ANTICHRIST

[ MASIHU ʾD-DAJJAL .] APOSTASY FROM ISLĀM. Arabic irtidād ( ارتداد‎ ). According to Muslim law, a male apostate, or Murtadd , is liable to be put to death if he continue obstinate in his error; a female apostate is not subject to capital punishment, but she may be kept in confinement until she recant. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah , vol. ii. p. 227.) If either the husband or wife apostatize from the faith of Islām, a divorce takes place ipso facto ; the wife is entitled to her whole dower, but no sentence of divorce is nece ary. If the husband and wife both apostatize together, their marriage is generally allowed to continue, although the Imām Zufar says it is annulled. But if, after their joint apostasy, either husband or wife were singly to return to Islām, then the marriage would be di olved. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah , vol. ii. p. 183.) According to Abū Ḥanīfah, a male apostate is disabled from selling or otherwise disposing of his property. But Abū Yūsuf and Imām Muḥammad differ from their master upon this point, and consider a male apostate to be as competent to exercise every right as if he were still in the faith. ( Hidāyah , vol. ii. p. 235.) If a boy under age apostatize, he is not to be put to death, but to be imprisoned until he come to full age, when, if he continue in the state of unbelief, he must be put to death. Neither lunatics nor drunkards are held to be responsible for their apostasy from Islām. ( Hidāyah , vol. ii. 246.) If a person upon compulsion become an apostate, his wife is not divorced, nor are his lands forfeited. If a person become a Musalmān upon compulsion, and afterwards apostatize, he is not to be put to death. ( Hidāyah , vol. iii. 467.) The will of a male apostate is not valid, but that of a female apostate is valid. ( Hidāyah , vol. iv. 637.) ʿIkrimah relates that some apostates were brought to the K͟halīfah ʿAlī, and he burnt them alive; but Ibn ʿAbbās heard of it, and said that the K͟halīfah had not acted rightly, for the Prophet had said, “Punish not with God’s punishment ( i.e . fire), but whosoever changes his religion, kill him with the sword.” ( Ṣaḥīḥu ʾl-Buk͟hārī .)