Shaltut is of the opinion that disbelief in Islam (kufr) is itself not a cause for killing the disbeliever. The apostate should not be killed, since the punishment for apostasy is hellfire and the apostate has no penalty in this world. Mahmud Shaltut believes this based on relevant Qur'anic evidence and concludes that apostasy carries no worldly penalty because it speaks only of punishment in the afterlife.