1007 – Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The blood of a Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah is inviolable except in one of three cases: the previously-married adulterer, a life for a life, and the one who abandons his religion and parts from the community.” Agreed upon. (1)

Glossary of the ḥadith
– Muslim: a qualifying adjective for “person.”
– testifies: together with its complement, it forms a second adjective modifying “person”; it clarifies that what is meant by “Muslim” is the one who has pronounced the two testimonies of faith, and that this pronouncement confers inviolability.
– in one of three: i.e., one of three characteristics.
– thayyib: Ibn al-Athīr states in al-Nihāyah that thayyib denotes anyone who is not a virgin, male or female; one may say “a thayyib man” or “a thayyib woman.” The word’s root is originally wāw, deriving from thāba–yathūbu (to return).
– a life for a life: the life of the murderer is taken for the life he deliberately and wrongfully took, commensurate with the murdered victim.
– one who abandons his religion: the apostate from Islam.