In Christine Schirrmacher's postdoctoral thesis, for the first time one finds reviews of original voices coming from Islamic theology on the topic of religious freedom and apostasy. Arabic, English, French, and Urdu texts have been translated and analyzed and thus made accessible. There are basically three positions which are defended on falling away from the Islamic faith: Complete advocacy of religious freedom, the complete denial of religious freedom with a call for the immediate application of the death penalty for apostates, and the centrist position. The centrist position, however, which allows inner freedom of thought and warns against premature persecution, calls for the death penalty in the case of open apostasy (e.g. in the case of conversion to another faith). Within established Islamic theology, the latter approach is nowadays the most frequent point of view found. These three main positions on apostasy are introduced in this postdoctoral thesis by means of the publications of three influential 20th century theologians: Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926), Abdullah Saeed (b. 1960), and Abu l-A'la Maududi (1903-1979). They all have followings of many millions of people and have political influence at their disposal. The study explains why in many Muslim majority countries there is still today only very limited or sometimes no freedom of religion (in the sense of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948) for converts, critical intellectuals, artists and progressive Quranic studies specialists, journalists and secularists, agnostics and confessing atheists, enlightened thinkers, women's rights and human rights activists as well as adherents of non- recognized minorities.

Let there be no Compulsion in Religion (Sura 2:256): Apostasy from Islam as Judged by Contemporary Islamic Theologians: Discourses on Apostasy, Religious Freedom, and Human Rights

Religion & Spirituality

Schirrmacher, Christine

Christian Books & Bibles

Wipf and Stock

In Christine Schirrmacher's postdoctoral thesis, for the first time one finds reviews of original voices coming from Islamic theology on the topic of religious freedom and apostasy. Arabic, English, French, and Urdu texts have been translated and analyzed and thus made accessible.There are basically three positions which are defended on falling away from the Islamic faith: Complete advocacy of religious freedom, the complete denial of religious freedom with a call for the immediate application of the death penalty for apostates, and the centrist position. The centrist position, however, which allows inner freedom of thought and warns against premature persecution, calls for the death penalty in the case of open apostasy (e.g., in the case of conversion to another faith). Within established Islamic theology, the latter approach is nowadays the most frequent point of view found.These three main positions on apostasy are introduced in this postdoctoral thesis by means of the publications of three influential 20th century theologians: Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926), Abdullah Saeed (b. 1960), and Abu l-A'la Maududi (1903-1979). They all have followings of many millions of people and have political influence at their disposal.The study explains why in many Muslim majority countries there is still today only very limited or sometimes no freedom of religion (in the sense of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948) for converts, critical intellectuals, artists and progressive Quranic studies specialists, journalists and secularists, agnostics and confessing atheists, enlightened thinkers, women's rights and human rights activists as well as adherents of non-recognized minorities.

Let there be no Compulsion in Religion (Sura 2: 256)

In many countries women experience violence and exploitation, they have been beaten and oppressed for centuries. The protection and rights of women are still underdeveloped worldwide, even though equality is already more advanced in the West. The authors, who are committed to human rights, are shedding light on the oppression of women worldwide, explain the various reasons for it and describe possible countermeasures.

The Oppression of Women: Violence - Exploitation - Poverty (The WEA Global Issues Series)

Politics & Social Sciences

Schirrmacher, Thomas

Social Sciences

What relationship do Islam and democracy have to each other? Why are there presently so few democracies among Islamic-dominated states? Does the reason for this perhaps lie in the fact that Islam and democracy are irreconcilable opposites? These questions are relevant not only for the Near East and North Africa, but also for Europe, where large numbers of Muslims have lived in democratic societies for more than sixty years. Most of them appreciate the freedoms and democratic structures that they experience there. At the same time a number of fundamentalistic Islamic groups are actively proclaiming that democracy is evil and autocratic regimes all over the Middle East are opposed to democracy. Though many intellectuals and young people are demonstrating for freedom rights, reform of Islam and democracy. Is a reform of Islam and Muslim majority societies in sight?

Islam and Democracy: Can They Be Reconciled? (The WEA Global Issues Series)

Islam

The Islamic View of Major Christian Teachings

RVB International

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Books by Schirrmacher, Christine