(The meaning of what) Hafidh Yahya the son of Sharaf (an-Nawawiyy[1]), who died in the year 676 AH, (and others) among the scholars (said is: “Apostasy is an abhorrent), i.e., a very ugly (type of blasphemy”) in the sense that it erases all the good deeds, and that it is a transfer from truth to falsehood. The meaning behind their statement is not that it is the worst kind of blasphemy in all cases. (In this age, it has become common) among the ignorant people (to speak carelessly to the extent that some people utter) blasphemosus (words which turn them out of) the religion of (Islam, without them even deeming such) blasphemous (words sinful even though they are blasphemous). These people have blasphemed, i.e., have left the religion of Islam; yet, out of their ignorance, they think they are still Muslim.
[1] He is Shaykh Muhyyi idDin the father of Zakariyyah Yahya the son of Sharaf anNawawiyy. He was born in the Islamic month of Muharram the year 1630 in the town of Nawa. He died in the same town and was buried there, after he visited alQuds and alkhalil in the Islamic month of Rajab the year 677. Refer to Tuhfat atTalibin the biography of Imam AnNawawiyy by Ibn al ^Attar and to alA^lam by al Zarkali (149/8).