Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

There is no doubt that reviling Allah, may He be exalted –

Allah forbid – or reviling His Messenger or His religion – Allah forbid –

comes under the heading of disbelief in Allah the Almighty. The one who does

that has committed major kufr that puts one beyond the pale of Islam. If he

dies in that state without having repented from it, then he will be one of

the people of Hell who will abide therein for all eternity.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The scholars are unanimously and definitively agreed that if

a Muslim reviles Islam, or criticises it, or he reviles the Messenger

(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), or criticises or mocks him, then

he is an apostate and a kaafir and it is permissible to sentence him to

death and seize his wealth.

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb by Ibn Baaz,

p. 139

Shaykh Ibn Jibreen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:

What is the ruling on one who reviles Allah and His Religion?

What is the expiation for that? Please note that the man concerned is

married; does his wife become haraam for him or is she divorced?

He replied:

There is no doubt that this is apostasy from Islam and

disbelief in Allah for which the person who does it deserves to be sentenced

to death unless he repents; his wife is divorced from him and his ties of

kinship with his relatives are severed, so he does not inherit from them and

they do not inherit from him. But if he repents, regrets it, prays for

forgiveness and acknowledges his mistake, Allah will accept his repentance

and he can take his wife back if her ‘iddah has not ended; if it has ended

then it is up to her, and it is not permissible for him to take her back

except with her consent.

End quote from Fataawa Islamiyyah, 3/533

Secondly:

If a person hears someone clearly reviling Allah, or shar‘i

proof is established to that effect, then there is nothing wrong with him

believing that this person is a kaafir. This is the most abhorrent and

serious kind of reviling, and no one does that except one who has gone far

astray and has no respect for Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, or one

who has lost his mind and does not know what he is saying.

This kind of reviling is not one of the obscure issues that

need a ruling from the scholars or need to be subjected to examination;

rather it is something very clear and obvious that can be recognised by

ignorant and knowledgeable alike, and old and young will be disgusted by

it.

But at the same time it is essential to bear in mind the

shar‘i purpose behind denouncing that and regarding it as repugnant, which

is to remove and ward off that evil and to strive to make the one who said

it repent and come back to his Lord, even if he has apostatised and gone

beyond the pale of Islam. Asking the apostate to repent is something that is

well known and well established. So efforts should be made to exhort him in

a manner that is appropriate to his situation, explaining the abhorrent

nature of what he has done and to discuss with him the shar‘i way that is

appropriate to his situation.

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

Reviling Islam – Allah forbid – is kufr according to the

texts and scholarly consensus. Allah, may He be exalted, said

(interpretation of the meaning):

“Was it at Allah, and His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses,

lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and His Messenger (SAW) that you were

mocking?

Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after you had

believed”

[at-Tawbah 9:65].

And there are other similar texts.

It is essential to advise him and denounce him for that; if

he responds, praise be to Allah, otherwise it is not permissible to initiate

the greeting of salaam with one who has reviled Islam, or to return his

greeting if he initiates the greeting; it is not permissible to accept his

invitation and he must be shunned completely until he repents or until the

ruling of Allah, which is to be sentenced to death, is carried out on him by

the authorities, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon

him) said: “Whoever changes his religion, execute him.” Narrated by

al-Bukhaari in his Saheeh, 3017.

End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah, 2/12

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If a person repents from any sin, even if that was reviling

Islam, his repentance will be accepted, if he fulfils the conditions that we

have mentioned. However it should be noted that a word may constitute kufr

or apostasy, but the one who utters it does not (necessarily) become a

kaafir thereby, because of the presence of some factor that prevents him

being labelled as a kaafir. In the case of this man who said that he reviled

Islam in a moment of anger, we say to him: If your anger was so severe that

you did not know what you were saying, and you did not know whether you were

in the sky or on the ground, and you said something without thinking and not

knowing what you were saying, there is no ruling that is applicable to these

words and you are not to be labelled an apostate, because this is something

that was said involuntarily and without thinking, and if anything is said

involuntarily and without meaning to, Allah, may He be glorified and

exalted, will not bring one to account for it. Allah, may He be exalted,

says concerning vows (interpretation of the meaning): “Allah will not

call you to account for that which is unintentional in your oaths, but He

will call you to account for that which your hearts have earned” [al-Baqarah

2:225].

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb, 24/2

For more information on the guidelines on labelling anyone as

a kaafir, please see the answer to question no.

85102

And Allah knows best.