kill them, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This is the answer offered by those who do not put heretics to death. They say: If they conceal their heresy, they cannot be put to death; but if they openly display it, they are put to death on the basis of this verse, in which He says:

“Accursed, they will be seized wherever they are found and utterly slain.”

“Such was Allah’s established way with those who passed away before, and you will find no change in Allah’s established way.”

Qatāda said: It was related to us that the hypocrites used to display the hypocrisy within themselves. Allah threatened them with this verse, and when He did so, they concealed it and kept it hidden. “Such was Allah’s established way with those who passed away before”—meaning: this is Allah’s established way with them when they openly display hypocrisy.

Muqātil ibn Hayyān said: His words, “Such was Allah’s established way with those who passed away before,” mean that just as those at Badr were killed and taken captive, so it would be with them. This is the meaning of His words: “Such was Allah’s established way with those who passed away before.”

Al-Suddī said: Hypocrisy took “three forms”: “hypocrisy” like that of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ubayy, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Nufayl, and Mālik ibn Dāʿis. These were leading figures among the Ansār, and they were ashamed to engage in unlawful sexual intercourse, thus preserving their honour. Regarding “those in whose hearts is disease,” he said: These were those who engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse. If they found an opportunity, they indulged in it; if they did not, they did not seek it out. And there was a form of “hypocrisy” in which men overpowered women by force. These were the ones who would sit