What is the Ruling on Saying Something Obscene and Inappropriate about Islam?
Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question
My friend he’s roughly nearly 14 years at the time this took place. He said, “Tomorrow I have to go the fu****g mosque” He did go to the mosque to pray Eid. He loves Islam and loves Allah and the prophet Muhammad. He even goes to the mosque regularly and loves Islam. He fasts in Ramadan. However, he wants to know if this is an act of apostasy. If it is, how shall he repent, and will his repentance be accepted inshallah?
Furthermore, when he was five years of age, he swore at Allah. He regrets it so much. Please give him advice and help inshallah. You might think he hates Islam, but he doesn’t; he loves Allah and Islam and the prophet.
Answer
Your friend did not commit apostasy. He said something obscene and inappropriate for which he should repent, but it did not render him outside of Islam. Instead, he remains a Muslim, and the most apparent evidence is what you mention regarding his prayer, fasts, and regret at saying these words. These are all the actions of a Muslim – someone who believes in Allah and His Prophet (blessings upon him)
As for what he said when he was a child, it has no consequence on the status of his iman as a child is not someone morally responsible (mukallaf).
You should know that Islam is not a switch that can be turned off for a person. So long as one is not rejecting a foundational aspect of Islam – encompassed in the testimony of faith (shahada)-one will remain a Muslim even if he commits grievous sins.
For more on this, see:
Have I Committed Disbelief?
How to Remove Doubts About My Disbelief?
Overwhelmed and Confused in Trying to Understand and Practice Islam: What Can I Do?
[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.
