The Ruling on One Who Despairs of Allah's Mercy or Feels Secure from His Punishment

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, I seek Allah's forgiveness. Does your statement that a Muslim does not despair of Allah's mercy and does not feel secure from His punishment mean that if a person's heart is filled with a sense of security, that is evidence of the absence of his faith and that he is a sinner?

Answer:
It is a sign of the weakness of his faith. We stated from the beginning that feeling secure from Allah's punishment and despairing of Allah's mercy are connected to faith; they diminish the perfection of faith. They diminish the perfection of faith unless a person denies Allah's mercy or denies Allah's punishment. If he denies Allah's mercy, saying that Allah does not show mercy, or that Allah is not capable of punishment, then he is a disbeliever. In this case, he has no tawhid (the oneness of Allah) at all. But if he believes in Allah's mercy and believes in Allah's punishment, yet says, "I have reached a level of sins and disobedience such that I do not deserve mercy"—meaning he sees that he does not deserve mercy, but he has not denied Allah's mercy, only that it applies to him—or if he says, "I am a righteous man," and he does not deny Allah's anger and punishment, but says, "I am a righteous man and I act in obedience to Allah," and he does not deny that Allah will punish him, then this is the one whose perfection of faith is diminished. However, if he denies Allah's mercy or denies Allah's punishment, then he is a disbeliever. Yes.