Chapter: The Legal Ruling on the Apostate

An apostate is someone who returns to unbelief after having embraced Islam. Anyone who associates partners with Allah, denies His lordship, His oneness, or any of His attributes; claims that He has a consort or a child; rejects any of His scriptures or messengers; or reviles Allah or His Messenger has thereby fallen into disbelief. Likewise, whoever rejects the prohibition of fornication or any other clear, unanimously agreed-upon prohibition is, if his denial stems from ignorance, first informed of the ruling; but if someone of his standing could not plausibly be ignorant of it, he is deemed to have disbelieved.