Topic: Invalidators of Islam - Riddah

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Apostasy - Riddah

It is obligatory upon every Muslim to preserve his faith in Islam and protect it against whatever invalidates, abolishes, and interrupts it, namely, apostasy (riddah); we seek refuge with Allah, ta^ala, from it.

The meaning of what an-Nawawiyy and others said is: "Apostasy is the most abhorrent type of blasphemy." In this age it has become common to speak carelessly to the extent some people utter words which turn them out of Islam, and they do not deem such words sinful despite them being blasphemous. This is asserted by the saying of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam: <<A person may utter a word he thinks harmless, which results in his falling the depth of seventy years into Hellfire.>> This hadith was related by at-Tirmidhiyy who classified it as a hasan hadith. A hadith related by al-Bukhariyy and Muslim has a similar meaning. This hadith is evidence it is not a condition for a person to commit blasphemy that he must have learned the judgement per se or that he must have liked or believed the meaning of the uttered blasphemous words--as falsely stated in the book called Fiqh-us-Sunnah. It is also not a condition for falling into blasphemy that one is not angry when uttering blasphemy. Imam an-Nawawiyy said: "If a man was angry with his child or slave and hit him severely, then another person asked him, 'How could you do this? Aren't you a Muslim?' and to that his deliberate answer was 'No,' he blasphemed." This was said by Hanafiyy scholars as well as others.

An-Nawawiyy and other scholars among the four schools (madhhabs), classified apostasy into three categories: beliefs in the heart, actions committed by different parts of the body, and sayings with the tongue. Each category of apostasy is divided into many subdivisions.

1) Examples of the first category of apostasy, i.e., the beliefs in the heart, are:
• having the doubt in Allah, His Messenger, the Qur'an, the Day of Judgement, Paradise, Hell, Reward, Punishment, or similar matters upon which there has been scholarly consensus (ijma^1);
• believing the world is eternal by kind and elements or by kind only;
• renouncing one of the attributes of Allah, ta^ala, known by ijma^ He is attributed with--such as knowing about everything;
• ascribing to Him what is known by ijma^ does not befit Him--such as being a body;
• legitimating what is commonly known among the Muslims to be unlawful (haram)--such as adultery and fornication (zina), sodomy (liwat), killing (qatl), stealing (sariqah), and taking money of others by force (ghasb);
• deeming unlawful (haram) what is commonly known among the Muslims to be lawful (halal)--such as selling and marriage;
• renouncing the obligation of the matters commonly known among the Muslims to be obligatory--such as the five prayers or one prostration of them, Zakah, Fasting (Sawm), Pilgrimage (Hajj), and Ablution (Wudu');
• deeming obligatory the matters commonly known among the Muslims not to be obligatory;
• renouncing the legitimacy of what all Muslims know is legitimate;
• intending to blaspheme in the future;
• intending to do any of the aforementioned;
• hesitating whether or not to blaspheme--but not the mere involuntary thought of it;
• denying the companionship of our master Abu Bakr, may Allah raise his rank;
• denying the Message of he who is recognized by all Muslims as a messenger or a prophet;
• renouncing, just to be stubborn, a letter of the Qur'an which is known by all Muslims to be of it;
• adding, just to be stubborn, a letter to the Qur'an which is known by all Muslims not to be of it;
• belying a messenger or blemishing his attributes;
• making a messenger's name diminutive with the purpose of degrading him;
• believing in the possibility of the prophethood of someone after our Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.

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2)The second category of apostasy , i.e., the apostasy of actions committed by different parts of the body, includes prostrating to an idol or the sun, or prostrating to any other creation with the purpose of worshipping it.

3) The third category of apostasy , i.e., the apostasy of sayings uttered with the tongue, are very numerous and uncounted. Some examples are:

• to say to a Muslim: 'O blasphemer', 'O Jew', 'O Christian', or 'O you without religion', meaning the religion of the addressed person is blasphemy, Judaism, Christianity, or not a religion--but not with the purpose of likening him to those non-Muslims in behavior;
• to mock one of the names of Allah, ta^ala, His Promise, or His Threat, by someone who is aware these have been attributed to Him, subhanahu;
• to say: 'If Allah ordered me with such a thing I would not do it'--out of belittlement or out of stubbornness which is showing that Allah does not deserve to be obeyed even though one believes He does;
• to say: 'If the Qiblah were changed to another direction I would not pray towards it'--out of belittlement or out of stubbornness which is to show that it is not an obligation to face the Qiblah in prayer although one believes it is;
• to say: 'If Allah gave me Paradise I would not enter it'--out of belittlement or out of stubbornness, i.e., refusing to glorify Paradise although one knows glorifying it is part of the Religion;
• to say: 'If Allah punished me for leaving out prayers despite my sickness He would wrong me';
• to say: 'Something happened without the will of Allah';
• to say: 'If prophets, angels, or all Muslims testified before me about something I would not accept from them';
• to say: 'I will not do that even if it is a recommended matter (sunnah)'--with the purpose of mockery;
• to say: 'If someone were a prophet I would not believe in him';
• to say: 'What is this law (Shar^)?' when a scholar gives a religious judgement--with the purpose of belittling the judgement of the Islamic law;
• to belittle the status of knowledge by saying: 'May Allah's damn be upon every religious scholar';
• to say: 'I do not acknowledge Allah, the angels, the Prophet, the Qur'an, the Islamic law (Shar^), or Islam;
• to say: 'I do not know the judgement'--with the purpose of mocking the judgement revealed by Allah;
• to say Ayah 34, Surat an-Naba' after one has filled a cup:

This ayah refers to a cup full to the brim with the drinks of Paradise;
to say Ayah 20, Surat an-Naba' after one has emptied a drink:

This ayah refers to mountains that will vanish on the Judgement Day as if they were a mirage;
to say Ayah 30, Surat al Mutaffifin upon weighing or measuring:

This ayah refers to some people cheating in measuring and weighing;
to say Ayah 47, Surat al-Kahf when seeing a crowd:

which refers to the Judgement Day when the people will be assembled without any of them left out--with the intention of belittling the meaning of these ayat, and likewise whenever the Qur'an is used for that purpose. If it is used in such situations for other than that purpose, one does not blaspheme; however, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Hajar, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: "This is not far from being unlawful (haram).";
to cuss a prophet or an angel;
to say: 'I would be a pimp if I performed prayer';
to say: 'I have not gained any good since I have performed prayer';
to say: 'Prayer is not good for me'--with the purpose of mockery;
to say to a Muslim: 'I am your enemy and the enemy of your Prophet';
to say to a descendent of the Prophet (Sharif): 'I am your enemy and the enemy of your grandfather'--meaning the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam;
to say anything similar to those aforementioned, abhorrent, and ugly words.
A large number of faqihs,(A faqih is the one who is authoritatively knowledgeable in the Religion.) like the Hanafiyy faqih, Badr-ar-Rashid, who lived close to the eighth Hijriyy Century, and Qadi ^Iyad, may Allah, ta^ala, have mercy upon them, enumerated many blasphemous words one needs to know, because whoever does not know evil is more likely to fall into it.

The rule is: any belief, action, or saying which belittles Allah, His Books, His Messengers, His Angels, His Rites, the well-known practices of His Religion, His Rules, His Promise, or His Threat is blasphemy. Hence, the human being must use caution with the utmost effort to avoid blasphemy.