Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
226The Jihād Against Apostasy
Apostasy may take place in one of two forms: (a) either the believer reverted from
(irt adda, lit erally t urned his bac k against ) Islam wit h no int ent ion of joining t he dar
al -harb, (b) or a group of believers, having renounc ed Islam, joined the dar al-harb
or separated themselves in a territory constituting their own dār. T he lat t er
situation is relevant to our disc ussion on the jihād; the former, which relates to the
law of peac e, will be disc ussed lat er under jurisdic t ion.
If the apostates were numerous and powerful enough to defy authority, the
imā m was under obligation to invoke the jihād against them. The jurists, however,
advise negot iat ion before light ing begins, sinc e t his may suc c eed in persuading
them to return to Islam. Neither peace nor tribute nor poll tax is acceptable, since
the law tolerates no secession from Islam. The apostates must either return to
Islam or accept the challenge of jihād. As in the c ase of unbelievers, they should be
not ified (in t he c ourse of negot iat ions) t hat fight ing will follow. T his sat isfies t he
rule of a declaration of war.
Should the apostates refuse and fighting begin, the rules governing the
c onduc t of war would be the same as those governing a war with the people of dār
al -harb. Neither their property nor themselves become subject to the general rule
of submission of unbelievers, namely, they and their wives are not liable t o be
condemned into slavery, nor their property confiscated or divided as spoil. The
property of those killed in battle is taken over by the state as fay'. Some jurists,
suc h as the Hanafīs, maintain that the apostate wife should become a sabī, that is,
condemned to be a slave-woman and taken as spoil or sold. So are the c hildren
born after apostasy, but the majority of jurists do not think that is necessary.
The outstanding case of apostasy was the secession of t he t ribes of Arabia
after the death of Muhammad. Abū Bakr, the first caliph, warned them first to
return to Islam, and those who did not return were severely fought, espec ially by
Khālid ibn al-Walīd, who burned a great number of them in spite of objec t ions
raised regarding the penalty of burning. The leaders of the apostate tribes were
severely punished and most of them were slain. An eminent c hronic ler, al-
Balādhurī, reports that nobody escaped death save those who returned to Islam.
The Jihād Against Baghī
Baghī is an attempt at dissension. If the dissenters did not renounc e the
authority of the imā m, they were not fought and were allowed to reside peacefully
in the dār al-Islām. T h e imā m, however, should persuade them to abandon their
dissent ing ideas and to conform to orthodoxy; if they refused and failed to conform
to the law, then they were fought against. If dissension were the result of c ertain
grievanc es whic h did not touc h the c reed, suc h as against their own governor, an
attempt should be made to reconcile them. If there were very few so that they
c ould be c ontrolled without diffic ulty, there was no need for a jihād. T he Khārijīs
were a c ase in point. When they disagreed with the Caliph 'Alī, they were offered
three propositions; they were permitted to say their prayers in the mosques, they
were not attacked by the caliph, and were allowed to live in the dār al-Islām. Bu t
onc e they opposed the c aliph, ‘Alī marc hed against them and c rushed their power in
the battle of al·Nahruwān (A.D. 658).