And his repentance is not acceptable in this life...

And his repentance is not acceptable in this life; according to well-known ruling of the scholars. But Ayatullah al-Khoui says that obviously his repentance is acceptable in the hereafter and to a certain extent in this life too. Accordingly, if he repents he will become tahir, and if his former wife agrees he may remarry her in a fresh marriage. In short, he will be treated as a Muslim - but even then he shall not regain possession of his property unless the heirs willingly return it to him.

Likewise the sentence of death shall not be waived even after repentance. If a woman becomes Murtadd Fitri, she becomes najis; and haram on her husband, but she does not lose her property nor is she sentenced to death; and her repentance is accepted. If she refuses to repent, she will be imprisoned. Murtadd Milli: A person who was not born of a Muslim parent: and accepted Islam after attaining majority and later renounced it. He should be told to repent.

If he repents within three days, his repentance will be accepted. Otherwise he would be killed on the fourth day. His Muslim wife will become haram for him, i.e. the marriage will become invalid automatically, and she will have to observe the 'iddah of divorce if the marriage was consummated; but if he repents during her 'iddah period, the marriage will continue without there being any need for a new nikah. Murtadd Milli is debarred from managing his property (although he remains its owner).

If he repents, he will regain its management; otherwise he will be given his essential requirements from it until he dies; after his death, the property will be divided among his Muslim heirs. (The readers should consult detailed books of jurisprudence for details of the rules about both types of apostates.) Now we come to a special category of men whom the Qur'an calls Munafiq (hypocrite). Plural = Munafiqun .

Munafiq is a person who professes to accept Islam but in reality does not believe in it. Such a person is treated as a Muslim in this life: His/her body is tahir; he/she may marry with a Muslim spouse; he/she will inherit from his/her Muslim relatives; his/her life, honor and property will get as much protection in law as that of any other Muslim. But in the hereafter, he/she will be treated as kafir or even worse. The Qur'an says: “Surely the hypocrites are in the lowest rank of the fire . .

.” (4:145).