# Did the Prophet order a scribe killed for leaving Islam?

*The scribe who fled to Makkah: treason, not apostasy*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/20/
- Date: 2021-02-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:11:59–1:14:32)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=4319s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/

**Topics:** Apostasy and blasphemy; Replies to attacks on the Prophet

**Question as asked:** Did the Prophet order one of his scribes to be executed because he became an apostate? Islamophobes use that hadith.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Not for apostasy, he says: the scribe was not executed, and the issue was treason, since he exposed Madinah's weak points to its enemies; apostasy laws were treason laws.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the apostasy laws of that time were in essence treason laws.

**Evidence, his words at 1:13:55:** “so yes they did have laws of treason and i've explained this in the past that that is what our apostasy laws were in essence they were treason laws” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=4435s)

## Longer summary

A super chat asks whether the Prophet ordered one of his scribes executed for becoming an apostate, a hadith Islamophobes use. Mufti Abu Layth says not really: the man, Abdullah [?], was not executed, and the issue was not apostasy but the harm he caused at a time of lawlessness, tribal law and treaties between Madinah and Makkah. He says that on going to Makkah the man rallied the Quraysh, mocked Islam and exposed Madinah's weak points and how it could be attacked, around the time of the Battle of the Trench, when the Muslims prepared with trenches. He says such acts were grave, unforgivable crimes, treason of the highest degree, and that the apostasy laws of that time were in essence treason laws.

## Sources and names cited

- Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh [?]
- the Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab)
- riddah (apostasy)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:11:59–1:14:32)

[1:11:20] and his monkey business in misquotations i go through all these verses and there are some things the quran does not highlight how did jesus die it doesn't highlight that okay it doesn't mean he didn't die but then the quran doesn't mention how moses died it doesn't mention how many people died nobody knows where moses was buried or what happened to moses it didn't you see just because we don't know something doesn't mean that oh it didn't happen so yeah right and the prophet right there's quite a few super chat did the prophet order one of his scribes to be executed because he became

[1:11:59] an apostate islamophobes used that hadith uh no not really so the hadith that you're speaking about is abdullah and it's not about you see you have to understand something that person was not executed but in that day and age there were certain treaties that the people of medina had with mecca and you see we keep forgetting and i mentioned this on so many occasions we keep forgetting that the world then was radically different yeah you have to go back to a time when there

[1:12:37] is a sense of lawlessness and tribal laws and what abdullah did is he ran it wasn't about him apostating it was about the harm he caused when he went to makkah because when he went back there he was there trying to one fair enough okay he was trying to rally them and mocking islam fair enough but he was trying to expose how they could be attacked and how they could be sabotaged because he'd lived there so he was telling them basically all the weak points and the pressure points of medina

[1:13:16] and the medinan society how to attack them and you have to remember they were with the battle of azerba and things like this so and luckily they didn't know the complete um they thought they knew all the pressure points but they you know obviously the muslims prepared with the trenches and stuff so you have to remember these things in the past were dealt as they were not just minor issues these were grave unconscionable unforgivable crimes because you see what you were basically saying was

[1:13:55] wipe the entire community out and that was outlawed and this is why it was treason it was treason to the highest degree so yes they did have laws of treason and i've explained this in the past that that is what our apostasy laws were in essence they were treason laws how can the story of zulkarnain not refer to a flat earth oh for god's sake [Laughter] i won't say you're doing it with that but you're doing it with the super chat

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment --PntsaR8ck/s/20. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/20/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.