[Grounds that Necessitate Execution]

We have already established that the mere fact of unbelief is not, in and of itself, a cause that necessitates execution (1); rather, what warrants it is aggravated unbelief. Such aggravation arises at times because its proponent takes up arms, and at other times because he turns away from Islam in outright apostasy.

Apostasy, in turn, is of two kinds: simple apostasy and aggravated apostasy. The person guilty of aggravated apostasy is to be put to death without being offered repentance, whereas the one guilty of simple apostasy is first to be invited to repent. Thus the Prophet ﷺ ordered the killing of Miqyas b. Ṣabābah and ʿAbd Allah b. Khatal without granting them any opportunity to repent. He had likewise declared the blood of ʿAbd Allah b. Saʿd b. Abī Sarḥ forfeit; had anyone killed him without calling him to repent, it would have been permissible. Yet he later presented himself and the Prophet accepted his repentance.

This demonstrates that demanding an apostate’s repentance and accepting it is neither obligatory in every case nor forbidden in every case. Rather, the perpetrator of aggravated apostasy may be executed even if he repents, and he may be executed without being offered repentance—though if he does repent he is not to be executed—and he may even be ordered