his covenant is nullified, and there is no difficulty in this. Indeed, even if the spy is a Muslim, he must be executed if he spies for the enemy. The evidence for this is that when the Prophet ﷺ discovered the spy who had spied for Quraysh—namely, Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah, may Allah be pleased with him—and learned of it, the Commander of the Believers, Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, asked permission to kill him. The Prophet ﷺ said: “He was among the people of Badr. And what could make you know that Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said: ‘Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you’?” (1)

Thus, the Prophet ﷺ regarded espionage as making one’s blood lawful; however, there was an impediment in this case: his being among the people of Badr. This reason does not exist in our time. Therefore, if a person is found to be a spy who writes our news to the enemy, conveys it verbally, or transmits it through recordings, he must be executed, even if he repents. That is because this is like a fixed legal punishment, intended to ward off his harm and deter others like him from doing so.

His statement, “or sheltering a spy”: That is, he does not himself engage in espionage, but he shelters a spy and conceals him. Then his covenant is nullified, because by sheltering the spy, he has approved of espionage, and this harms the Muslims.

His statement, “or speaking ill of Allah, His Messenger, or His Book”: It should also include, “or His law.” Thus, if he speaks ill of Allah, such as by reviling Allah—as the Jews said: “Allah’s hand is shackled.” [al-Ma'idah 5:64]—then if he says, “Allah’s hand is shackled,” or says, “Allah is poor,” his covenant is nullified, because he has spoken ill of Allah. Or if he says, “Allah was not just when He granted the community of Muhammad ﷺ two shares of reward and granted others only one share, for this is unjust,” then his covenant is nullified.