The Ruling on Insulting the Religion and the Lord
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The following message was received from a brother who used the initials (H.A.S.) from Amman, Jordan. The message contains several questions, and the first question says:
Insulting the religion or the Lord—may Allah forgive me, Lord of the worlds—does one who insults the religion or others become a disbeliever or an apostate, and what is his ruling? What is the prescribed punishment for him in the pure Islamic religion so that we may be clear about the laws of the religion? This phenomenon is widespread among some people in our country. Please inform us; may Allah reward you.
Answer: Insulting the religion is among the greatest of major sins and among the greatest of wrongs, and so is insulting the Lord . These two matters are among the greatest nullifiers of Islam and among the causes of apostasy from Islam. If one who insults the Lord, Exalted is He, or insults the religion claims to be a Muslim, then he becomes an apostate from Islam and a disbeliever who is given the opportunity to repent. If he repents, well and good; otherwise, he is killed by the authority in the land. Some scholars said: He is not given the opportunity to repent but is killed, because his crime is great. However, the stronger view is that he is given the opportunity to repent, in case Allah grants him guidance and he adheres to the truth. But there is no harm in disciplining him; he should be disciplined by flogging and imprisonment so that he does not return to such an act. This is the correct view stated by a group of scholars: that he should be disciplined, even if we give him the opportunity to repent and accept his repentance, but he is disciplined for his great crime and his boldness in committing this great major sin. We ask Allah for safety.
Others said: He is not given the opportunity to repent but is killed in all cases, and this is a strong view. However, giving him the opportunity to repent today is preferable, if Allah wills, along with appropriate discipline and appropriate imprisonment so that he does not return to this wrong. Likewise, if he insults the Qur'an or insults the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he is given the opportunity to repent; if he repents, well and good, otherwise he is killed. This is because insulting the religion, insulting the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and insulting the Lord are nullifiers of Islam. So is mocking Allah, or His Messenger, or Paradise, or the Fire, or the commands of Allah, such as prayer and zakah. Mocking these matters is among the nullifiers of Islam. Allah, Exalted is He, said: [At-Tawbah: 65-66]. We ask Allah for safety. Yes.
Insulting the religion or the Lord—may Allah forgive me, Lord of the worlds—does one who insults the religion or others become a disbeliever or an apostate, and what is his ruling? What is the prescribed punishment for him in the pure Islamic religion so that we may be clear about the laws of the religion? This phenomenon is widespread among some people in our country. Please inform us; may Allah reward you.
Answer: Insulting the religion is among the greatest of major sins and among the greatest of wrongs, and so is insulting the Lord . These two matters are among the greatest nullifiers of Islam and among the causes of apostasy from Islam. If one who insults the Lord, Exalted is He, or insults the religion claims to be a Muslim, then he becomes an apostate from Islam and a disbeliever who is given the opportunity to repent. If he repents, well and good; otherwise, he is killed by the authority in the land. Some scholars said: He is not given the opportunity to repent but is killed, because his crime is great. However, the stronger view is that he is given the opportunity to repent, in case Allah grants him guidance and he adheres to the truth. But there is no harm in disciplining him; he should be disciplined by flogging and imprisonment so that he does not return to such an act. This is the correct view stated by a group of scholars: that he should be disciplined, even if we give him the opportunity to repent and accept his repentance, but he is disciplined for his great crime and his boldness in committing this great major sin. We ask Allah for safety.
Others said: He is not given the opportunity to repent but is killed in all cases, and this is a strong view. However, giving him the opportunity to repent today is preferable, if Allah wills, along with appropriate discipline and appropriate imprisonment so that he does not return to this wrong. Likewise, if he insults the Qur'an or insults the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he is given the opportunity to repent; if he repents, well and good, otherwise he is killed. This is because insulting the religion, insulting the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and insulting the Lord are nullifiers of Islam. So is mocking Allah, or His Messenger, or Paradise, or the Fire, or the commands of Allah, such as prayer and zakah. Mocking these matters is among the nullifiers of Islam. Allah, Exalted is He, said:
(65) And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" (66) Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals.
قُلْ أَبِاللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ وَرَسُولِهِ كُنتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِئُونَ لا تَعْتَذِرُوا قَدْ كَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.