Issue: Is the repentance of one who insults Allah and His Messenger accepted, and is he to be executed or not?
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The Shaykh : Some scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) say that the repentance of one who insults Allah and His Messenger is not accepted; if he repents, he must be executed. The correct view is that if one who insults Allah and His Messenger repents, and if he insulted Allah, his repentance is accepted and he is not executed. But if he insulted the Messenger, his repentance is accepted and he is executed. Why? Which is greater, insulting Allah or insulting the Messenger?
The student: Insulting Allah.
The Shaykh : Insulting Allah is undoubtedly greater. So if one repents from insulting Allah, his repentance is accepted and he is not executed. And if one repents from insulting the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), his repentance is accepted and he is executed. This is strange: how is the execution lifted from the one whose sin is greater and more severe? The answer is that one who reflects on the matter sees that there is nothing strange about it, because insulting Allah is a right of Allah, and Allah has informed us regarding His right that whoever repents to Him and turns back to Him, He has forgiven him[Az-Zumar 39:53]. As for one who insults the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), his insult is an apostasy from Islam. So if the one who insulted him repents from it, his repentance is accepted and he becomes a Muslim, but he is executed for the right of the Messenger. The right of the Messenger is a human right that is not dropped by repentance, so he is taken for the blood money of the Messenger of Allah by the one who insulted him and he is executed. But if he is executed, is he washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried with the Muslims, or not? The first or the second?
The student: The first.
The Shaykh : The first, meaning he is washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried with the Muslims, because he has become pure.
The student: Insulting Allah.
The Shaykh : Insulting Allah is undoubtedly greater. So if one repents from insulting Allah, his repentance is accepted and he is not executed. And if one repents from insulting the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), his repentance is accepted and he is executed. This is strange: how is the execution lifted from the one whose sin is greater and more severe? The answer is that one who reflects on the matter sees that there is nothing strange about it, because insulting Allah is a right of Allah, and Allah has informed us regarding His right that whoever repents to Him and turns back to Him, He has forgiven him
Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."
قل يا عبادي الذين أسرفوا على أنفسهم لا تقنطوا من رحمة الله إن الله يغفر الذنوب جميعاً إنه هو الغفور الرحيمThe student: The first.
The Shaykh : The first, meaning he is washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried with the Muslims, because he has become pure.