Another instance which is cited by our opponents in support of their thesis is that of Tulaiha, another claimant to prophethood. This shows again that the divines who rely upon the cases of Musailamah and Tulaiha in support of their thesis are either ignorant or dishonest. They were not only apostates, but took up the sword against Islam and sought to dominate Arabia after destroying the Muslims.
Tulaiha bin Khawailad Asadi had become an apostate in the life of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him. He settled down at Sumaira and gathered a force around him. After the death of the Holy Prophet, he became stronger and Ghatafan, Hawazan and Tai rallied to his cause. After Abs and Zeeban had been vanquished by Hazrat Abu Bakr, they too joined Tulaiha. All these people persecuted the Muslims, tortured them, mutilated them and burned some of them alive (Tareekhal Kamel, V 01. II, p.149).
When Ukasha bin Mohsin and Thabit bin Aqram Ansari were out on a reconnaissance, they were overtaken by Tulaiha and his brother and were put to death. The Muslims subsequently discovered their dead bodies which had apparently been trampled underfoot.
It will thus be seen that Tulaiha was not only an apostate, he was a rebel and gave shelter to other rebels. He himself and his people slaughtered Muslims and it had become necessary to put him down. Khalid bin Waleed was sent against him, but before starting action, he sent an emissary to try to persuade him to come to terms so that bloodshed could be avoided. But he proved obdurate and there was no choice left to Khalid except to start fighting.
Musailamah and Tulaiha were not the only ones who made a false claim of prophethood towards the latter part of the life of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him. There were several other such claimants and all of them aimed at acquiring political authority over some part of Arabia. One of them was Aswad Ansi who raised the standard of rebellion simultaneously with his apostacy. He commanded the functionaries of the Holy Prophet in the Yemen to restore to him the taxes which they had collected. They put him off and he proceeded to subdue the Yemen with the help of the tribes of Mazhaj and Najran. He killed the Muslim governor of the Yemen, Shahr bin Bazan, and forcibly married his widow and made himself the ruler of the whole of the Yemen. On being apprised of the rebellion of Aswad, the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, sent a letter to Muaz bin Jabal and the Muslims to oppose Aswad Ansi, who was killed by them and the news of his death arrived in Medina one day after the death of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him.
One Laqeet bin Malik Azdi of Oman became an apostate and claimed to be a prophet. He collected together a force and established his authority over Oman, whence he expelled Jaafar and Abad who had been appointed functionaries in Oman (Tabari, Vol. IV, p.1977).
These claimants of prophethood had no concern with religion. Their only purpose was political domination and they were all rebels against the Islamic state. That was the only reason for fighting them. Their cases lend no support to the thesis that apostacy is punishable with death in Islam. They, like the other apostates, had raised the standard of rebellion against the Islamic state. They slaughtered Muslims, expelled the functionaries of the state from the regions over which they established their authority, assumed and exercised the powers of government, raised forces for fighting the Islamic state and some of them moved against Medina and laid siege to it. These were the reasons that they had to be fought.