Nigeria, April 11 -- Islamic scholar and National Chairman of the Council of Ulama, Dr. Ibrahim Jalingo, has ignited a firestorm online after publicly endorsing the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their faith.

In a defiant post shared Thursday on his verified Facebook page, Jalingo backed a Hadith that calls for the killing of apostates, dismissing critics as "compound ignoramuses" and defending the Hadith as divinely inspired revelation on par with the Qur'an.

"Whoever changes his religion, kill him," Jalingo quoted from the Hadith, insisting the statement is not only authentic but supported by multiple Qur'anic verses.

The cleric directed his criticism at a man identified as Issiyaku Abdulkadir, who had presented the Hadith as...