A new report from a team of Muslim leaders in Britain contends that Shariah law allows Muslims to leave Islam – despite the multitude of apostasy laws throughout the Islamic world that prescribe the death penalty.

The report, “Contextualizing Islam in Britain: Exploratory Perspectives,” was assembled by a team led by Yasir Suleiman, director of the HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center of Islamic Studies at Cambridge.

Addressing what it means to “live faithfully” as a Muslim in Britain, it is the result of the work of “a group of scholars, social scientists, religious and community leaders and educationists” in a project sponsored by the British government.

In a section addressing pluralism and human rights, the report states:

Islam frowns on the act of apostasy, but prohibits discrimination against apostates. Much classical Islamic law on apostasy emerged in a historical context where apostasy represented a betrayal of the state. It is important to say quite simply that people have the freedom to enter the Islamic faith and the freedom to leave it.

Officials with Barnabas Aid, which works with persecuted Christians worldwide, including those in repressive, Shariah-controlled nations, said if it’s true it’s a good sign.

“In other words, in the early Muslim community (which was at war with its neighbors) apostasy amounted to treason. So those who left Islam were put to death for treachery to the Islamic ‘nation,’ not for apostasy as such,” the organization said in a commentary.

“As these conditions do not apply today, no-one should now be coerced into remaining a Muslim,” the Christian organization said.

“This affirmation, by a number of senior and respected leaders of the British Muslim community, is truly remarkable, especially because it implies that the Shariah law of apostasy, which demands the death sentence for converts from Islam, is no longer valid,” the ministry continued.

The organization,which currently is promoting a petition to encourage the banishment of such apostasy laws, suggested members of mosques encourage their imams to teach just that.

However, an expert on Islam says the report appears to be little more than posturing by Muslim leaders who are “giving highly apologetic and tendentious explanations” that are “designed to reassure Westerners.”

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch, told WND the report includes explanations of jihad, Shariah, the nature of Islam and other issues that simply don’t align with the reality of the Islamic world.

Spencer, who has authored a multitude of books on Islam and jihad, including the New York Times best-sellers “The Truth About Muhammad” and “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades),” also has led seminars on Islam for the U.S. Central Command, General Staff College, the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and others.

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His book, “Stealth Jihad,” exposes how jihadists are advancing their agenda in the West today by means other than terrorist attacks.

He told WND the sayings of Muhammad – called the hadith – clearly instruct Muslims “if anyone changes his religion, kill him.”

Every contemporary school of Islamic jurisprudence also teaches the use of the death penalty for apostasy, and in fact, such cases do come to light even in today’s world, he said.

“The application of this law in Islamic nations gives the lie to this idea” in the report, he said.

Barnabas Aid’s own documentation about Islam in today’s world notes, “there is unanimous consensus that apostasy is punishable by death under Shariah … In practice the death penalty is not often implemented, but depriving the apostates of all their civil rights is commonly practiced.”

“In many cases multiple charges of apostasy, blasphemy, unbelief, heresy and of insulting Islam and Muhammad are brought against the accused, thus giving the judges greater flexibility in deciding under which category to define the crime and to help ensure that the accused does get convicted for something,” the organization said.

Spencer said a common misconception is that Islam as a religion and as a political system can be separated. They cannot, he said.

“All you have to do is look at actual Shariah states,” he said. “Shariah is always oppressive, anti-humane and at variance with Western notions of human rights.”

He also said the Quran grants permission for a Muslim “to behave in such a manner to create the impression he is on the same side as his enemies.”

Meanwhile, the 80-plus-page Cambridge report states, “While Islam, like any other religion, frowns upon a person leaving the faith, there is no compulsion and people cannot be coerced into a religious commitment. There are examples of people who left Islam in the early years and they were allowed to go about their own way.”

Other parts of the report include typical defenses of Islamic perspectives.

Suleiman, described as “a prominent Palestinian intellectual,” cites the “26 Muslim scholars, academics and activists” that took part in the preparation of the report, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

“What we want to do now is stimulate further dialogue with a wider group of Muslim leaders and communities,” he said in a statement.

“Following the terrorist attacks in New York and London, many Muslim leaders expressed concern that their religion was being misrepresented and misinterpreted,” added Shahid Malik, the communities minister. “The silent majority of Muslims have since fought hard to restate their religion as they see it and this report is an important contribution to that.”

Mustafa Ceric, the grand mufti of Bosnia, wrote in the forward, “Over the centuries, Muslims have contributed, and continue to contribute, in many ways – spiritual, ethical, intellectual, social, economic and political – to help make Europe what it is today and what it can become tomorrow.”

“Many non-Muslims, and Muslims, tend to have a skewed understanding of the term Shariah, which conjures up images of floggings and beheadings,” the report said. “However, this is simply one historic interpretation of one aspect of the Shariah … the penal code for public crimes. The Shariah as a whole is much more than that – it is a way of life.”

The report also minimized the more well-known definition of jihad – that is, “holy war,” the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims, by force if necessary – a definition deeply rooted in the Quran and Islamic theology and tradition. Instead, the report says: “Jihad in its true sense is a key part of active citizenship. It means a positive ethical struggle: for example, striving for social justice, fighting against poverty, or making efforts to reform oneself. Jihad has recently been the subject of intense debate, partly because of the abhorrent misrepresentations promoted by some misguided groups from Muslim communities.”

The report added: “In some, stringently defined, circumstances, jihad means the legitimate use of force to defend oneself. However, it is important to stress that Islam is opposed to all forms of terrorism, regardless of who sponsors them.”

Rather than the jihad desire to expand Islam and Shariah over the globe, the report blames “social exclusion, a lack of theological and political leadership, sweeping anti-terror laws and Islamophobia” as contributing to the radicalization of Muslims.