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1,001 Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet

Apostates

Narrated Abdullah:

Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas (the right of the family of a murder victim to demand the murderer be put to death) for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims."

Bukhari 83.17

Kill the apostates and get a reward!

Narrated Ali:

Whenever I tell you a narration from Allah's Apostle, by Allah, I would rather fall down from the sky than ascribe a false statement to him, but if I tell you something between me and you (not a Hadith) then it was indeed a trick (i.e., I may say things just to cheat my enemy).

No doubt I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "During the last days there will appear some young foolish people who will say the best words but their faith will not go beyond their throats (i.e. they will have no faith) and will go out from (leave) their religion as an arrow goes out of the game.

So, wherever you find them, kill them, for whoever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection."

Bukhari 84.64

Ali, the fourth Caliph and second only to his father-in-law in esteem among the Shiites, used to burned apostates.

Narrated Ikrima:

Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn 'Abbas, who said, "Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, 'Don't punish (anybody) with Allah's Punishment.'

No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.'"

Bukhari 52.260

Muhammad had second thoughts about burning people whom he wanted killed.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle sent us in a mission (i.e. an army-unit) and said, "If you find so-and-so and so-and-so, burn both of them with fire."

When we intended to depart, Allah's Apostle said, "I have ordered you to burn so-and-so and so-and-so, and it is none but Allah Who punishes with fire, so, if you find them, kill them."

Bukhari 52.259

The casual killing of an apostate:

Narrated Abu Burda:

Abu Musa said, "I came to the Prophet along with two men (from the tribe) of Ash'ariyin, one on my right and the other on my left, while Allah's Apostle was brushing his teeth (with a Siwak), and both men asked him for some employment.

The Prophet said, 'O Abu Musa (O Abdullah bin Qais!).'

I said, 'By Him Who sent you with the Truth, these two men did not tell me what was in their hearts and I did not feel (realize) that they were seeking employment.'

As if I were looking now at his Siwak being drawn to a corner under his lips, and he said, 'We never (or, we do not) appoint for our affairs anyone who seeks to be employed. But O Abu Musa! (or Abdullah bin Qais!) go to Yemen.'"

The Prophet then sent Mu'adh bin Jabal (another companion of the Prophet and one of the most revered scholars of Islam) after him and when Mu'adh reached him, he spread out a cushion for him and requested him to get down (and sit on the cushion).

Behold: There was a fettered man beside Abu Muisa (sic).

Mu'adh asked, "Who is this (man)?"

Abu Muisa (sic) said, "He was a Jew and became a Muslim and then reverted back to Judaism."

Then Abu Muisa (sic) requested Mu'adh to sit down but Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down till he has been killed. This is the judgment of Allah and His Apostle (for such cases) and repeated it thrice.

Then Abu Musa ordered that the man be killed, and he was killed.

Abu Musa added, "Then we discussed the night prayers and one of us said, 'I pray and sleep, and I hope that Allah will reward me for my sleep as well as for my prayers.'"

Bukhari 84.58

The first person Muhammad ordered to be killed after the conquest of Mecca was an apostate.

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Allah's Apostle entered Mecca in the year of its Conquest wearing an Arabian helmet on his head and when the Prophet took it off, a person came and said, "Ibn Khatal is holding the covering of the Ka'ba (taking refuge in the Ka'ba)."

The Prophet said, "Kill him."

Bukhari 29.72

Khatal had been one of Muhammad’s Zakat (obligatory charity) collectors. He later abandoned Islam and returned to Mecca. He was one of six men and four women whom God’s spokesman ordered assassinated upon taking Mecca.

Muhammad, in a rambling hadith that touches on both the sacred and the mundane, justified the assassinations. This was after promising the Meccans that he would not harm anyone if the city surrendered without a fight. Allah, it would seem, had consented to suspending His interdiction, if only temporarily and only for His spokes-man, against killing anyone in the sanctuary that was His City.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

In the year of the Conquest of Mecca, the tribe of Khuza'a killed a man from the tribe of Bani Laith in revenge for a killed person, belonging to them.

They informed the Prophet about it. So he rode his Rahila (she-camel for riding) and addressed the people saying, "Allah held back the killing from Mecca. (The sub-narrator is in doubt whether the Prophet said 'elephant or killing' as the Arabic words standing for these words have great similarity in shape), but He (Allah) let His Apostle and the believers overpower the infidels of Mecca. Beware! (Mecca is a sanctuary) Verily! Fighting in Mecca was not permitted for anyone before me nor will it be permitted for anyone after me. It (war) in it was made legal for me for few hours or so on that day. No doubt it is at this moment a sanctuary, it is not allowed to uproot its thorny shrubs or to uproot its trees or to pick up its Luqatt (fallen things) except by a person who will look for its owner (announce it publicly). And if somebody is killed, then his closest relative has the right to choose one of the two, the blood money (Diyya) or retaliation having the killer killed."

In the meantime a man from Yemen came and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Get that written for me."

The Prophet ordered his companions to write that for him. Then a man from Quraish said, "Except Al-Iqhkhir (a type of grass that has good smell) O Allah's Apostle, as we use it in our houses and graves."

The Prophet said, "Except Al-Iqhkhir. Al-Idhkhir is allowed to be plucked."

Bukhari 3.112

Truth had triumph over disbelief, and disbelief had to die, both literally and figuratively.

Narrated 'Abdullah bin Masud:

The Prophet entered Mecca and (at that time) there were three hundred-and-sixty idols around the Ka'ba. He started stabbing the idols with a stick he had in his hand and reciting: "Truth (Islam) has come and Falsehood (disbelief) has vanished."

Bukhari 43.658

The Unwelcoming Grave

The fantastic story of a Christian who became a Muslim and then reconverted to Christianity and then died only to have his body repeatedly rejected from the grave. It is not explicitly attributed to Muhammad, but Bukhari thought it important enough to include in his collection.

Narrated Anas:

There was a Christian who embraced Islam and read Surat-al-Baqara and Al-Imran, and he used to write (the revelations) for the Prophet.

Later on he returned to Christianity again and he used to say: "Muhammad knows nothing but what I have written for him."

Then Allah caused him to die, and the people buried him, but in the morning they saw that the earth had thrown his body out.

They said, "This is the act of Muhammad and his companions. They dug the grave of our companion and took his body out of it because he had run away from them."

They again dug the grave deeply for him, but in the morning they again saw that the earth had thrown his body out.

They [again] said, "This is an act of Muhammad and his companions. They dug the grave of our companion and threw his body outside it, for he had run away from them."

They dug the grave for him as deep as they could, but in the morning they again saw that the earth had thrown his body out. So they believed that what had befallen him was not done by human beings and had to leave him thrown (on the ground).

Bukhari 56.814