Apostasy within Islam is punishable by death. This is clearly and evocatively stated in the Koran and the Bukhari Hadiths the 9th century composer of Mohammed's sayings, actions and admonitions and the 2nd most important work within Islam. The Koran maintains that all humans are actually born Muslim. This would include all of our species members since the beginning of time. The Koran often tells the story of Allah forming the useless drops of sperm into man [women are not mentioned]. Thus the Allah has made us all. Early 'prophets' such as Noah, Abraham or Moses were thereby Muslims. Leaving the cult, or not following the Sharia of the moon deity or thing called Allah, as supposedly rendered to people through the early prophets, is punishable within Islamic 'law' by death. Jews and Christians who are polytheists or Mufsidun [equating idols with Allah]; are Muslims who have knowingly gone 'astray'. This grievous offence must and will be punished:
4:89 "They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them"
9:11-12 "But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then are they your brethren in religion. We detail Our revelations for a people who have knowledge. And if they break their pledges after their treaty (hath been made with you) and assail your religion, then fight the heads of disbelief - Lo! they have no binding oaths - in order that they may desist."
It is worth noting that many pre-modern cults had such rules around apostasy. Leaving the cult, which in many cases was composed of a tribe or a related set of people, and weakening the communal strength of the group would indeed pose a risk in ancient climes and times. Judaism for instance had such a 'law', later it was abolished. Islam has never updated its theology and no Muslim I have ever spoken to, deems it necessary to reform the moon cult. Thus apostasy is and always will be punished by death or at the very least by violence against the individual who deigns to offend the thing Allah. The Koran, given to Mohammed through his alter-ego the Allah, says so.
In order to hold his cult together Mohammed the military-political adventurer and pre-modern Fascist [Fascism is the expression of national socialism or communalism, married with a cult]; made it a law that anyone leaving it would be sentenced to execution:
Bukhari (52:260) - "...The Prophet said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.' "
Bukhari (83:37) - "Allah's Apostle never killed anyone except in one of the following three situations: (1) A person who killed somebody unjustly, was killed (in Qisas,) (2) a married person who committed illegal sexual intercourse and (3) a man who fought against Allah and His Apostle and deserted Islam and became an apostate."
Bukhari (84:57) - "[In the words of] Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"
Bukhari (89:271) - A man who embraces Islam, then reverts to Judaism is to be killed according to "the verdict of Allah and his apostle."
Many other verses within the Koran support Bukhari's rather obvious compilation that Mohammed ordered the murders of those who left the cult: 2:217, 9:73-74, 88:21, 5:54, and 9:66 are some examples. The worst possible offence against the Mohammedan cult is for a Muslim true-believer, to leave and join the Jews. No higher and more disgusting act can be effected against the Allah-thing.
Apostasy is an obvious sign of a cult, not a religion. Holding a group together through fear just highlights the poverty of the cult's theology. When the epileptic and quite insane Mohammed was poisoned and killed in 632 AD, many Arab tribes left the cult. They were slaughtered by Abu Bakr the 2nd Caliph, in a war of rage and blood called the Ridda War. The campaign was 'christened' by the words of Mohammed [or Allah both of whom are the same], and the laws of apostasy. They were also necessary to keep the tribute flowing to Mecca, including what the Leftist Marxists today call 'charity' or the Zakat, which is a welfare tax and general revenue source which helps poor Muslims, but can also be used to pay state worker salaries, soldiers and building projects. Allowing people and tribes to leave the cult diminishes the flow of revenue and impoverishes the state. It can also disable the 'welfare' system, which is a main prop to instill social peace. Therefore the Muslim must war against the apostates.
The Multi-culturalists of course whine that the Koran has verse 2:256, referenced in a speech by their divine leader Obama, to the effect that “Let there be no compulsion in religion, for truth stands out from error" and a fragment of verse 10:99-100, "Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers?" Ergo the Leftists favorite cult of Islam, does not compel you to be a Muslim. But this is disingenuous. The full text of 2:256-7 clearly states that you don't need to compel people to be Muslim because they will be forced to return to the cult or face punishment from Allah. And nearly all Muslim scholars understand that both verses were spoken by Muhammad during an earlier time in his teachings, when he did not have the power to compel others. Thus they truly read, 'We are weak, but we will win in the end. When we are stronger we will compel them.” These two verses are also abrogated by later verses, such as verse 9:29, which clearly commands Muslims to fight unbelievers until they relent and either accept Islam or a state of humiliation under Islamic rule (an obvious illustration of compulsion). No Muslim can refute the fact that both the sentence fragments are taken out of context, and that 9-29 supplants them in importance.
Islam is the most violent and coercive cult in history. Killing those who leave Islam, or murdering those who don't follow the cult, even though they were born Muslim, is an important part of the Mohammedan platform. Mohammed had to consolidate his power and murdering those who either did not follow his program, or completely left the group was one method to exert totalitarian control. No other reading of Islamic history can possibly reveal any other conclusion.