Shaykh al-Islām Abū al-ʿAbbās Taqī al-Dīn ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—was asked:

“Does a believing servant become a disbeliever by committing a sin, or not?”

He replied:

He does not become a disbeliever merely by committing a sin. For the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations establish that a person who commits unlawful sexual intercourse without having consummated a valid marriage is flogged, not put to death; one who drinks intoxicants is flogged; one who makes an unsubstantiated accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse is flogged; and a thief has his hand amputated. If they were disbelievers, they would be apostates, and putting them to death would be obligatory. This, however, contradicts the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations.