Talk that some were labeling the prime minister an apostate (apostasy, or renouncing the faith, is a mortal sin in Islam) spread quickly.

CNN: Mahathir's Worldly Concerns

In 1980 the rise of Solidarity--a mass movement led by a shipyard electrician, Lech Walesa (later, free Poland's first president)--posed a mortal threat to the Evil Empire.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Particularly if equipped with chemical or biological weapons (which the Syrians and Iranians have in abundance), such missiles would pose a mortal threat to Israel and her people.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: How wars begin