Some of the open sinners today who drink intoxicants and engage in usury may have abandoned this act not out of repentance to Allah, but out of remorse for it. Are they to be described as open sinners?

The questioner : Some of the open sinners today who drink intoxicants and engage in usury may have abandoned this act not out of repentance to Allah, but out of remorse for it. Are they to be described as open sinners?

The Shaykh : We say: As for their inner state, they are open sinners, but as for their outward state, they are not, because we do not judge except by what is apparent, even if there is an indication... And the evidence for this is the hadith of Usamah ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) when a polytheist caught up with him. When he reached him, the polytheist said: "There is no god but Allah", so he killed him, interpreting it as a mere plea. When this reached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said to him: ? He kept killing him after he had said "There is no god but Allah" until he said, "I wish I had not become a Muslim after that." We now agree with Usamah on what? On the fact that the man said it as a means of seeking safety, he said it to seek safety from being killed, but even so, he did not make it...