"Once a person enters into the fold of Islam, the rules change. As soon as you become a Muslim by your own choice, you are expected to submit yourself to Allāh totally and completely.
"O you who believe! Enter into submission, kāffatan!"(2:208)
Kāffatan gives the sense of "all" and "completely". Once a person becomes a believer, he surrenders the right of making decisions to Allāh and the Messenger:
"No believing man and no believing woman has a choice in their own affairs when Allāh and His Messenger have decided on an issue." (33:36)
Even the question of apostasy,
irtidād or deserting of one's faith, for a Muslim, is a religious (
shar`i) issue and even in this issue he is governed by the laws of Islam. And Islam clearly says: No! You cannot become an apostate. After coming into the fold of Islam, rejection of the fundamentals is not tolerated. If there are doubts in your mind about the fundamental beliefs of Islam, then question, discuss, debate, study, and solve them BUT you are not allowed to leave Islam or desert your own
fitra!"
Therefore, you are right in saying that there may be no compulsion in becoming Muslim, but once you are, the rules change. The other main thing that comes out of a discussion on apostasy within Islam is the issue of censorship within these verses. It is all well and good to say that so and so is a moderate Muslim and the death penalty only applies to radical Islam. However, whether this verse is still clearly suggesting censorship of anyone who would say something negative about Islam.
""They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper." [04:89]
Censorship is clearly a component of the subject of apostasy.
"
Just as upholding and protecting the constitution of a country is sign of patriotism, and undermining it is a form of treason - in the same way open rejection of the fundamental beliefs of Islam by a Muslim is an act of treason.
Apostasy, i.e., the public declaration of rejecting the fundamentals of Islam, has also negative influence on the Muslim society; it is indeed a major
fitna. And that is why Islam has prescribed harsh punishment for
irtidād...
The punishment prescribed by the shari`ah for apostasy is death.
Even the terms used by the shari`ah for apostates give the idea of treason to this whole phenomenon. "Murtad" means apostate. Murtad can be of two types: fitri and milli.
(1) "Murtad Fitri" means a person who is born of a Muslim parent and then he rejects Islam. "Fitrah" means creation. The term "murtad fitri" implies that the person has apostate from the faith in which he was born.
(2) "Murtad Milli" means a person who converted to Islam and then later on he rejects Islam. Milli is from millat which means religion. The term "murtad milli" implies that the person has apostated from his religion and the Muslim community.
In the first case, the apostasy is like the treason against God; whereas in the second case, the apostasy is like the treason against the Muslim community. Probably, that is why the Sh`iah jurisprudence deals with these two kinds of murtads differently:
• A former kāfir who became a Muslim and then apostates (murtad milli), he is given a second chance: if he repents, then he is not to be killed; but if he does not repent, then he is to be killed.
• But one who is born as a Muslim and then apostates (murtad fitri), he is to be killed even if he repents. It is important to understand that in case a murtad fitri repents, Allāh may accept his repentance and he may be forgiven in the hereafter, but he still has to go through the punishment prescribed for his treason in this world.7
This punishment is only applicable in case of apostasy by men; in case of women, the punishment is not death but life imprisonment. And if such a woman repents, then her repentance is accepted and the punishment is lifted.
However, on the issue of apostasy, the Qur'ān only talks about the consequence of an apostate in the hereafter: whether his repentance will be accepted or not; the nullification of his good deeds; and the punishment in the hereafter. The laws dealing with worldly punishments for apostasy have been outlined in the authentic and reliable ahādāth of the Imams of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.).10
Here is a selection of the ahādāth on this issue:
1. Shaykh al-Kulayni narrates a sahāh (correct) hadith from `Ammār as-Sābāti who said: I heard (Imam) Abu `Abdullāh (as-Sādiq) (a.s.) saying, "A Muslim from among the Muslims who renounces Islam and rejects the prophethood of Muhammad and considers him untrue, then verily his blood is lawful (mubāh) for anyone who hears that from him, his wife is to be separated from him the day he became murtad, his wealth will be divided among his heirs, and his wife will observe the`idda of a widow (i.e., four months). The Imam is obliged to kill him, and not ask him to seek forgiveness."
So this is another source of information on Islam from a Muslim perspective recognizing and admitting that the Quran only talks about the consequence of apostasy in the hereafter, like others have already mentioned. However, I feel like that verse still implies a censorship that doesn't exactly mesh well with concepts like freedom of speech. I would like to ask you whether you are living in a country that has applied some application of freedom of speech to their community? What are the advantages and disadvantages to this concept of freedom of speech? If you agree there are advantages to having freedom of speech, does that not indicate that Islamic law is not perfect or infalliable? Finally, what would happen if someone advocated greater freedom of speech within the Islamic community? Would they be accepted or rejected because of the way supporting increased freedom of speech negatively reflected on the image of an infallible religion?
Additionally, there are clearly additional laws regarding apostasy that are part of Islamic doctrine and appear to work in two ways. First, they censor anyone from speaking negatively about Islam. Second, they make capital punishment an option in the case of apostasy. Therefore, this is a till death do you part religion. https://www.al-islam.org/articles/apostacy-islam-sayyid-muhammad-rizvi
