What is the ruling on one who insults Allah in a state of anger, or out of denial and arrogance, or out of stubbornness toward the devout, and what is the Muslim’s position toward them?

The questioner : Among people are those who insult the Divine Essence, and these are of three categories.
The first category: he insults in a state of intense anger, and when he calms down and remembers, he seeks forgiveness and repents.
The second category: he insults out of denial, rejection, and arrogance, and in every state.
The third category: he insults out of stubbornness toward the religious, or when he sees a religious person who provokes his anger. So what is the ruling on all of these, what is obligatory for each of them, and what is obligatory for one who associates with them or lives with them?

The Shaykh : I understand two of the three categories, which are united by faith: the one who insults in a state of anger, and the one who insults in a state of anger but we know about him that he denies the Shari'ah. The third category is not clear, so we need to think about an answer regarding it!

The questioner : He claims to be a believer, but for example, he is just being aggressive...

The Shaykh : This is one. Leave the atheist for me, and who is the other?

The questioner : The second one is the one who, when he gets angry for any reason, for example, he insults, and then when he calms down, he seeks forgiveness?

The Shaykh : That is it!

The questioner : It is not out of contempt for the religious; this is only with the religious, meaning.

The Shaykh : This is one, my brother. What is the difference between them!

The questioner : Two, meaning: with the devout, a person who does not use this method except with the devout, and a person with all people, meaning for any anger.

The Shaykh : The important thing, my brother, is that whoever insults Allah (Mighty and Majestic) intentionally is a disbeliever who has apostatized from his religion. As for the one who insults Allah, or His Shari'ah and His religion, while in a fit of anger, if he is reminded, he remembers, repents, turns back, and seeks forgiveness, then he is not a disbeliever, but he is an open sinner who should be disciplined. However, regarding another part of your question: what is the position of one who hears this misguidance and this disbelief from this or that person? We say that as for this listener, he has no choice but to remind him, advise him, and disapprove of it with his words. As for disapproving of it with action, that is first not the specific duty of individuals, but rather it is the specific duty of those whom the Lawgiver has charged with establishing the hudud (fixed punishments). So this one who insults Allah or His Shari'ah is either an atheist, in which case he is given the opportunity to repent, and if he repents, well and good, otherwise he is killed. Who gives him the opportunity to repent and who kills him if he does not repent? It is the ruler. And if it is said, as we always hear, that the ruler today, unfortunately, in most Islamic countries does not apply the rulings of the Shari'ah, we say that if the ruler does not apply the rulings of the Shari'ah, that means he does not want to apply the rulings of the Shari'ah. So if you stand up and apply the Shari'ah ruling on such a disbeliever, it means he will return and apply his non-Shari'ah ruling on you. Therefore, you have no choice but to advise and remind. Then there is a detail that must be considered: we often hear of a man, and recently we heard of a sad incident where a brother killed his sister. Why? Because he knew that she was committing fornication. And this is repeated, unfortunately, in this time. It is possible that this girl who was killed by her brother or her father, the one responsible for her falling into fornication is her father and her brother, where they let her loose, as they say, and gave her complete freedom. So when she leaves her father’s and brother’s house, she goes out displaying her adornment, and they watch her, and in fact, they are the ones who buy this loose clothing for her. So when she falls into the greatest fornication, and they are the ones who facilitated the way for her to fall into this fornication, their jealousy flared up and they killed her. So they are the first perpetrators against her. Then, she may not deserve to be killed; she may, for example, be unmarried, so it is not permissible to kill her, but rather to flog her. So these people who want to take upon themselves the execution of some of the Shari'ah hudud: first, they must be from the people of knowledge, and second, they must have been entrusted with the execution of the Shari'ah rulings. And this is not achieved in most of the cases that occur today, including these people who insult the religion. A person in a fit of anger: you cannot apply the Shari'ah ruling on him, because you should have authority over him, other than words, executive authority, as they say. So if you hear a person disbelieving with his tongue in a way that constitutes disbelief, it is not upon you except to remind him, enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong. If he repents, well and good, otherwise his affair is with Allah.

The questioner : As for the one who calms down and seeks forgiveness, does seeking forgiveness suffice, and is the testimony not required?

The Shaykh : The testimony, my brother, is obligatory here if he was intentional, may Allah protect us, because it is disbelief. And in that case, it is not just that the testimony is not required; if he was married, his wife is divorced, so he has to contract marriage with her again. Shari'ah rulings follow if he was intentional in the insult, because this becomes disbelief of the heart. And many of these people about whom you say they seek forgiveness: their disbelief is verbal disbelief, not disbelief of the heart. So in that case, the testimony is not required. But if he said it by way of remembrance and repentance and returning to Allah, then that is good, without a doubt. But we must know that if we say that the testimony is not required of him anew, we say—may Allah have mercy on you—we say it is required if the insult was out of belief, from the heart. And he must do many things after that, as we said earlier, such as renewing his contract with his wife if he is married. That is it. May Allah reward you.