, and he did not deem lawful against them what he deemed lawful against disbelievers who did not profess faith, but openly professed disbelief rather than faith. For he, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah. Once they say this, they safeguard their lives and property from me, except by right of that testimony, and their reckoning rests with Allah.”

When he said to Usāmah ibn Zayd, “Did you kill him after he had said, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah’?” Usāmah replied, “He only said it to seek protection.” He said, “Why did you not cut open his heart?” He also said, “I have not been commanded to probe people’s hearts or cut open their bellies.”

Whenever permission was sought to kill a man, he would say, “Does he not pray? Does he not pronounce the testimony of faith?” If he was told, “He is a hypocrite,” he would reply, “Even so.”

Thus, his ruling, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning their lives and property was the same as his ruling concerning those of others: he deemed none of them lawful to take except on outwardly evident grounds, even though he knew that many of them were hypocrites. There were others whose hypocrisy he did not know. Allah Most High said:

“Among the Bedouins around you are hypocrites, and among the people of Medina are those hardened in hypocrisy. You do not know them; We know them. We will punish them twice; then they will be returned to a tremendous punishment.”

When one of them died, Muslims who did not know that he was a hypocrite would offer the funeral prayer for him, while those who knew that he was a hypocrite would not. Whenever someone died, ‘Umar would not offer the funeral prayer for him until Hudhayfah did so, because Hudhayfah knew their identities.

Allah Most High also said:

“O you who believe, when believing women come to you as emigrants, examine them. Allah knows best their faith. If you know them to be believers, do not send them back to the disbelievers.”

Here He commanded that they be examined, and said, “Allah knows best their faith.”