Question:
What is the Islamic Ruling on insulting the religion of Islam, Allah The Most High, or the Messenger (ﷺ), because cursing the religion is a wide spread phenomenon on the mouths of the young and elder nowadays? And what is the ruling on mocking and making fun of the people of this religion and its scholars?
Answer:
All praise due to Allah,
The scholars of this Ummah from the past and the present have agreed that cursing Allah, or cursing one of His messengers and making fun out of the religion is disbelief in Allah the Greatest, which takes the one who commits it out of the fold of Islam.
So whomsoever curses Allah, or one of His messengers, he will become Murtad [an apostate] from Islam and separated of the community of Muslims, he will be killed in any circumstance, and he will not be able to make Tawbah [repent].
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
عَنْ اِبْنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اَللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ: قال ﷺ: من بدل دينه فاقتلوه. رَوَاهُ اَلْبُخَارِيُّ
He who changes his religion [i.e. apostates] kill him. [Sahih al-Bukhari]
And the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
عن ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله ﷺ: لا يحل دم امرئ مسلم يشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، وأني رسول الله، إلا بإحدى ثلاث: الثيّب الزاني، والنفس بالنفس، والتارك لدينه المفارق للجماعة. رواه البخاري ومسلم
It is not permissible to spill the blood of a Muslim except in three [instances]: the married person who commits adultery, a life for a life, and the one who forsakes his religion and separates from the community. [Sahih al-Bukhari & Muslim]
So he mentions “the one who forsakes his religion and separates from the community of Muslims.
And the ruling on the disbelief of this person, and the obligation to kill him, is on both the person who is serious and the one who’s joking, whether he believes its permissible or not. Allah Ta’ala said:
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ إِنَّمَا كُنَّا نَخُوضُ وَنَلْعَبُ ۚ قُلْ أَبِاللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ وَرَسُولِهِ كُنتُمْ تَسْتَهْزِئُونَ لَا تَعْتَذِرُوا قَدْ كَفَرْتُم بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ
If you ask them [about this], they declare: “We were only talking idly and joking.” Say: “Was it at Allah, and His Ayat and His Messenger that you were mocking?” Make no excuses, you have disbelieved after having had faith.” [at-Tawbah: 65-66]
Killing this apostate has a lot of benefits as result:
1. Implementing the ruling on such a person is an required matter in Sharee’ah. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
قال عليه الصلاة والسلام: لحدٌ يقام في الأرض خيرٌ لها من أن تمطر سبعين خريفًا
'Implementing one Ruling [of Allah] on earth is better for her than to rain for 70 autumns.' Or, as he peace and blessings be upon him said.
2. With his killing, means this person being a plague ends, and his evilness will die with him, and the community will be free of his deviation and his attempts at deviating others.
3. With his killing, those who’s souls were tempting them to encroach on Allah The Most High, or one of His messengers by insulting them or making fun out of them, will be deterred. That why it is an obligation on the ruler of a land wherein a person makes this insult, to implement the ruling of Allah The Most High, which is killing without having chance for repentance.
And this ruling that i mentioned is regarding the cursing/slandering, and this is the opinion of those who call themselves Scholars.
And i will mention some of the sayings of the Scholars who stated this issue with consensus:
The first one, Imam Abu Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Barr:
الإمام أبو عمر بن عبد البر، قال: ومن شتم الله تبارك وتعالى أو شتم رسوله ﷺ أو شتم نبياًّ من أنبياء الله صلوات الله عليهم؛ قتل، إذا كان مظهراً للإسلام، بلا استتابة
Whomsoever curses Allah The Most High, or curses the messenger (ﷺ) or curses a prophet of the prophets of Allah (صلوات الله عليهم), he must be killed, if he’s showing Islam [on the outside], without [having chance for] repentance.
The second one, Sulayman ibn Abdullah Aal ash-Shaykh:
سليمان بن عبد الله آل الشيخ، قال: فمن استهزأ بالله أو بكتابه أو برسوله أو بدينه، ولو هازلاً لم يقصد حقيقة الاستهزاء؛ كفر إجماعًا
Whomsoever mocks Allah, His Book [Quran], His messenger or His religion, even if he was joking and didn’t mean to mock, is a Kaafir with consensus.
The third one, al-Qadhi ‘Iyadh:
القاضي عياض رحمه الله، قال: لا خلاف أن ساب الله تعالى من المسلمين؛ كافر حلال الدم
There is no disagreement [amongst the scholars] that the insulter of Allah among the Muslims, is a Kafir who’s blood becomes Halal.
The fourth one, Abu Muhammad ‘Ali ibn Hazm:
أبو محمد علي بن حزم، قال: أما سب الله تعالى؛ فما على ظهر الأرض مسلم يخالف في أنه كفر مجرد
As for insulting Allah, there is not a single Muslim on the face of this earth that disagrees that it is absolute Kufr.
This is what i have, and we ask Allah to give victory to His religion and to Raise His Word, verily He is capable of all, and may His peace and blessings be upon our messenger Muhammad, his household and companions.
6/ 2/ 1421 هـ
Dictated by Shaykh Hamud ibn ‘Uqla' ash-Shu’aybi
Translated by Abu Yahya