ability to fight is taken as a war condition, which is quite illogical. If it is meant that the apostate possesses the potentiality to fight, then potentially even a child may be called a ḥarabiyy (one at war), because he will grow up to be a man and have the ability to fight; even woman apostates cannot be excepted because they also possess the potentiality to fight. The law of punishment is based not on potentialities but on facts. Thus, even the Fiqh recognizes the principle that the life of a man cannot be taken for mere change of religion and that, unless the apostate is in a state of war, he cannot be killed. It is quite a different matter that the legists should have made a mistake in defining ḥirāb or a state of war.