ABSTRACT

The term freedom includes all its aspects as freedom of religion, expression, conscience, thought etc. Islam, right from its inception, has been deeply concerned about liberating the human beings from every kind of servitude. Recognizing only these as the key to salvation, the Qur’an as well as the Sunnah have nevertheless been understood to provide enough freedom to humans to accept or reject a particular faith/ideology/interpretation on the basis of personal conviction. The decision regarding one’s ultimate destiny in the hereafter has been left to God. Exception to that, however, seem some a??d?th of the Prophet prescribing gravest penalties for non-profession or renunciation of faith that have created considerable debate and controversy both among the Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholarship. This paper will try to engage afresh with that debate specifically in the light of the Prophetic Sunnah, the personification of the Qur’an itself, to see if, what and how it can contribute towards a globalized and pluralistic society.