Punishment of Apostacy in Islam — Page 48
48 He would have told the Meccan envoy, who represented the Meccans at Hudaibiyyah, that he could not agree to a term which was contrary to the divine command that an apostate was punishable with death. Nor did any of the Companions of the Holy Prophet protest against this term of the treaty that it was inconsistent with a Divine commandment. Testimony of Abu Sufyan The dialogue between the Byzantine Emperor Hirrclius and Abu Sufyan took place after the treaty of Hudaibiyyah. Abu Sufyan has related: When the Emperor summoned me to his presence, he placed my companions behind me and told them that he was about to question me concerning the person who claimed to be a prophet in our country , and that if in my answers I said anything which was not true, they should immediately contradict me. Therefore, had I not been afraid that if I said anything that was untrue my companions would contradict me and I would be humiliated before the Emperor, I would have had recourse to falsehood in my replies. I tried hard to add something to my replies that might go against the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, but I found no opportunity of doing so, except in one respect, and that was when the Emperor asked me: How does he carry out his covenants? I replied: So far, he has not contravened any of his covenants with us. We have just entered into a new treaty with him and we shall see how he behaves in respect of it, whether he carries it out or not. This was all that I was able to introduce into my replies that could raise a doubt with regard to