List of Islamic nations that have death penalty for practicing "freedom of religion"

Submitted by Islam Revealed (United States), Dec 2, 2009 at 09:44

Turkey is not a true Islamic nation and certainly not one operating under shari'ah law. Turkey is a progressive, democratic country, and Ataturk faced great opposition from fundamental Islamists in embracing a more Western attitude during his rule. Nonetheless, Turkey has only about 100 churches, or 1 per 900,000 people in the population.

Dhimmitude is a subjugated status imposed on non-muslims living in Muslim countries. With the Pact of Umar II, non-Muslims were prohibited from building churches or repairing existing churches. Islamic countries with stricter enforcement of shari'ah law (and thus Dhimmitude status for non-Muslims) include Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, most of Sudan, and others. For example, churches are banned completely in Saudi Arabia.

By contrast, the UK and the US have extended their freedom of religion to all its citizens. Number of mosques in the United Kingdom? More than 1,680 and growing all the time. Number of mosques in the USA? More than 1,200 and growing all the time.

The issue is not about how many churches are in an Islamic country. It is whether there exists freedom of religion, ie the ability to practice your faith without persecution or fear of repurcussions. By its own religious tenets, Islam does NOT have freedom of religion. As the Prophet Muhammad stated "whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." (Bukhari hadith 9:84:57).

Here is the list of Islamic nations that have the death penalty for those who practice freedom of religion (ie, convert from Islam to another faith): Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Qatar, Sudan, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Malaysia.

Number of Western countries that have the death penalty for those who change their religion? ZERO.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".