The Effect of Repentance from Shirk (associating partners with Allah) on the Invalidation of Previous Deeds
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: If a Muslim performs acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah) knowingly and then repents from them, are his previous deeds invalidated?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement. That is, if a person performs righteous deeds while in a state of kufr (disbelief) and then repents and enters Islam, this is a point of disagreement among scholars. Some scholars say that his previous deeds are invalidated, and that his record begins with his repentance and his entry into Islam. Others say no, that his previous righteous deeds are counted for him if he repents to Allah. Therefore, when one of the Companions asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about his deeds before Islam, mentioning that he used to do such and such, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:Sahih Muslim 123a, informing him that the righteous deeds he had done in the past would be counted for him if he embraced Islam. This is likely the correct position, if Allah wills.
The questioner:
, may Allah forgive you: If a Muslim performs acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah).
The Shaykh:
Okay.
The questioner:
From.
The Shaykh:
Yes, the disagreement applies to both the murtadd (apostate) and the original kafir (disbeliever); they mean the same thing. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Sadiq.
The Shaykh:
He says:[Al-Baqarah 2:217] The condition that the invalidation of deeds is tied to dying in a state of kufr (disbelief) indicates that if he repents, his deeds are not invalidated.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Honorable Shaykh, he says: If a Muslim performs acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah) knowingly and then repents from them, are his previous deeds invalidated?
The Shaykh:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement. That is, if a person performs righteous deeds while in a state of kufr (disbelief) and then repents and enters Islam, this is a point of disagreement among scholars. Some scholars say that his previous deeds are invalidated, and that his record begins with his repentance and his entry into Islam. Others say no, that his previous righteous deeds are counted for him if he repents to Allah. Therefore, when one of the Companions asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about his deeds before Islam, mentioning that he used to do such and such, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:
You accepted Islam with all the previous virtues that you practised.
أسلمت على ما أسلفت من خيرThe questioner:
, may Allah forgive you: If a Muslim performs acts of shirk (associating partners with Allah).
The Shaykh:
Okay.
The questioner:
From.
The Shaykh:
Yes, the disagreement applies to both the murtadd (apostate) and the original kafir (disbeliever); they mean the same thing. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Sadiq.
The Shaykh:
He says:
And whoever of you reverts from his religion [to disbelief] and dies while he is a disbeliever - for those, their deeds have become worthless
وَمَن يَرْتَدِدْ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ فَيَمُتْ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌ فَأُولَٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْThe presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
شرح نونية ابن القيم [53] — alfawzan.live (1:17:30)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.