I hear the punishment for this is not death.
The Ottoman Caliphate, the supreme representative of Sunni Islam, formally abolished this penalty in the aftermath of the so-called Tanzimat reforms launched in 1839. The Shaykh al-Islam, the supreme head of the religious courts and colleges, ratified this major shift in traditional legal doctrine.
It was pointed out that there is no verse in the Qur’an that lays down a punishment for apostasy (although chapter 5 verse 54 and chapter 2 verse 217 predict a punishment in the next world). It was also pointed out that the ambiguities in the hadith (the sayings of the Prophet) suggest that apostasy is only an offense when combined with the crime of treason.
These ambiguities led some medieval Muslims, long before the advent of modernisation, to reject the majority view. Prominent among them one may name al-Nakha’i (d.713), al-Thawri (d.772), al-Sarakhsi (d. 1090), al-Baji (d. 1081), and al-Sha’rani (d.1565).
The debate triggered by the Ottoman reform was continued when al-Azhar University in Cairo, the supreme religious authority in the Arab world, delivered a formal fatwa (religious edict) in 1958, which confirmed the abolition of the classical law in this area.
from article by Abdal Hakim Murad that was posted on the old revival site.
and sorry for following it
the punishment for apostasy... afaik there is none.
The quranic words/terms are along the lines of "if the person leaves islam AND fights you". The early examples where apostasy was punished by death were from the battleground and are not for everyday life.
Not sure about earlier ones, but the ottomans did not use the death penalty - more they actually issued a fatwa that it was wrong. The position of al azhar is also that the punishment for apostasy (alone) is not death.
Earlier scholars had also argued that having such punishments for apostasy would mean that people in foreign lands would also not be able to convert to islam.
Many who consider the death for apostasy to have been historic would bring up the pact of Ummar the second (ummayad caliph almost a century AH). However, not only is this thought to be forged from earlier non islamic sources (which use the same declaration), but there are acts on the ground which disprove it - the document does not allow churches to be built or repaired, while the historical evidence shows the opposite on both cases.
I would simply consider the guy to have been clueless - it is easy to give positive speeches, much harder to answer criticism.
PS there are some/many (more recent) groups that do consider it to be death for apostasy, but that seems to be a more recent development and not the case before hand when there was an islamic/muslim state which could potentially have used that punishment.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Salam
God does not force any person to believe in Him.
People are free to chose any path they want to follow.
Muslim clerics who call for death for apostasy are wrong.
If you read the Quran, no where does it say that a person should be killed for swaping one religion for another.
Its only some fabricated reports found in books of muslim tradition that advovate such such a cruel penishment.
Omrow