(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…

The second category of apostasy is the apostate actions, such as prostrating to an idol), which is anything that is worshipped other than Allah, whether it was made from stone, wood, or another material.  (Or) prostrating to (the sun). Prostrating to an idol or the sun is blasphemy and apostasy regardless (whether the prostration was done as an act or…

Examples of the first category of apostasy, i.e., the apostate beliefs, are: Having the doubt in) the existence of (Allah), His Oneness, or His non-resemblance to the creation.  Having doubt in the truthfulness of (His Messenger), Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa salam, or his Prophethood, such as doubting whether or not Muhammad was the Messenger of Allah.  Having doubt whether or…

(An-Nawawiyy and other scholars of the four schools ‘madhhabs” classified apostasy into three categories:  apostate beliefs) occuring in the heart, (apostate actions) performed by the different parts of the body (and apostate sayings) said with the tongue. (Each category of apostacy is divided)—branches out—(into many subdivisions).

(Anger is not an excuse for one to escape the judgment of falling into blasphemy. Concerning this matter,) Hafidh (Imam an-Nawawiyy said:  “If a man was angry with his child or young slave and hit him severely, then another person asked him, ‘How could you do this) sinful, severe beating? (Aren’t you a Muslim?’and to that his deliberate answer), i.e.,…

(al-Bukhariyy[1] and Muslim[2] related a hadith with a similar meaning). The hadith’s text is:  <<A person may say a word that he does not take heed of, by which he slips into Hellfire farther than what is between east and west.>>  The hadith narrated by at-Tirmidhiyy explains the hadith narrated by al-Bukhariyy and Muslim.  (The hadith is an evidence that…

The saying of the Prophet, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam:  <<A person may utter a) blasphemous (word that one thinks harmless), i.e., he thinks it holds no harm for him, (which results), i.e., due to his uttering it, (in one’s falling the depth of seventy years into Hellfire.>>  This falling distance of seventy (70) years leads to the) very (bottom of…

(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…

(It is obligatory upon every) accountable (Muslim to perserve one’s 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.) Blasphemy is the most grievous sin.  It is the sin that Allah does not forgive for the one who dies on it, i.e., dies as a…