Ignorance is not a valid justification for blaspheming Allaah

8-11-2007 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the ruling on a husband who blasphemed Allaah while angry with his wife, noting that he was unaware of the fact that this is prohibited? Is there any expiation for this? Will it be enough for him to sincerely repent, especially since he meant to affront his wife, not Allaah. Should he renew his marriage contract?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

 

Blaspheming Allaah, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, or the religion of Islam renders a person an apostate who must be killed by the Muslim ruler, according to the consensus of the scholars, once certain conditions are fulfilled and impediments are removed, and if the person does not declare their repentance.

In fact, anger does not impede such a judgment, unless the anger was to the extent that it made the person unconscious and unaware of what they were saying. Only then anger becomes an impediment and the person is not considered an apostate because, in this case, they are like a mad person.

Moreover, claiming to be ignorant of the fact that blaspheming Allaah The Almighty is prohibited is not Islamicaly accepted as a justification, because this is one of the indisputably established facts of Islam. In other words, it is inconceivable that a Muslim is not aware of this fact. What is also very strange is that this person claims that he meant to offend his wife by blaspheming Allaah. This, besides being worse than the mistake itself, cannot be true.

This person must fear Allaah, admit his guilt, ask for forgiveness and must renew his marriage contract.

Furthermore, we pray to Allaah The Almighty to bless this man with true repentance and to accept it from him, because He is All-Forgiving and Ever-Merciful.

Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that before bringing the case before a Muslim ruler, if this person changed and proved to be a good Muslim and desists from such behavior, then they should not to be killed. Indeed there are different opinions on whether such a person's repentance should be accepted and whether he should be killed.

Allaah Knows best.