A Prediction of the Relationship between Freedom of Thought and Apostasy in Contemporary Thought

The relation between freedom of thought and apostasy is the emerging debate about which no systematic studies have been done. However, one can find a footprint of this issue in the works of Islamic scholars. The present study, by gathering and summarizing the views of twelve contemporary thinkers about removing the apparent marginalization between Islamic defenses of freedom of thought and forging the death sentence for apostate, has tried to provide a clear background to this discussion. The thinkers whose views have been examined in this article are in alphabetical order: Adlibi, Ayazi, Bana, Jaberi, Javadi Amoli, Sobhani, Soroush, Tabatabai, Odeh, Mesbah Yazdi, Motahari and Montazeri. Most Islamic scholars agree that apostasy is not merely a change of opinion, but it is a kind of action against the collective identity of religion and political crime. However, some of these thinkers have rejected the death sentences of the apostate and rejected and believe that Islam doesn’t have it. The expression of the innovations of each of these thinkers and their comparison with other comments is ahead of research privileges.