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| Notice any pattern here? Pew Research didn't... |
Pew Research published an article with the above map: "Which countries still outlaw apostasy and blasphemy?".
The author, Angela Theodorou, managed to comment on the map without noting the single most outstanding fact: all these countries are Muslim majority countries. Nigeria is the one possible exception, but the apostasy laws there apply only in its Muslim majority north.
This is because of Islamic law, demands death for apostates. The Umdat al-Salik, (the “Reliance of the Traveller” in English), sub-titled "A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law"is the authoritative summary of Sharia law, authorised by the al-Azhar University in Cairo, the most authoritative source of Islamic Sunni law for the Muslim world. The Umdat is further authorised by International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Fiqh Council of North America. On apostasy it says:
“Someone raised among Muslims who denies the obligatoriness [sic] of the prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan, the pilgrimage or the unlawfulness of wine and adultery, or denies something else upon which there is scholarly consensus and which is necessarily known as being of the religion… thereby becomes and unbeliever (kafir) and is executed for his unbelief….” (f1.3)
“When a person who has reached puberty an is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deservers to be killed.” (o8.1). [ref].
