malik, his whole estate becomes fay', such legal
arrangements are invalid; only the manumission of a
slave remains suspended until his possible return
penitent; in the case of his death also this slave
mawkuj), according to Abu Hanifa; according to Abu
Yusuf, they are effective as in the case of a person in
good health; according to Muhammad al-Shaybani,
however, only as in the case of an invalid, i.e. they
cannot deal with more than one-third of the estate. In
the case of the female apostate, however, they are
always effective. If the apostate makes such legal
arrangements after his flight into the dar al-harb, they
are invalid (al-Sarakhsi, Siyar, iv, 152; cf. also Abu
Yusuf, Kharadj, 111). But since according to Shafi'i
and Malik, his whole estate becomes fay', such legal
arrangements are invalid; only the manumission of a
slave remains suspended until his possible return
penitent; in the case of his death also this slave
becomes fay' (cf. above, however, the view of later
Shafi'is).
He is punished for crimes committed before
apostasy, if he returns penitent; for crimes committed
during ridda, no notice is taken of the hukuk Allah (i.e.
no hadd) but only of the hukuk al-'ibad, and he must for
example pay the diya (al-Sarakhsi, Siyar, iv, 163, 208-
9; cf. al-Shafi'i, Umm, i, 231).
Bibliography: In addition to the books on Tradition
and Fikh, see especially Shafi'i, Kitab al-Umm,
Cairo 1321, i, 227-34; v, 51; vii, 330 ff., 355; Abu
Yusuf, Kitab al-Kharadj_, Cairo 1302, 109-12;
Sarakhsi, Sharh al-Siyar al-kabir, Haydarabad 1336,
iv, 146-219; Dabusi, Ta'sis al-nazar, Cairo n.d., 22;
Goldziher, Muh. Studien, Halle 1889-90, ii, 215-16;
Santillana, Istituzioni di diritto musulmano malichita,
Rome 1926, i, 131-4; S.M. Zwemer, The law of
apostasy in Islam, London 1924, German tr.
Giitlersloh 1926; C.F. Pijper, Echtscheiding en
Apostasie, in Fragmenta islamica, Leiden 1934; see also
KATL. (W. HEFFENING)