Fatwa No : 3143
Why is death the punishment for apostasy in Islam?

Why is death the punishment for apostasy in Islam?

What my question is that why is a Muslim who leaves the religion of Islam and becomes a Christian considered deserved death whereas punishment for leaving Islam is nowhere mentioned in the Quran as death, instead it is written that there is no compulsion in Deen. But in spite of this if a person leaves Islam and accepts the religion of Christianity, why is he killed and under which law? And is it Islamic to enforce the Law of Irthidad as it is being discussed nowadays in Pakistan? Kindly send the reply in the light of Qur'an and Sunnah

الجوابُ حامِدا ًو مُصلیِّا ً

Searching for proofs for each and every problem from only the Holy Qur’an has become a common phenomena nowadays, whereas the sources of proof in the sacred Shari’ah are four: (1) The Holy Qur’an, (2) Sunnah, (3) Ijma-e-Ummah (Consensus of the Ummah), (4) Qiyas-e-Saheeh (Correct Analogy).
If a matter is established through any one of these sources, then it is acceptable in Shari’ah and becomes compulsory for a Muslim to act upon it. Likewise, in spite of the evils and harms of apostasy and the null and void state of all the deeds of an apostate being explained in detail in the Holy Qur'an, yet a particular punishment for an apostate has not been revealed therein. In face, it is established through authentic Ahadith that the apostate is sentenced to death, and this death penalty has been remained a matter of consensus of the Ummah from the time of the noble companions up to this date, and no different opinion is found from any other scholar in this regard. The jutists (Fuqaha) have unanimously agreed that in Dar-ul-Islam, apostasy is one of the major crimes for which death is its penalty.
Furthermore, simply because a worldly punishment for a particular crime has not been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an does not establishes that there is no worldly penalty for such a crime, as is the case of consuming alcohol, where the Holy Qur'an declares it as Haram and unlawful, but does not mention any penalty along with this declaration. However, this does not necessitate that there is no punishment for consuming alcohol. On the contrary, the messenger of Allahﷺ imposed the 'Hadd' (punishment) upon those who consumed alcohol and ordered for them to be lashed. In the same way, although the worldly punishment of an Apostate has not been revealed in the Holy Qur'an, it is established through authentic Ahadith. Therefore, to argue using the aforementioned verse "there is no compulsion in Deen (religion)" that there is no death penalty for apostasy is incorrect and plainly based on lack of understanding, since there is not even a sign of permissibility of apostacy in this verse. Instead, this verse mentions the ruling for the one who has been a disbeliever from inception, that there is no compulsion upon such a person to embrace Islam.
If there is an effort to implement the Law of Irtidad in Pakistan, make the complete details of it available to us, and after thorough research over this matter, the Shar'ee ruling could be brought into light.
Allah knows best.