Not too bad to be true

This report appeared in the online Washington Times today:

"Apostasy killing of former Muslims could become widespread in the United States if the U.S. government and Americans don't "wake up," a panel of three former Muslims said on Capitol Hill Thursday.

"The talk, hosted by three members of the new civil rights organization Former Muslims United, marked the first public appearance as a self-proclaimed "apostate" of Iranian journalist Amil Imani, president of the group. Imani and the panel's two other speakers, authors Nonie Darwish and Wafa Sultan, told the audience that ingrained American religious and ethnic tolerance and myths about Islam are combining to gravely threaten the West."

A Muslim commenter going by the handle of "mustafakhattab" quibbled that "nowhere in the Qur'an will anyone find a verse say kill the apostates [sic]" and enquired, "Isn't what they say too bad to be true?!" No, it isn't. As "mustafakhattab" doubtless knows very well, Muhammad's mandate to kill apostates is found not in the Qur'an but in a hadith in Sahih Bukhari (Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57):

Narrated 'Ikrima: Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.' "