At the heart of Islamic logic, a logic inseparable from true faith, is the sanctity of human life. The Prophet Muhammad said in the strongest possible words, "Killing a believer is an act of disbelief." The Quran says that to kill one human being was tantamount in sin to killing all of one's human brothers and sisters.Looking at the first quote, notice that it only applies to killing "believers". How does the Koran want to deal with unbelievers? 2:191 (Shakir translation):
And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.This is but one of many Koranic verses strongly against those who do not believe.
What about the often quoted verse in the Koran, (taken directly from the Talmud, incidentally,) that killing one human being is tantamount to killing all of humanity? Here's the context, 5:32-36:
For this reason did We prescribe to the children of Israel that whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men; and certainly Our messengers came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land. The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement, Except those who repent before you have them in your power; so know that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and seek means of nearness to Him and strive hard in His way that you may be successful. Surely (as for) those who disbelieve, even if they had what is in the earth, all of it, and the like of it with it, that they might ransom themselves with it from the punishment of the day of resurrection, it shall not be accepted from them, and they shall have a painful punishment.So even the very chapter that Muslim apologists use to prove the humanity of the Koran proves the exact opposite! (And Islamic commentaries make it even more clear.)
Now, according to Shari'a, does a girl who takes off her hijab fall into a category of an unbeliever?
I am not going to pretend to be an expert in Shari'a, and I don't know how authoritative these quotes are, but cursory research reveals:
Removal of the Hijab had exactly the same effect. At one time, you were independent and lived with dignity, but now you are nothing but a slave of your evil desire and behave worse than a Kafir (infidel). By removing your Hijab (An Act of Faith), you have destroyed your faith....Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) says: Modesty is the symbol of faith and whoever has no modesty (Hijab), has no religion.To be fair, I highly doubt that there are any fatwas around that advocate killing one's daughter for the crime of discarding her hijab. But one can imagine that many Muslims with a lifetime of exposure to these concepts could think that it is justified.
Any way you look at it, this editorial, like countless other examples of Islamic apologetics, knowingly perverts the words of the Koran for Western consumption.