Does Laughing at Some Religious Ruling Makes One Kafir?
Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question
I also have these fears of kufr, I have been through the Tahawiyyah and also learned about types of Ridda, but I doubt whether I have fallen into one of them, i.e., if I have laughed at a particular joke or situation, and I can’t tell if that is reviling the Deen.
One of my teachers talked about alcohol, and even though he is not Pakistani, he said a statement in Urdu, Punjabi like alcohol paak nai he, and then ‘ghanda’, which made me laugh, but then the doubt comes if I was disrespecting the prohibition of drinking and other things also that I don’t know if I have fallen into kufr, i.e., by laughing at something.
Even sometimes, thinking about past matters and whether they resulted in me committing kufr, and then I don’t know if I fear any though if at that moment I should reread the Shahadah, and also at the end of the day, I read the Shahadah intending that if I have fallen into any kufr that I come to Islam should I intend this?
Answer
These are misgivings that you should ignore.
While it is necessary to maintain reverence for the faith and its teachings, ejecting a Muslim out of faith is not easy. It is an extremely high bar that largely hinges on a willing rejection of what makes someone a Muslim, namely the belief in Allah and His Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him).
There are several answers on SeekersGuidance relating to this. For more, see:
How to Remove Doubts About My Disbelief?
[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Born and raised in New York, Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studied Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is now in his final year of his PhD at Oxford University, looking at the early evolution of the Hanafi madhab.
His teachers include: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, Shaykh Salah Abu’l Hajj, Shaykh Ashraf Muneeb, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Ahmad Snobar, Shaykh Ali Hani, Shaykh Hamza Bakri, Ustadh Rajab Harun and others.
Ustadh Salman’s personal interests include research into the fields of law/legal methodology, hadith, theology, as well as political theory, government, media, and ethics. He is also an avid traveler and book collector. He currently resides in the UK with his wife.
