Ruling on one who curses the religion in anger
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Question:
This questioner, Muhammad Ahmad Ali from Amman, Jordan, sent two questions. His first question was answered in the previous episode, and this is his second question, which we present to your eminence. He says:
If a person becomes angry and his anger intensifies, and he ends up cursing the religion, what is his ruling? And if he is married, does anything affect his wife, such as her separating from him, if the ruling is that he has exited Islam?
Answer:
This is a great issue with serious implications. Cursing the religion is among the greatest of major sins and among the nullifiers of Islam. Indeed, cursing the religion is apostasy according to all scholars, and it is worse than mockery. Allah the Exalted said:[At-Tawbah 9:65] Do not make excuses to us; you have become disbelievers after your faith [Surah al-Tawbah: 66]. There was a slave girl in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who used to curse the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so her master killed her when she did not repent. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan an-Nasa'i 4070Sahih (Darussalam).
Cursing the religion necessitates apostasy from Islam, and cursing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) likewise necessitates apostasy from Islam. His blood becomes forfeit, and his wealth belongs to the public treasury, because he is an apostate who has committed a nullifier of the nullifiers of Islam. However, if it was due to intense anger and a disturbance of his mind, he has a different ruling. Anger, according to the scholars, has three levels:
The first level: when his anger becomes so intense that he loses his mind, and no discernment remains with him due to the intensity of the anger. His ruling is the ruling of the insane and the deranged; no ruling is established based on his speech, neither his divorce nor his cursing, nor anything else. He is like an insane person, and no ruling is established for him.
The second category: less than that, where his anger becomes intense and overwhelms him greatly, changing his thinking, and he cannot control himself. It takes complete hold of him until he becomes like one who is coerced or forced, unable to rid himself of what is in his heart. However, it is less than the first level; his consciousness has not completely vanished, and he has not completely lost his mind. But he has intense anger due to the causes of cursing, quarreling, and dispute between him and some people, between him and his family, or his wife, or his father, or his ruler, or others. The scholars differed on this:
Some said: His ruling is the ruling of the sane and the rational... rulings apply to him, his divorce is effective, he becomes an apostate by cursing the religion, and he is judged to be killed for his apostasy, and he is separated from his family, from his wife.
Some of them said: It is to be treated like the first case, where one has lost his mind, because that is closer to it; and because a person in such a state is forced to speak under compulsion, unable to extricate himself from it due to the intensity of his anger. This opinion is more apparent and closer to the truth, and its ruling is the same as that of one who has lost his mind in this sense: his divorce does not take effect, and his apostasy does not take effect; because he resembles one who has lost consciousness due to the intensity of his anger and the dominance of anger over him, to the point that he was unable to extricate himself from it. They argued for this with the story of Musa (peace be upon him): when he found his people worshipping the calf, his anger against them intensified. He came and threw down the tablets, and took his brother by the head and dragged him toward him, despite the intensity of his anger. Yet Allah did not hold him accountable, neither for throwing down the tablets nor for dragging his brother, who was a prophet like him, Harun, because of the intensity of the anger. If he had thrown them down out of negligence while he was of sound mind, that would have been a great matter. And if a prophet were grabbed by his beard or head and harmed, it would become apostasy if a person did it. But because Musa was in extreme, great anger—anger for the sake of Allah over what had happened with his people—Allah forgave him and did not hold him accountable for throwing down the tablets or for dragging his brother. This is among the arguments of those who said: the divorce of this person—whose anger intensified—does not take effect, and likewise, his cursing does not result in apostasy. This is a strong and apparent opinion, and it has many other arguments that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) and the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim elaborated upon, and they chose this opinion.
This opinion is more correct in my view, and it is what I issue a ruling on; because one whose anger becomes intense has his intention closed off, and he resembles the insane in his actions and his ugly speech. So he is closer to the insane and the deranged than to the sane and sound. This opinion is more apparent and stronger. However, there is no objection to him being disciplined somewhat if he did something from the causes of apostasy, from the aspects of apostasy, out of caution, and out of fear of being lenient with this matter, or of it happening to him again if he is disciplined.
The presenter: For example, discretionary punishment.
The Shaykh: By way of beating or imprisonment or the like, this may have a great benefit, but he is not judged with the ruling of apostates because of the intensity of the anger that befell him, which resembles the state of insanity. And Allah is the One to be sought for help.
As for the third level, the third category: it is ordinary anger where the mind remains with him, and there is no intensity that tightens the noose and causes him to lose control of himself. Rather, it is less than that, ordinary anger where he becomes upset and angry, but he is sound in mind and sound in conduct. So according to all scholars, his actions are effective, his sale and purchase and divorce and others are effective; because his anger is light, it does not change his intention or his heart. And Allah knows best. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah bless you.
