here added as a necessary condition, means that the man leaves the Muslims and joins the enemy camp. Thus the words of the ḥadīth show that it relates to wartime; and the apostate forfeited his life not for changing his religion, but for desertion.
An instance of a simple change of religion is also contained in the Bukhārī. “An Arab of the desert came to the Holy Prophet and accepted Islām at his hand; then fever overtook him while he was still in Madīnah; so he came to the Holy Prophet and said, Give back my pledge; and the Holy Prophet refused; then he came again and said, Give me back my pledge; and the Holy Prophet refused; then he came again and said. Give me back my pledge; and the Holy Prophet refused; then he went away” (Bu. 94:47). This ḥadīth shows that the man first accepted Islām, and the next day on getting fever he thought that it was due to his becoming a Muslim, and so he came and threw back the pledge. This was a clear case of apostasy, yet it is nowhere related that anyone killed him. On the other hand, the ḥadīth says that he went away unharmed.
Another example of a simple change of religion is that of a Christian who became a Muslim and then apostatized and went over to Christianity, and yet he was not put to death: “Anas says, there was a Christian who became a Muslim and read the Baqarah and the Āl ‘Imrān (2nd and 3rd chapters of the Holy Qur’ān), and he used to write (the Holy Qur’ān) for the Holy Prophet. He then went over to Christianity again, and he used to say, Muḥammad does not know anything except what I wrote for him. Then Allāh caused him to die and they buried him” (Bu. 61:25). The ḥadīth goes on to say how his body was thrown out by the earth. This was evidently at Madīnah after the revelation of the second and third chapters of the Holy Qur’ān, when a Muslim state was well-established, and yet the man who apostatized was not even molested, though he spoke of the Holy Prophet in extremely derogatory terms and gave him out to be an imposter who knew nothing except what he (the apostate) wrote for him.
It has already been shown that the Holy Qur’ān speaks of apostates joining a tribe on friendly terms with the Muslims, and of others who withdrew from fighting altogether, siding neither with the Muslims