Hazrat Miqdad bin Aswad (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that I asked: O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)! What is your opinion regarding this: if I meet a man from among the disbelievers, and he fights me, and he strikes my hand with a sword and cuts it off, then he seeks refuge from me behind a tree and says, "I have accepted Islam for the sake of Allah." O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)! After he says this, should I kill him? The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Do not kill him. I said: O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)! He cut off my hand, and after cutting it off, he recites the kalimah; should I not kill him? The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Do not kill him. If you kill him, then he will be in your position as you were before you killed him, and you will be in his position as he was before he recited the kalimah which he has now recited.