This questioner, Muhammad Ahmad Ali from Amman, Jordan, sent two questions. His first question was answered in the previous episode, and this is his second question, which we present to your eminence. He says:
If a person becomes angry and his anger intensifies, and he ends up cursing the religion, what is his ruling? And if he is married, does anything affect his wife, such as her separating from him, if the ruling is that he has exited Islam?
Answer:
This is a great issue with serious implications. Cursing the religion is among the greatest of major sins and among the nullifiers of Islam. Indeed, cursing the religion is apostasy according to all scholars, and it is worse than mockery. Allah the Exalted said:
Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?"
قُلْ أَبِاللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ وَرَسُولِهِ كُنتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِئُونَ I bear witness that her blood is permissible.
ألا اشهدوا إن دمها هدرCursing the religion necessitates apostasy from Islam, and cursing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) likewise necessitates apostasy from Islam. His blood becomes forfeit, and his wealth belongs to the public treasury, because he is an apostate who has committed a nullifier of the nullifiers of Islam. However, if it was due to intense anger and a disturbance of his mind, he has a different ruling. Anger, according to the scholars, has three levels:
The first level: when his anger becomes so intense that he loses his mind, and no discernment remains with him due to the intensity of the anger. His ruling is the ruling of the insane and the deranged; no ruling is established based on his speech, neither his divorce nor his cursing, nor anything else. He is like an insane person, and no ruling is established for him.
The second category: less than that, where his anger becomes intense and overwhelms him greatly, changing his thinking, and he cannot control himself. It takes complete hold of him until he becomes like one who is coerced or forced, unable to rid himself of what is in his heart. However, it is less than the first level; his consciousness has not completely vanished, and he has not completely lost his mind. But he has intense anger due to the causes of cursing, quarreling, and dispute between him and some people, between him and his family, or his wife, or his father, or his ruler, or others. The scholars differed on this:
Some said: His ruling is the ruling of the sane and the rational... rulings apply to him, his divorce is effective, he becomes an apostate by cursing the religion, and he is judged to be killed for his apostasy, and he is separated from his family, from his wife.
Some of them said: It is to be treated like the first case, where one has lost his mind, because that is closer to it; and because a person in such a state is forced to speak under compulsion, unable to extricate himself from it due to the intensity of his anger. This opinion is more apparent and closer to the truth, and its ruling is the same as that of one who has lost his mind in this sense: his divorce does not take effect, and his apostasy does not take effect; because he resembles one who has lost consciousness due to the intensity of his anger and the dominance of anger over him, to the point that he was unable to extricate himself from it. They argued for this with the story of Musa (peace be upon him): when he found his people worshipping the calf, his anger against them intensified. He came and threw down the tablets, and took his brother by the head and dragged him toward him, despite the intensity of his anger. Yet Allah did not hold him accountable, neither for throwing down the tablets nor for dragging his brother, who was a prophet like him, Harun, because of the intensity of the anger. If he had thrown them down out of negligence while he was of sound mind, that would have been a great matter. And if a prophet were grabbed by his beard or head and harmed, it would become apostasy if a person did it. But because Musa was in extreme, great anger—anger for the sake of Allah over what had happened with his people—Allah forgave him and did not hold him accountable for throwing down the tablets or for dragging his brother. This is among the arguments of those who said: the divorce of this person—whose anger intensified—does not take effect, and likewise, his cursing does not result in apostasy. This is a strong and apparent opinion, and it has many other arguments that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) and the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim elaborated upon, and they chose this opinion.
This opinion is more correct in my view, and it is what I issue a ruling on; because one whose anger becomes intense has his intention closed off, and he resembles the insane in his actions and his ugly speech. So he is closer to the insane and the deranged than to the sane and sound. This opinion is more apparent and stronger. However, there is no objection to him being disciplined somewhat if he did something from the causes of apostasy, from the aspects of apostasy, out of caution, and out of fear of being lenient with this matter, or of it happening to him again if he is disciplined.
The presenter: For example, discretionary punishment.
The Shaykh: By way of beating or imprisonment or the like, this may have a great benefit, but he is not judged with the ruling of apostates because of the intensity of the anger that befell him, which resembles the state of insanity. And Allah is the One to be sought for help.
As for the third level, the third category: it is ordinary anger where the mind remains with him, and there is no intensity that tightens the noose and causes him to lose control of himself. Rather, it is less than that, ordinary anger where he becomes upset and angry, but he is sound in mind and sound in conduct. So according to all scholars, his actions are effective, his sale and purchase and divorce and others are effective; because his anger is light, it does not change his intention or his heart. And Allah knows best. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah bless you.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.