Even a pro-execution mufti required a formal trial before any sentence

Evidence

The chief Mufti of Egypt at the time was asked about his views. He agreed that insulting the Prophet was a major sin, and renouncing Islam a capital crime. But, as with any accusation in Shari‘a as in any system of law, there had to be an arraignment, a trial, confrontation between the accused and his accuser, judicial consideration, verdict and, if appropriate, sentence. No such procedure preceded the death sentence pronounced on Salman Rushdie. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 582

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘When religious authorities themselves demand due process’ — a piece on how even rigorist clerics reject extrajudicial killings, and how that fact complicates Western depictions of Islamic law.