What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “There is no compulsion in religion”?

Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

Question:
He asks: What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted:

There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ

[Al-Baqarah 2:256]

? Because some misguided, disbelieving sects say

There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ

[Al-Baqarah 2:256]

, meaning that if a person abandons the prayer, or zakah, or any of the obligations of Islam, he owes nothing, because

There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ

[Al-Baqarah 2:256]

Answer:
It does not mean that it is permissible for him to abandon the prayer, abandon the zakah, and the meaning of

There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ

[Al-Baqarah 2:256]

. Some scholars hold that this was at the beginning, before jihad was made obligatory, so when jihad was made obligatory, this verse was abrogated. And some scholars say: No, the verse is not abrogated, but its meaning is that no one has the power to guide hearts; the One who has the power to guide hearts is Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Allah the Exalted said:

Indeed, [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills

إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاءُ

[Al-Qasas 28:56]

The meaning of

There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ

[Al-Baqarah 2:256]

is that no one can force a person to accept the truth in his heart or for faith to enter his heart; this is in the hand of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He.

Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما معنى قوله تعالى ﴿لا إكراه في الدين﴾؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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