49 – Chapter: Applying legal rulings to people on the basis of what is outward, while their inner secrets are left to Allah the Exalted

Allah the Exalted says: “If they repent, establish the prayer, and give the zakat, then let them go their way.” (Al-Tawbah: 5)

1/390 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establish the prayer, and pay the zakat. When they do that, they have secured from me their lives and their property, except for a right sanctioned by Islam; and their reckoning rests with Allah the Exalted.” Agreed upon.

3/391 – Abu ʿAbd Allah Ṭariq ibn Ashyam (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Whoever declares that there is no god but Allah and rejects whatever is worshiped apart from Allah—his wealth and his blood are inviolable, and his account is with Allah the Exalted.’ ” Narrated by Muslim.

3/392 – Abu Maʿbad al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: ‘What do you think if I encounter a man from the unbelievers and we fight; he strikes one of my hands with the sword and cuts it off, then he retreats behind a tree and says, “I have submitted to Allah.” Should I kill him, O Messenger of Allah, after he has said that?’ He replied, ‘Do not kill him.’ ”