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political islam 339the very lenient attitude of Allah’s Book towards apostasy and to leavebehind the political, military, and ideological baggage of the pastthat the fiqh concept of apostasy has carried over into moderntimes.We start by looking at the Arabic term for apostasy in the Book.Al-ridda is derived from the three-radical verb radda (r-d-d) that occurs,in its different cognates, fifty-nine times in the text. Al-ZamakhsharÊ,in his As§s al-bal§gha, lists over twenty different semantic meaningsfor its literal/descriptive usage, and over ten more meanings for itsnonliteral, figurative usage. 4 In general, the verb radda (r-d-d) toucheson a variety of thematic clusters, two of which are of particular interestfor our study of apostasy:1. radda meaning: to ‘return to’, ‘restore’, or ‘turn back to’ regardingsomething lost:Thus did We restore him [radadn§hu] to his mother, that her eye mightbe comforted, that she might not grieve… ( Al-Qaßaß 28:13)Quite a number of the people of the book wish they could turn you(people) back [ yaruddånakum] to infidelity after you have believed…( Al-Baqara 2:109)Then when they opened their baggage, they found their stock-in-tradehad been returned [raddat] to them… (Yåsuf 12:65)2. radda meaning: to ‘avert’, ‘prevent’, or ‘hold back’ things:Nay, it may come to them all of a sudden and confound them: nopower will they have then to avert it [raddah§], nor will they (then) getrespite. ( Al-Anbiy§" 21:40)…if God inflicts harm on you, no one can remove [r§dd a ] it but Him… (Yånus 10:107, AH)…but if He wills harm on a people, no one can ward it off [maradd a ]…( Al-Ra#d 13:11, AH)‘O my people! Enter the holy land which God has assigned unto you,and turn not back [wa-la tartaddå] ignominiously, for then will you beoverthrown, to your own ruin.’ ( Al-M§"ida 5:21)Two verses in the Book specifically address the issue of apostasy:They ask you concerning fighting in the prohibited month. Say: “Fightingtherein is a grave (offence); but graver is it in the sight of God toprevent access to the path of God, to deny Him, to prevent access to4J§r All§h Abå Q§sim MaÈmåd b. #Umar al-ZamakhsharÊ, As§s al-bal§gha(Cairo: Maãba#at D§r al-Kutub, 1972–73), vol. 1, 332–33.