If Someone Did Not Properly Learn Islamic Doctrine and Became Christian, We Do Not Consider Them an Apostate

Ayatollah Alavi-Boroujerdi stated in his remarks that if someone did not properly learn Islamic doctrine and became Christian, we do not consider them an apostate.

Since ancient times, apostasy in Islam has been defined as the deliberate abandonment of Islam either in speech or through actions, and includes the act of changing one’s religion or rejecting religious beliefs due to being non-religious, by a person who was born into a Muslim family or someone who previously accepted Islam and later renounced it.

Furthermore, until the 19th century, both Sunni and Shiite jurists believed that apostasy from Islam was a crime, a sin, and a treacherous act punishable by execution, after a period in which the apostate is given the opportunity to repent and return to Islam.

Unfortunately, in Iran not only is freedom of expression nonexistent, but people are also deprived of freedom of belief, and we witness the arrest of individuals who have converted from Islam to Christianity every day, subjected to violence, detention, imprisonment, beating, torture, and in some cases execution by the Islamic Republic regime.

Now Ayatollah Alavi-Boroujerdi, considering the increase in Christians in Iran who are Muslim-born, has shown a different reaction, stating that someone who became Christian is not considered an apostate in our view.

In a fatwa recently announced, he stated: “There are many young people who have gone to Europe and America and became Christian. Some Iranian girls have also joined these so-called false centers in Dubai, Turkey, and elsewhere. But these are our children, and I cannot abandon someone who has gone and become Christian. These are my children and my daughters, and I cannot stop thinking about them.”

Ayatollah Boroujerdi, as he mentioned in his remarks, is referring to Christian centers that in his view are false centers to which Iranian girls are also turning. But is this really what he says it is?

Will those who have left Islam and chosen the truth and turned to it be safe against the Islamic Republic system? What is the purpose of this difference of opinion among the clergy regarding Christianity, where one considers Christians apostates and another considers them acceptable?