Abdal Hakim Murad - lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Cambridge - discusses the Salman Rushdie affair and the issue of apostasy in Islam. He explains how the top Sunni authority in the world - the Al-Azhar university in Cairo - issued a fatwa (legal opinion) at the time of the Rushdie affair condemning the Khomeini fatwa and the death sentence. Unfortunately, the mainstream media and press in the UK ignored the Al-Azhar fatwa and tarred all Muslims with the same brush - portraying them as bigotted extremists. Furthermore, he explains that Khomeini's fatwa was politically motivated, and was essentially a smokescreen to distract attention away from people's growing dissatisfaction with the regime.

The issue of apostacy is complicated. Islam teaches that 'there is no compulsion in religion' لاَ إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّين (Qur'an 2:256). Furthermore the Qur'an states that 'Had thy Lord willed, everyone on earth would have believed. Do you then force people to become believers?' وَلَوْ شَاء رَبُّكَ لآمَنَ مَن فِي الأَرْضِ كُلُّهُمْ جَمِيعاً أَفَأَنتَ تُكْرِه النَّاسَ حَتَّى يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ(Qur'an 10:99). These verses have been used as the basis of freedom of religion and freedom of worship laws in many Islamic states. The Medina Document - which is the constitution established by Muhammad for the first Islamic state in Medina - guarantees freedom of belief and worship to Christians, Jews and Polytheists. In modern times an example would be Article II of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

Nowhere in the Qur'an is death proscribed as the punishment for apostasy. The only basis for such a view is a hadith (saying of the Prophet Muhammad transmitted by his companions and family) which states 'kill whoever changes his religion'. There are many thousands of hadith and Islamic scholars have spent centuries arguing over their authenticity. The hadith in question is an ahad hadith - meaning that unlike many other hadith which are mutawatir (transmitted by many people) it was only transmitted by one person. Many Islamic scholars have therefore cast doubt on the authenticity of this hadith. They are supported in their conclusion by the fact that neither Muhammad or any of his successors ever sentenced someone to death for apostasy. Over the centuries many prominent Islamic scholars have held the view that apostasy should not be punished by man - the punishment, if any, is up to God and will come in the afterlife.