(The third category of apostasy is the apostate sayings, which are too many. (Some examples are:)
- For a person (to say to a Muslim: ‘O blasphemer’, ‘O Jew’, ‘O Christian’, or ‘O you without a religion’) while the speaker intends the (meaning) that (the religion of the addressed Muslim is blasphemy, Judaism, Christianity, or not a religion). Saying this is apostasy and blasphemy. (However,) the judgment differs (if one says such words to a Muslim with the purpose of likening him to those non-Muslims in behavior) meaning that the addressed Muslim resembles the blasphemers in his mean acts, or meaning that he treats the Muslims like the blasphemers treat Muslims. If this is his intention, (then it is not blasphemy) but it is an enormous sin.
- (To mock one of the Names of Allah, ta^ala, His Promise) of Paradise and the enjoyments prepared for the believer in it. (Or) to mock (His Threat) of Hellfire and punishment (while knowing such matters), i.e., knowing that the name, promise, or threat he mocked (have been attributed to Him, subhanah). An example of this is the saying of some foolish individuals, “Tomorrow we will warm ourselves in the fire of Hellfire.” This statement is blasphemy because it mocks the Religion and belies the Qur’an.
- For a person, (out of belittlement) of the orders of Allah (or out of stubbornness to say: “If Allah ordered me with such a matter, I would not do it”; or to say) in belittling the Qiblah: (“If the Qiblah were changed to another direction I would not pray towards it”; or to say: “If Allah gave me Paradise I would not enter it.”) However, if such statements were not said out of belittlement, stubbornness, or belying the Religion, then it is not blasphemy.
- For a sick person, after being ordered by another to pray, (to say: “If Allah punished me), i.e., if I received the consequences (for leaving out prayers [S1] in my sickness, He would be unjust to me”). This is blasphemy because his saying attributes injustice to Allah.
- (To say: “Something happened without the Destining of Allah”)—whether that thing was good or evil.
- (To say: “If prophets, angels, or all Muslims testified before me about something, I would not accept from them”), i.e., would not believe their testification. This statement is blasphemy because it entails belying the known religious texts.
- (To say) after someone ordered one to do a recommended matter ‘sunnah’, like using the siwak, (“I will not so do and so even if it is a recommended matter’—with the purpose of mockery). One blasphemes by mocking the sunnah of the Prophet. However, saying such statement without intending to belittle the sunnah is not blasphemy.
- (To say) about someone such as an enemy, (“If this person were a prophet, I would not believe in him.”) One blasphemes for saying such a statement because it entails mocking the office of Prophethood.
- (To say: “What is this Law ‘Shar^’?” when a scholar gives one a religious judgment) intending (with) his statement (the purpose of belittling), opposing, and objecting to (the judgment of the Islamic Law.) Belittling and objecting to the judgment of the Islamic Law is blasphemy. However, if the person received a judgment which he deems false and against the rules of the Religion, and for this reason he said such words, he does not blaspheme. It is as if he is telling this scholar, “What is this judgment that you claim to be among the rules revealed by Allah when they are not?”
- (To say: “May Allah’s damn be upon every single religious scholar”) Generalizing the damnation to all the scholars is blasphemy. (However, if one did not mean all of the religious scholars but meant specific ones and there was an associating matter that indicates this meaning) such as if he had mentioned the corrupt scholars of a particular area and then said the aforementioned statement while meaning these specific corrupt scholars (because of what he believes of their corrupt condition, then one would not blaspheme. Such a statement, however, is not clear of sin. As for the person who generalizes damning all the religious scholars and does not have a restrictive connotation correlating with his statement, he blasphemes, even if he claims that he meant the scholars of his time.
- (To say: “I do not acknowledge Allah, the angels, the Prophet), meaning our master Muhammad or any other prophet, or to say, “I do not acknowledge (the Islamic Law (Shar^) that Allah revealed to his Prophet, (or) to say, “I do not acknowledge (Islam.”) All these are blasphemous statements.
- (To say) after a person said to one, “Why did you do this unlawful act, don’t you know its judgment?”, (“I do not know the judgment”–with the purpose of mocking the judgment revealed by Allah). Mocking the judgment revealed by Allah is blasphemy and apostasy.
- (To mention an ayah with the intention of belittling its meaning, like to say ﴾﴿ Ayah 34, Surat an-Naba’ after one has filled a cup) with a drink, with the intention of belittling or belying what Allah promised the Believers in Paradise of cups filled with delightful drinks. (This ayah refers to a cup full to the brim with the drinks of Paradise.)
Or to say ﴾﴿, Ayah 20, Surat an-Naba’) to belittle the ayah (after one has emptied a drink) by pouring it from a container. (This ayah refers to mountains that will vanish on the Judgment day as if they were a mirage).
Or to say ﴾﴿, Ayah 3, Surat al-Mutaffifin upon weighing or measuring) to belittle the verse, meaning, for example, that the saying of Allah and His threat has no value in his heart. (This ayah refers to some people cheating in measuring and weighing).
Or to say ﴾﴿, Ayah 47, Surat al-Kahf when seeing a crowd) to belittle its meaning. (This ayah refers to the Judgment Day when people will be assembled without any of them being left out).
(Hence, the one who mentions any of these) four (verses with the purpose of belittling any one of them is a blasphemer. (Likewise, every Qur’anic citation referenced) by a person (with this purpose) of belittling the Qur’an (is blasphemy.)
(On the other hand, if one uses the ayah(s) of the Qur’an in other than their proper context, without) the intent of (belittling them, one does not blaspheme. However, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Hajar,) al-Haytamiyy[1] (said: “This is not far from being unlawful ‘haram’). That is, saying that it is unlawful is the preponderant saying, because doing so contains lack of proper respect with the Qur’an.
- (To cuss a prophet or an angel) is blasphemy because they are all honorable creations of Allah. Angels include angels like Jibril, ^Azra’il, Munkar, Nakir, or any other angel of Allah.
- (To say words which mock the prayer, such as to say: “I would be a pimp), i.e., one who provides customers for prostitutes (if I performed prayer”; or to say: “Nothing good has happened to me since I started praying”), because such statements belittle the prayers. (Or to say) after someone has, for example, ordered him to pray: (“Prayer is not proper for me”, with the purpose of mockery). On the other hand, the menstruating woman who says such a statement meaning the prayer is not valid from her while she is menstruating does not blaspheme because she is not mocking the prayer.
- (To say to a Muslim: “I am your enemy and the enemy of your Prophet”) because this statement entails belittling the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa salam. (Or to say to a descendent of the Prophet “Sharif”: “I am your enemy and the enemy of your grandfather”, meaning) by ‘grandfather,’ (the Prophet , sallallahu ^alayhi wa salam). However, if he meant a grandfather in that person’s lineage who was not a prophet , he does not blaspheme.
- (Or to say anything similar to those aforementioned, abhorrent, and ugly words), may Allah protect us from that.
[1] Ahmad the son of Muhammad the son of ^Aliyy the son of Hajar alHaytamiyy. He was born in the town of Abi alHaytam, Egpyt, therefore he was called alHaytamiyy. He was born in the year 909 Hijriyy and he died the year 974. Refer to Shadharat adhDhahab, authored by Ibn al-I^mad, published by the House of alAfaq alJadidah (370/8).
[S1] [S1]while I was sick / because I was sick. / in my sickness
I don’t think despite is the right word here. Please check. We use despite in one half of a sentence to express a contrast with the other half of the sentence. So, despite by sickness, I prayed; not: despite my sickness, I left out prayers. Isn’t the meaning that he stopped praying during the time of sickness?