«وَلَوْ تَخَلَّلَتْ رِدَّةٌ فِي الْأَصَحِّ»
“Even if apostasy intervened, according to the sounder view.” Companion status remains when the individual returned to Islam and died a Muslim, despite an intervening period of apostasy.
This point acknowledges a real scholarly disagreement. The case of al-Ashʿath ibn Qays is discussed in connection with apostasy followed by a return to Islam and his treatment as a Companion. The example illustrates the issue; it should not be extended uncritically to every hypothetical circumstance.
The dispute is whether a later interval of apostasy erases a previously established meeting in faith despite eventual repentance and a Muslim death. On the preferred position it does not.