Is despair of Allah's mercy, despite abundant worship, considered disbelief?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. The questioner says: Imam al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in his creed that security and despair remove one from the religion. Is a Muslim who performs acts of obedience and worship in abundance, but who despairs and loses hope that Allah the Exalted will accept this worship from him and that he is among the people of the Fire, a disbeliever?
Answer:
Yes, despairing of the mercy of Allah is kufr (disbelief). And whoever despairs of the mercy of his Lord, except for the astray,[Yusuf 12:87] so it is not permissible to despair of the mercy of Allah or to lose hope. [Az-Zumar 39:53] Instead of losing hope in the mercy of Allah, it is obligatory for you to repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, and Allah accepts the repentance of whoever repents, even if your sins are numerous and great, for Allah will erase them from you and forgive them for you.
May Allah reward you. The questioner says: Imam al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in his creed that security and despair remove one from the religion. Is a Muslim who performs acts of obedience and worship in abundance, but who despairs and loses hope that Allah the Exalted will accept this worship from him and that he is among the people of the Fire, a disbeliever?
Answer:
Yes, despairing of the mercy of Allah is kufr (disbelief). And whoever despairs of the mercy of his Lord, except for the astray,
Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people."
إِنَّهُ لَا يَيْأَسُ مِن رَّوْحِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْكَافِرُونَSay, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins.
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل اليأس من رحمة الله مع كثرة العبادة يعتبر كفرا؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.