—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and as Abū Bakr al-Siddīq—may Allah be pleased with him—fought the apostates. These people are to be fought so long as they resist submission. Their children are not to be taken captive, nor is their property that they have not used to support the fighting to be taken as spoils. As for the horses, weapons, and other things they have used to fight the Muslims, scholars disagree over whether these may be taken. It is reported that ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib’s army plundered what was in the Khawārij’s camp. If the ruler sees fit to authorize taking the property in their camp, that is permissible.

This applies so long as they resist submission. If the ruler gains control over them, he must disperse them, eliminate the source of their evil, compel them to observe the laws of Islam, and execute those among them who persist in apostasy.

As for executing someone among them who outwardly professes Islam but inwardly conceals unbelief—the hypocrite whom jurists call a “zindīq”—most jurists hold that he is to be executed even if he repents. This is the position of Mālik and of Ahmad according to the more established of the two reports from him, and one of the two positions within the schools of Abū Hanīfa and al-Shāfiʿī.

Anyone among them who calls others to misguidance and whose evil cannot be stopped except by executing him is also to be executed, even if he professes repentance and even if he has not been judged an unbeliever. This includes leaders of the Rāfida who lead people astray, just as the Muslims executed Ghaylān al-Qadarī, al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham, and others like them who propagated such teachings. Thus, this impostor is to be executed in any case. And Allah knows best.