[l] 3. The Shafi'i School [/l]
[l]
Like the Maliki school, the Shafi'i school (predominant in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines), requires the death of all adult apostates, regardless of sex.[44] Shafi'i teaching is given by Nawawi in his book Minhaj-at-Talibin which is a standard work in Egypt, South India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Nawawi defines apostasy as follows:
Apostasy consists in the abjuration of Islam, either mentally, or by words, or by acts incompatible with faith. As to oral abjuration, it matters little whether the words are said in joke, or through a spirit of contradiction, or in good faith. But before such words can be considered as a sign of apostasy they must contain a precise declaration:
1. That one does not believe in the existence of the Creator, or of His apostles; or
2. That Mohammed, or one of the other apostles, is an impostor; or
3. That one considers lawful what is strictly forbidden by the ijma e.g. the crime of fornication; or
4. That one considers to be forbidden what is lawful according to the ijma; or
5. That one is not obliged to follow the precepts of the ijma, as well positive as negative; or
6. That one intends shortly to change one's religion; or that one has doubts upon the subject of the truth of Islam, etc.
As to acts, these are not considered to be incompatible with faith, unless they show a clear indication of a mockery or denial of religion, as e.g. throwing the Koran upon a muck heap or prostrating oneself before an idol, or worshipping the sun.
Like the Hanafi school, Nawawi states that a minor and the mentally ill are not held responsible for their apostasy. Minors are thought to follow their parents in religion. If a minor was forced to embrace Islam then his apostasy is not valid. However, if he accepted Islam in full faith then he is apostate and the death penalty applies to him. Drunkenness is not considered an excuse in the Shafi'i school. Apostasy under violent compulsion is overlooked. On the status of the children of apostates, Nawawi writes:
The child of an apostate remains a Moslem, without regard to the time of its conception, or to one of its parents remaining a Moslem or not. One authority, however, considers the child whose father and mother have abjured the faith to be an apostate, while another considers such a child to be by origin an infidel. (The child should be considered as an apostate. This is what the jurists of Iraq have handed down to us as the universally accepted theory.)
Nawawi continues on the subject of an apostate's property:
As to the ownership of the property of an apostate dead in impenitence, it remains in suspense, i.e. the law considers it as lost from the moment of abjuration of the faith; but in case of repentance it is considered never to have been lost. However, there are several other theories upon the subject, though all authorities agree that debts contracted before apostasy, as well as the personal maintenance of the apostate during the period of exhortation, are charges upon the estate. It is the same with any damages due in consequence of pecuniary prejudice caused to other persons, the maintenance of his wives, whose marriage remains in suspense, and the maintenance of his descendant or descendants. Where it is admitted that ownership remains in suspense, the same principle must be applied to dispositions subsequent to apostasy, in so far as they are capable of being suspended, such as an enfranchisement by will, and legacies, which all remain intact where the exhortation is successful, though not otherwise. On the other hand, dispositions which, by their very nature, do not admit of such suspension, such as sale, pledging,  , and enfranchisement by contract, are null and void ab initio, though Shafi'i, in his first period, wished to leave them in suspense. All authorities, however, are agreed that an apostate's property may in no case be left at his disposition, but must be deposited in charge of some person of irreproachable character. But a female slave may not be so entrusted to a man; she must be entrusted to some trustworthy woman. An apostate's property must be leased out, and it is to the court that the slave undergoing enfranchisement by contract should make his periodical payments.[45]
Someone who slanders Muhammad or insults one of the prophets of Islam is killed without being given the chance of repentance.
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[l] 4. the Hanbali School [/l]
[l]
According to the Hanbali School of Law predominant in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, if a boy who became a Muslim with his parents reaches maturity as an apostate, he is not killed since his faith in Islam occurred when he was dependent on others. Rather he is to be forced to return to Islam by being arrested and beaten. However if a boy comes to Islam on his own and then apostatises, reaching maturity as such, he must be killed. Apostasy of a drunkard is not valid. According to both Malik and Hanbal, the repentance of the unbeliever who apostatises is not accepted if repeated, based on Surah 4, verse 137:
Those who believe, and then disbelieve, and then believe, and then disbelieve, and then increase in unbelief - Allah is not likely to forgive them nor to guide them on any way.
If the apostate is killed prior to his call to repentance, the killer is not punished or required to pay blood money. Hanbalites also permit the descendents and descendents’ descendents of apostates to be enslaved. Women are dealt with in the same way as men and heretics are killed without the opportunity to repent.
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[l] Shia Law [/l]
[l]
Shia Islam remained in close contact with Sunni Islam during the development of the four Sunni schools of law. Consequently Shia law closely resembles Sunni law, differing no more from it than the four schools differ from each other:[46]
Every individual of the male sex who, born in the religion of Islam, apostasizes, no longer enjoys the protection of Islam, but is ipso facto condemned to death. His wife should be separated from him; and his property is confiscate . . . The woman guilty of apostasy is not punished with death, even if she was born in the Moslem faith, but she is condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and is to be beaten with rods at the hours of prayer . . . A child born of a heretic after the apostasy of the father, and of a Mohammedan mother, and conceived after the apostasy, is subject to the same conditions as his parents; and if he is assassinated, the murderer cannot be punished by the law of retaliation.[47]
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cont.
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