Muwatta 2151

Yahya said: Malik told us, from Zayd ibn Aslam, that the Messenger said: whoever changes his religion, strike his neck. The editor notes that a group of Muwatta narrators transmitted it as mursal, and Ibn Abd al-Barr considered the connected report from Nafi from Ibn Umar unreliable; the report is established from Ibn Abbas. Malik said on its meaning: whoever leaves Islam for another, such as the zindiqs and their like, when they are discovered, are killed without being asked to repent, since their repentance cannot be known; but whoever leaves Islam for another and declares it openly, he is asked to repent, and if he repents, well; otherwise he is killed. ¹

Belongs to the Muwatta, Book of Judgments. Source: the Muwatta. Mentions Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, Malik ibn Anas, Zayd ibn Aslam. Built on in the chapters on apostasy (riddah).