Wed, 11th Dec, 2024 / 9 Jumādā al-ʾĀkhirah 1446
الأربعاء ١١ , ديسمبر , ٢٠٢٤ / 9 جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْآخِرَة 1446
Wed, 11th Dec, 2024 /
9 Jumādā al-ʾĀkhirah, 1446
الأربعاء ١١ , ديسمبر , ٢٠٢٤ / 9 جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْآخِرَة , 1446

Dear brothers in Islam,

The tongue is a great endowment. We should thank Allah, the Exalted, the obligatory thanking for this great endowment. The obligatory thanking of Allah is done by not using the endowments bestowed upon us in unlawful acts. There are many amongst the people who do not thank Allah for this blessed endowment. They use their tongues in ways which are unlawful. Amongst these unlawful acts is lying, swearing at another Muslim without any right, gossiping, tale-bearing, stirring up troubles amongst Muslims and harming them with words as well as other sins of the tongue.

And some go even further and use their tongues to commit blasphemy. We ask Allah, the Exalted, to protect us from it.

Instead of using their tongues to thank and praise Allah, the Creator, for the blessed endowment of the tongue, they swear at Allah or object to the orders of Allah. Moreover, some of these misguided people swear at Allah in times of anger or even happiness and yet they still claim that they are Muslim.

The one who swears at Allah is not a Muslim. The Muslim is the one who believes that Allah is the only One that deserves to be worshipped, that is, the only One that deserves our ultimate submissiveness and humbleness and that Prophet Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. The Muslim endeavours and exerts his utmost effort to refrain from that which contradicts this belief.

The Muslim is the one who has the firm obligatory glorification of Allah, the Exalted, the One without a partner with Him in Godhood and the One who is Indivisible. Therefore, the person who swears at Allah is not glorifying Allah.

Whoever swears at Allah exits the Religion of Islam and becomes a blasphemer. One still exits Islam by uttering a blasphemous statement even if one was angry or didn’t mean to exit Islam unless it was a slip of the tongue. The Hafidh and top scholar, an-Nawawiyy, reported that if a person was angry with his young child and he hit him severely, and another person asked him, how could you do this aren’t you a Muslim? And he replied “no” out of stubbornness or arrogance, then, he has committed blasphemy. What is meant by the question “how could you do this aren’t you a Muslim?” is that a Muslim shows mercy and self-restraint when angry especially towards a child. Anger is not an excuse for one to commit blasphemy. One is still judged as a blasphemer for uttering a blasphemous word even when angry unless one reaches a stage where one loses consciousness or becomes insane or that blasphemous word came out of his mouth as a slip of the tongue.

Dear brothers, do not be deceived by the false statement of some, where they falsely claim that one does not blaspheme if one swears at Allah while one still has the belief in his heart and one did not intend to exit Islam. They even do not judge as blasphemer whoever swears at Allah while joking. All these sayings are false and invalid. They conflict with the saying of Allah, the saying of His Messenger and the consensus of the scholars of this nation. As for contradicting the saying of Allah, Ayah 74 of Suratut –Tawbah, means: [They swear by Allah that they said nothing blasphemous, but indeed they uttered blasphemy and have become blasphemers]. Allah has deemed them as blasphemers because they uttered the word of blasphemy. Also, Ayahs 65-66 of Suraut-Tawbah mean:

[If you question those who have blasphemed, they will say: ‘We were only babbling and kidding.’ Say to them: ‘Do you make mockery of Allah, His Verses and His Messenger? Make no excuses, for you have blasphemed after having displayed being Muslim.’]

As for conflicting with the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him, at-Tirmidhiyy narrated that the Prophet peace be upon him mentioned that: <<A person may utter a word that he thinks harmless, which results in his falling the depth of 70 years into Hellfire>>. The Prophet stated that the person finds no harm in what he has said, however, this will still result in him falling the distance of 70 years into Hellfire if he does not retract from that saying by returning to Islam.  It was narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned that the distance to the bottom of Hellfire is 70 years of fall and that distance is not reached but by blasphemers.

And as for going against the consensus of this nation, al-Qadi ^Iyad al-Malikiyy related the consensus in his Book, ‘Ash-Shifa Bita^rifi Huquqil-Mustafa, that there is no disagreement amongst the scholars of Islam about judging as a blasphemer whoever swears at Allah.

Be cautious my dear brother. Do not be lenient in these matters, and weigh what you want to say on the scale of the Shar^ before uttering your words. Allah has mentioned in Ayah 18 of Surat Qaf that every uttered word is recorded by either Angel Raqib or ^Atid.  As for you, you will need to protect yourself by refraining from uttering blasphemous and other ugly things; for you are responsible for your tongue.

We ask Allah to preserve our Islam and to protect our organs from committing sins. Ameen

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