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Haras Rafiq
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Apostate punishments 'not in keeping with Islam'
Steve Hammond3/ 4/2008
A ROCHDALE Muslim leader is to feature in a BBC radio investigation on the Islamic approach to apostacy or abandonment of faith.
Haras Rafiq, a member of the Government's task force to combat Islamic extremism, argues that harsh punishments, including beheading, for Moslem apostates, are not in keeping with the true spirit of Islam.
He tells the radio four programme 'Could I Stop Being a Muslim' to be broadcast of 17 April that extremist incorrectly claim that several common practices put believers on the road to apostacy.
Said Mr Rafiq: "For example at many mosques here in Rochdale Thursday nigh meetings are held in which the Koran is read and Gods name is used in prayers for the dead, this is called khatum. There is also the practice of celebrating the Prophet's birthday.
"Extremist sects view these practices as putting those involved on the road the apostacy which is ultimately punishable by beheading.
"But this is not the case. There is no reference to such punishments in the Koran. Hadiths mention apostacy and punishments for it but only in the context of physical battles with enemies."
The programme also features a former Muslim radical Shiraz Maher who spent his student days campaigning for an Islamic state in which execution for leaving Islam would be written into the constitution. Now he is calling for moderation and greater Muslim integration into British life, a stance which has meant he is now labelled an apostate by some extremists.
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