Sharia law requires the death penalty in the case of apostasy. “The unity of the Islamic community must be preserved at all costs,” says Laila Mirzo. “Those who step out of line are traitors and must be punished severely. For since its inception, Islam is at war. In the war against the infidels and in the war with the doubters in their own ranks.”
One prominent advocate of the death penalty in apostasy is the Egyptian TV Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The preacher studied Islam at Al Azhar University in Cairo, the highest Sunni institution. His word has weight, he is one of the most influential imams in the Arab world.
In an interview in 2013, al-Qaradawi admitted, “If they had abolished the death penalty on apostasy, Islam would no longer exist today. Islam would have ceased to exist with the Prophet’s death. So holding on to the death penalty in apostasy helped keep Islam alive.”
Violence and repression are experienced by ex-Muslims in Germany, even within the family.
Mirzo argues that anyone who seriously debates the recognition of Islam as a public enterprise, allows for the systematic persecution of all ex-Muslims. “Because when Islam attains the status of a church, it also gains control over its members. The central organ of the Islamic faith community would gain full access to Muslims’ reported data.”
This is how it is handled in Austria, where since 1912 the so-called “Islam Law” has made Islam a church equivalent to the Catholic and Protestant religious community. In the constitution of the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ) it is written in summary that for all Muslims who have stated in the register of religious confession “Islam”, membership in the IGGÖ “is suspected”.
This is a “declaratory statement”, which must be actively counteracted by a contradiction.
Therefore, if people no longer feel they belong to Islam, they have to actively resign. If they do, they are publicly pilloried and socially outlawed on social media. The response to their resignation goes from insults to physical violence.
Even murders of ex-Muslims are expected in view of the strengthening of the orthodox wing of Islam in Germany. Because Islam dropouts are a danger to Islam. Their courage could “infect” others, says Mirzo.
