Criticism vs Execution
Why Challenging Islam Is Not the Same as Islamic Repression
The Dangerous Double Standard in How Ex-Muslims Are Treated
“Criticizing my beliefs is hate speech!”
“Leaving my beliefs deserves death.”
Spot the difference.
There’s a deeply ironic — and dangerous — sentiment that’s become common in many Islamic communities and apologetic spaces online:
That ex-Muslim voices criticizing Islam are somehow “bigoted,” “hateful,” or “damaging to the social fabric.”
Meanwhile, traditional Islamic law explicitly prescribes death for apostates, and for certain other "offenses" like same-sex intimacy — a real, codified, physical threat with real victims in the real world.
Let’s be blunt:
🔹 Criticizing Islam online is not a threat to anyone.
🔹 Executing someone for leaving Islam is.
And yet, those two things are often equated — or worse, inverted — in Muslim-majority societies and apologetic discourse. Let’s unpack the false equivalence and set the record straight.
🗣️ 1. Ex-Muslims Criticize Beliefs — Not People
Ex-Muslims online — many of whom live in fear of retaliation — challenge Islamic teachings using:
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Sahih hadith,
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Classical tafsir,
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Mainstream fiqh, and
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Rational, moral arguments about ethics and justice.
Their criticisms are aimed at ideas, texts, and doctrines — not Muslims as people.
Yet this is labeled:
“Hate speech,” “Islamophobia,” “attacks on our way of life.”
Let’s be clear:
Criticizing an ideology is not hatred. It is free thought — the foundation of any ethical, open society.
⚔️ 2. Islamic Law Literally Mandates Death for Dissent
Unlike ex-Muslim criticism, Islamic legal tradition — especially Sunni jurisprudence — does not stop at words. It calls for:
📜 Apostasy = Death
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Sahih al-Bukhari 6922:
“Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”
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All four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanbali) maintain capital punishment for apostates — based not on one verse, but centuries of jurisprudence.
📜 Homosexuality = Death
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Classical fiqh prescribes death for homosexual acts (with minor disagreements on method).
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In 2024, there are still Muslim-majority countries where both apostasy and homosexuality are capital crimes:
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Saudi Arabia
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Iran
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Mauritania
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Afghanistan
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Pakistan (de facto via blasphemy laws)
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This isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now.
🔥 3. Who’s Actually at Risk?
Let’s compare:
| Ex-Muslim Critics | Islamic Law and Societies |
|---|---|
| Use speech and reason | Use imprisonment, flogging, or execution |
| Criticize beliefs using Islamic sources | Punish beliefs or doubt with violence |
| Risk social rejection, assault, or assassination | Hold political power in courts, clerics, and mobs |
| Advocate moral reform and personal freedom | Enforce total submission under threat of death |
So let’s kill the illusion:
Ex-Muslims are not oppressors. They are resisting an ideology that literally sanctions their death.
📢 4. Calling Out This Hypocrisy Is Not “Islamophobia”
Muslim apologists often cry “Islamophobia” when criticism gets too real. But that’s a diversion tactic.
Let’s clarify the distinction:
✔️ Saying “Muhammad allowed sex slavery” = a fact, backed by hadith.
❌ Saying “All Muslims are evil” = bigotry, and rightly condemned.
Most ex-Muslims focus on Islamic doctrines, not Muslim individuals. And yet, they are called names, banned, silenced, or even attacked.
Meanwhile, those who advocate for death for apostates — a real and dangerous stance — are often treated with respect or even reverence in the Muslim world.
💡 Final Thought: Criticism Isn’t Hate — Killing Is
If your ideology:
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Cannot be questioned without threats,
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Punishes doubt with execution,
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Equates criticism with blasphemy,
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But excuses state-enforced death for unbelief,
...then your system is not divine, not moral, and not defensible.
A religion that kills those who leave it has already lost the moral argument.
And those brave enough to speak out — often at personal risk — are not your enemies.
They are the canaries in the coal mine, warning that freedom of thought still hangs in the balance.
🧱 Further Reading & Real Cases:
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Raif Badawi (Saudi blogger, jailed and flogged for “insulting Islam”)
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Mubarak Bala (Nigerian atheist, sentenced to 24 years for blasphemy)
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Mina Ahadi (Iranian ex-Muslim activist under constant threat)
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Apostasy laws in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brunei
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