⚖️ 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:

• Sahih hadith,

• Classical tafsir,

• Mainstream fiqh, and

• 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

• Sahih al-Bukhari 6922:

  “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”

• 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

• Classical fiqh prescribes death for homosexual acts (with minor disagreements on method).

• In 2024, there are still Muslim-majority countries where both apostasy and homosexuality are capital crimes:

  • Saudi Arabia

  • Iran

  • Mauritania

  • Afghanistan

  • Pakistan (de facto via blasphemy laws)

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:

• Cannot be questioned without threats,

• Punishes doubt with execution,

• Equates criticism with blasphemy,

• 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:

• Raif Badawi (Saudi blogger, jailed and flogged for “insulting Islam”)

• Mubarak Bala (Nigerian atheist, sentenced to 24 years for blasphemy)

• Mina Ahadi (Iranian ex-Muslim activist under constant threat)

• Apostasy laws in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brunei

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------About the Author

Mauao Man is a blog created by a New Zealand writer who believes in following the evidence wherever it leads. From history and religion to culture and society, Mauao Man takes a clear, critical, and honest approach — challenging ideas without attacking people. Whether exploring the history of Islam in New Zealand, the complexities of faith, or the contradictions in belief systems, this blog is about asking the hard questions and uncovering the truth.