Mu'awiyah, the paternal uncle of al-Ahnaf ibn Qays, when a letter from Umar reached us one year before his death: 'Execute every sorcerer.' So we executed three sorceresses in one day. This became well-known and was not denounced, so it was a consensus (ijma'). Hafsah also executed a slave girl of hers who had bewitched her (33). Jundab ibn Ka'b also executed a sorcerer who used to perform magic before al-Walid ibn Uqbah (34). Furthermore, he is a disbeliever, so he is to be executed, based on the report they narrated.

Section: Should the sorcerer be invited to repent? There are two narrations regarding this. The first is that he is not invited to repent. This is the apparent meaning of what was transmitted from the Companions, as it has not been reported that any of them invited a sorcerer to repent. In the hadith narrated by Hisham ibn Urwah, from his father, from Aisha, the sorceress asked the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), while they were gathered, 'Is there repentance for me?' and none of them gave her a fatwa. Furthermore, magic is a state in his heart that does not disappear through repentance, so he resembles one who has not repented. The second narration is that he is invited to repent; if he repents, his repentance is accepted, because he is not greater than [one who commits] shirk (associating others with Allah), and the mushrik (polytheist) is invited to repent. His knowledge of magic does not prevent the acceptance of his repentance, for Allah the Exalted accepted the repentance of Pharaoh's sorcerers and made them among His allies in a single hour. Furthermore, if a sorcerer were a disbeliever and then became Muslim, his Islam and repentance would be valid; thus, if repentance is valid for one of them, it is valid for the other, just like disbelief. Moreover, the disbelief and the killing result from his action through magic, not his knowledge [of it], as evidenced by the sorcerer who becomes Muslim, and repentance from acting upon it is possible. Similarly, repentance from believing in what constitutes disbelief is possible, just as it is for shirk. These two narrations concern the establishment of the ruling of repentance in this world, such as the remission of execution and the like. As for [the matter] between him and Allah the Exalted and the remission of the punishment of the Hereafter, it is valid, for Allah the Exalted has not closed the door of repentance upon any of His creation, and whoever repents to Allah, He accepts (35) his repentance. We are not aware of any disagreement regarding this.