Apostasy in Islam

Arafat (without Yasser!) writes an interesting piece on this issue.

He analyzed Rushdie and found:

'Where there is no belief, there is no blasphemy.' -from The Satanic Verses.

Rushdie says:

I am not a Muslim. I do not accept the charge of apostasy, because I have never in my adult life affirmed any belief, and what one has not affirmed one cannot be said to have apostasized from. The Islam I know states clearly that 'there can be no coercion in matters of religion.'

Arafat concludes:

Isn't that exactly what so many of us always try to point out - that we can't be Muslims just by birth? So if people grow up and freely decide on their own not to believe in the Islamic faith of their parents/family, should they be considered apostates? What's the point of being a Muslim (or anything else, for that matter) if it's not one's own personal choice?

Truly so.