What are the types of coercion for which Allah has granted a dispensation to His servants when it occurs? And what is the difference between "istakrah" and "akrah"?
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The questioner : What are the types of coercion for which Allah has granted a dispensation to His servants when it occurs? And what is the difference between being coerced (akrah) and being forced (istakrah) while being rewarded?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, the Imam of the Pious, the Intimate Friend of the Lord of the worlds, and His Trustee over His revelation to all the worlds, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. Coercion (ikrah) and being forced (istikrah) have the same meaning.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Coercion is when a person is forced to do an act or to say something. If a person is coerced into something, whether verbal or physical, then there is no ruling on his saying and no ruling on his doing, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Nahl 16:106] If disbelief, which is the greatest of sins, is coerced upon a person, then there is no blame on him and no sin. So what is less than that among sins is even more so. If a fasting person is coerced to eat, for example, and he eats, then his fast is valid. If a man is coerced to divorce his wife and he divorces her, then there is no divorce on him. If a person is coerced to associate partners with Allah and he does so, then there is no sin on him if his heart is reassured by faith.
The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed regarding a person who is coerced to divorce and he divorces with the intention of divorce, but not of his own free will: does his divorce take effect or not? Some of the scholars said that his divorce takes effect because he intended it, and that what removes the divorce from him is to divorce in order to repel the coercion. But the correct view is that there is no divorce on him, even if he intended the divorce, because he is forced into this intention, and many of the common people do not distinguish between this and that. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you. This questioner, O honorable Shaykh, is from Syria and has symbolized her name with M M S. She says:
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, the Imam of the Pious, the Intimate Friend of the Lord of the worlds, and His Trustee over His revelation to all the worlds, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. Coercion (ikrah) and being forced (istikrah) have the same meaning.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Coercion is when a person is forced to do an act or to say something. If a person is coerced into something, whether verbal or physical, then there is no ruling on his saying and no ruling on his doing, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief... except for one who is forced [to renounce his religion] while his heart is secure in faith. But those who [willingly] open their breasts to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah, and for them is a great punishment;
مَنْ كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالإِيمَانِ وَلَكِنْ مَنْ شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْرًا فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌThe scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed regarding a person who is coerced to divorce and he divorces with the intention of divorce, but not of his own free will: does his divorce take effect or not? Some of the scholars said that his divorce takes effect because he intended it, and that what removes the divorce from him is to divorce in order to repel the coercion. But the correct view is that there is no divorce on him, even if he intended the divorce, because he is forced into this intention, and many of the common people do not distinguish between this and that. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you. This questioner, O honorable Shaykh, is from Syria and has symbolized her name with M M S. She says: