“Halting Between Two Opinions”: Conversion and Apostasy in Early Islam

Abstract

The phenomenon of individuals converting to Islam and later returning to their former religions is well attested in both narrative and documentary records fi-om the early Islamic period. Such shifts in religious commitments posed social and legal problems for the communities to which their former members sought reentry. Specifically, legal authorities were faced with the challenge of assessing the trustworthiness of returning apostates, whether their return was wholehearted and sincere or, rather, opportunistic and deceitful. The present discussion offers the historical context and a comparative analysis of some of the legal mechanisms by which the Jewish ge'onim of Babylonia and Eastern Christian church leaders attempted to overcome this challenge.

Apostasy and Repentance in Early Medieval Zoroastrianism

“…Some of these concerns were, of course, shared by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic contemporaries. For comparative discussions of apostasy in Islamic, Christian, and Jewish law during this period, see, e.g., Simonsohn 2013;Irshai 1984Irshai -1986 the early ninth century onward address questions such as the marital status of the wife of an apostate, the legal status of his ayōgēn "levirate" sister, 11 the inheritance privileges of the apostate, and concerns pertaining to members of the clergy who apostatized.…”