The Sharia punishment for Muslims who drop their faith is death and the confiscation of their property.

The reason why is curious.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Abdul Qader ‘Oudah explains it in “Criminal Law of Islam, Volume III”: “If this offence is taken lightly, the collective system of Islam may collapse. The severe punishment laid down for it aims at the total elimination of apostasy on the one hand and warning and preventing others from committing it.”

Opposition to Islam must be silenced at all costs in case the ideology can’t withstand free thought.

Secular Muslims reject Sharia censorship; but Islamists embrace and promote it.

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That is why they kill cartoonists for drawing Muhammad, or end criticism with blasphemy laws now cunningly called “vilification of religion” and disguised as protection against “anti-Muslim bigotry.”

And now they have silenced the most famous and celebrated ex-Muslim thinker of our time: Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

It isn’t happening in Riyadh or Tehran, but in Sydney, Australia, where she is supposed to be on a speaking tour right now. She isn’t, because of the threat of death and violence. It just isn’t safe for her there.

The organisers of her tour, Think Inc, have been harassed. Their insurers were contacted and warned of trouble. The venues where she was to appear were told there would be protests.

The Australian reported that Syed Murtaza Hussain of the Council for the Prevention of Islamophobia Inc. told Festival Hall in Melbourne there would be 5,000 demonstrators outside the venue.

Islamist political party Hizb ut-Tahrir told a recent meeting in Sydney that in their view Islam sanctions the killing of ex-Muslims.

“In Islam (it) is clear that apostates do attract capital punishment, we don't shy away from that,” said spokesman Uthman Badar.

With a perceived religious sanction for violence, the prospect of a 5,000-strong protest of Islamists and their allies suddenly becomes a whole lot more dangerous.

The Australian Federal Police appear to be doing nothing, thus sending a strong message to the community that Australia tolerates the Islamist bullying of ex-Muslims.

But it is not enough for Islamists to make it unsafe for Ayaan Hirsi Ali to tour Australia and speak: They want to destroy her reputation so that she will be de-platformed and discredited.

To do this, they are disguising intolerance as “Muslim feminism” and using it to slander Ayaan’s important intellectual contribution.

The day Ayaan was expected to fly in, a professionally produced propaganda video was posted on Facebook. The almost 3-minute video, credited to Blueprint Studios, features a variety of hijabis blaming Ayaan for “helping to create a world full of hate” that puts Muslims in danger. They accuse her of using the language of patriarchy, misogyny and white supremacy to profit from prejudice.

Anyone familiar with Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s life and writings knows that this is untrue. In fact, the Somali-born ex-Muslim champions free speech, human rights and lives under 24-hour guard for speaking out as an apostate. She founded the AHA Foundation to end honour violence and support its victims.

Melbourne restaurateur Hana Assafiri posted the anti-Ayaan video to her Facebook page as well as appearing in it. Her details also appear as the media contact on a Change.org petition opposing Ayaan’s visit. Ms. Assafiri has not visibly spoken out against the Sharia death penalty for ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

It is difficult to see how it is Muslims rather than ex-Muslims who are in danger in tolerant Australia when it is only ex-Muslims who are prevented from speaking and being heard, and when Islamist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir can support the killing of ex-Muslims without a protester or a police officer in sight.

But it is instructive to note how Sharia censorship is now advanced in the disguise of “Muslim feminism.”

Dressing up Islamist censorship in secular clothing has been highly successful when the costume is “anti-racism” and “protection from anti-Muslim bigotry.”

Now they are trying a new hat. One with a bow. “Islam is feminism.”

Alison Bevege is a freelance journalist from Sydney, Australia, who has written against gender segregation. She sued Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir for sending her to the back of the room at a gender-segregated public meeting and won. She has contributed on other topics to Vice Newsand News Ltd.

The views of contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.