Muslims, Christians and the punishment for apostasy (I)

At the heart of this issue is Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who was dragged to court on the accusation of fornication, it would seem she tried to avert punishment by stating she is a Christian and had been one all her life, if that was her purpose she probably didn’t expect what she […]

At the heart of this issue is Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who was dragged to court on the accusation of fornication, it would seem she tried to avert punishment by stating she is a Christian and had been one all her life, if that was her purpose she probably didn’t expect what she got: the judge moved swiftly accusing her of apostasy, punishable by death under the Shariah. She was given three days to recant and the inevitable consequence of her failure to do so: death by hanging ( I believe she ought not to be killed, this is because her argument holds in Sharia that she was given birth to and raised as a Christian).
The judgment caused and is still causing  uproar from expected and unexpected quarters … secular humanists, polytheists, Jews, Christians of every shade and colour and of course the so called modern reformed Muslims!
In the Nigerian context, the bulk of those who have screamed the most are Christians especially on social media where its no man’s land, caution is thrown to the wind. Islam must be tamed forever, they seem to be saying.
As expected modernist Muslims go into the defensive saying the death sentence for apostasy is a relic of the past and contradicts the Quranic injunction of no compulsion in the religion (Q 2\256).
This is where a little humility is required especially from Christians who profess faith in a Judeo-Christian heritage represented by the two covenants of the Old and New Testaments. While one would not be in a position for lengthy theology arguments regarding the biblical position on apostasy, verses like: “If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying: Let us go and worship other gods, do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death.
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