The Prophet (pbuh) Said : The hypocrites find the Fajr and Isha prayers in
congregation very oppressive. If they could know the virtues of these two
prayers, they would certainly join them, even if they had to go crawling.
(Bukhari, Muslim)
Capital Punishment For Not Praying?
http://www.ourdialogue.com/answers/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=1380
Question
In a program on prayer broadcast in our country a religious teacher said that
if a person does not pray five times daily for three consecutive days, he may
be executed. Please comment.
Answer
The suggestion you have quoted is preposterous. To suggest that a person who
does not pray for three days can be taken and sentenced to death and executed
straight-away is to betray one's ignorance of Islam and its teachings. But I
can imagine the line of thinking which leads this man to say what he said, that
is, if he is quoted correctly.
Some scholars argue that a person who does not pray is a non-believer. If he
was a Muslim and then reached that stage, then some people argue, he is an
apostate and apostasy may incur capital punishment. But this line of thinking
is not much different from the one which leads to the following conclusion:
What is white is milk; eggs are white, so egg is milk.
Let us now examine the position of a person who does not pray for three days.
Scholars have distinguished between two types of disbelief: one, which relates
to action or lack of it. The first is concerned only with what a person
believes in or denies. All scholars unanimously agree that if a person denies
something, which is essentially known as an integral part of the Islamic faith,
he is a disbeliever. If we are to apply this principle to prayers, we say that
if a person claims to be a Muslim and denies that prayers are part of Islam, or
says that it is part of it but not necessarily in the number or the manner
which the Prophet, peace be upon him, has taught us, then he is a disbeliever.
If his denial has come shortly after he had been a Muslim, then he is an
apostate.
In a Muslim state, an apostate is given a fair hearing before Muslim judges
who may order that scholars should come and explain to him the Islamic faith
and argue with him about his beliefs. If he insists on maintaining his
apostasy, he is given three days to recant. If he does not, then he may incur
the capital punishment, as happened indeed in Sudan recently when a man who
claimed to be god was executed.
I would like to point here that this is not a simple case, but a very
complicated one. To start with, the person concerned should have publicized his
beliefs, which are contrary to Islam in a way, which is likely to undermine
Islamic society. If he keeps his beliefs to himself, nobody will question him
about them. When he is questioned about them, every opportunity is given to
make him realize his mistake. Scholars of the highest caliber are brought to
argue with him. In the end, if he is so stubborn, he is sentenced, but given
three days to recant. He can easily escape punishment by publicly saying that
he has renounced his erroneous beliefs.
What I would like to emphasize here is that a Muslim government is not at all
interested in discovering who is following the right faith and who has funny
ideas. It does not follow people into their homes to discover what they
actually believe in. Therefore, a person may entertain the most preposterous
thoughts and beliefs, without having any fear that anyone will question him
about his ideas. The principle is clearly stated in the Qur'an: "No compulsion
is admissible in matters of faith."
If a person who has much deviant ideas starts to publicize them and calls on
others to share his beliefs, he is actually starting a rebellion against the
very fabric of Islamic society and its basic concepts. His action is likely to
result in division and conflict. When this happens, Islam moves to nip such a
detrimental offshoot when it is still in the bud. Its method is to give the
person concerned every chance to stop his seditious action. To escape
punishment, that person need not do more than to state that he withdraws his
earlier statements, even if he still believes in them himself. What Islam
achieves by this is to stop the act of sedition, which could cause public
disorder. If the person still maintains his ideas but keeps them to himself, no
one is going to bother about him.
The other type of disbelief is that which relates to action, or the lack of
it. Certain actions of disobedience to Allah have been described by the
Prophet, peace be upon him, as actions of disbelief. A person who is guilty of
any of these is questioned about his actions and the Islamic attitude is
explained to him. If he has committed an act of disobedience for which a
particular punishment is prescribed by Allah and this is proven either by the
testimony of the required number of witnesses or by free confession, then the
punishment is carried out. No authority can stop it. In the case of a person
who does not pray, there is no prescribed punishment.
AB
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"For to us
will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy
Quran 88:25-26)
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