The New York Times notices the Islamic death penalty for apostasy - Robert Spencer

[Snowden]

The New York Times notices the Islamic death penalty for apostasy, wonders if Obama will incur it

Well over a year after I wrote about this possibility, and six months after Washington Post "journalist" Perry Bacon completely misrepresented my position in order to blame me for the "Obama is a Muslim" rumors, and many many months after the whole world has been discussing this issue from all kinds of angles, the New York (aka New Duranty) Times discovers that Barack Obama, having been raised a Muslim, may face angry Muslims saying he should be put to death as an apostate.

It's interesting to note how forthright the Times is in saying that most Islamic jurists agree that death is the sentence for apostasy. Did they acknowledge that during the Abdel Rahman case?

"President Apostate?," by Edward N. Luttwak in the New York Times, May 12 (thanks to all who sent this in):

President Apostate?

Luttwak misses one possibility, which I explained here last year: as far as I know Obama has never explained when exactly he left Islam. This is a crucial point, for according to Islamic law an apostate male is not to be put to death if he has not reached puberty (cf. 'Umdat al-Salik o8.2; Hidayah vol. II p. 246). Some, however, hold that he should be imprisoned until he is of age and then "invited" to accept Islam, but officially the death penalty for youthful apostates is ruled out.

In any case, it's good to see the Times actually admitting the reality of Islamic law, instead of peddling the comforting fictions we usually see from them.


http://www.jihadwatch.org:80/archives/020987.php