In this respect, Ibn Taymiyah differentiated between two kinds of apostasy, an apostasy which does not cause harm to the Muslim society and an apostasy in which apostates wage war against Allah and His Messenger and spread mischief in the land. The repentance of the apostates in the first kind is accepted; while in the second kind, it is not if it occurs after the apostates have fallen into the power of the Muslim authority.

Although apostasy is a criminal act, apostates' rights are not to be violated, nor are they punished except for the things they do or proclaim, verbally or in writing (against Islam and the Muslims); as speaking or acting against Islam openly is a clear-cut disbelief and cannot be interpreted otherwise. Should there be any doubt in this regard; the person accused of apostasy would be given the benefit of the doubt.

Issuing fatwas about the apostasy of a certain person is within the competence of reputable scholars who are well-versed in Islamic jurisprudence and can differentiate between clear-cut evidences and those which are ambiguous, between the verses whose meanings are established and those whose meanings are allegorical, and between religious texts wherefrom possible deductions may be made and those which must be taken literally. They are not to label someone an apostate unless there is no alternative but to do so, such as (making sure that) he or she has denied a fundamentally established principle of religion or mocked at it, or insulted Almighty Allah and His Messenger publicly, verbally or in writing, and the like.