He suggested to Sujah to attack the tribes of Banū-Tamim...

He suggested to Sujah to attack the tribes of Banū-Tamim, instead, and Sujah accepted his advice.”[1] This agreement and no-war-pact cannot be termed as apostasy. Therefore, Ibn al-Athir writes: “When the Prophet (a.s) died and the Arabs turned apostates and Sujah claimed that he was prophet, at that time Malik struck an agreement with him.

But this does not indicate in any manner that that he was himself an apostate.”[2] The strategy in this agreement was to involve Sujah in battle with the non-Muslim tribes and divert him from attacking the Capital, al-Madinah. Therefore, Malik was able to divert him from his original plan of attacking al-Madinah and heading towards the habitations of Banū-Tamim. If this was apostasy, then Waki` ibn Malik, who also belonged to Banū-Tamim, had also…