until he upholds the pillars of Islam (1). Thus, putting such a person to death is tantamount to killing one who pronounces only one of the two testimonies of faith while withholding the other, or one who denies the Quran—whether in whole or in part—or who rejects the obligation of the prescribed prayer. Such a person is, by unanimous agreement, to be executed, for he is an unbeliever, not a Muslim (2).

Those who adopt this view maintain that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “The blood of a Muslim may not lawfully be shed” (3), and that this statement does not encompass someone who has abandoned one of these pillars, because such a person is not a Muslim. It could be argued that this amounts to treating them as apostates; yet it could also be argued that they are not strictly apostates but rather have practiced part of Islam while abandoning part of it, and are therefore executed for what they have left undone. As for the hypocrites, their outward profession is Islam, while inwardly they are unbelievers.