The
important principle that Allah, may He be glorified and exalted,
confirms in His revelation and states that it is the foundation of
reckoning and the criterion of reward and punishment, is that repentance
wipes out whatever came before it, and that Islam erases all that came
before it; the gate of repentance is open to every individual, even if
he falls into sin and kufr time after time. The grace and mercy of
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, towards His slaves decrees that
He should accept the repentance of the one who repents and forgive him
his sins.
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of
the meaning): “Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease (from
disbelief), their past will be forgiven” [al-Anfaal 8:38].
The
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Do you not
know that Islam destroys whatever came before it, and that hijrah
destroys whatever came before it, and that Hajj destroys whatever came
before it?” Narrated by Muslim, 121.
There
are also verses which indicate that the repentance of the apostate, if
he comes back to Islam and repents sincerely, is accepted. Allah, may He
be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“How
shall Allaah guide a people who disbelieved after their Belief and
after they bore witness that the Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم)
is true and after clear proofs had come unto them? And Allaah guides
not the people who are Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers).They are those whose recompense is that on them (rests) the Curse of Allaah, of the angels, and of all mankind
They will abide therein (Hell). Neither will their torment be lightened, nor will it be delayed or postponed (for a while).”
And yet after all that, Allah, may He be glorified, says:
“Except for those who repent after that and do righteous deeds. Verily, Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”[Aal ‘Imraan 3:86-88, 89].
But
if a person apostatises and then goes further in disbelief and
wrongdoing, and he does not repent or come back to Islam, this is the
one to whom the verse in Soorat al-Nisa’ –which the questioner mentioned
– refers, and the verses from Aal ‘Imraan also indicate that his
repentance will not be accepted.
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily,
those who disbelieved after their Belief and then went on increasing in
their disbelief (i.e. disbelief in the Qur’aan and in Prophet Muhammad
صلى الله عليه وسلم) — never will their repentance be accepted (because
they repent only by their tongues and not from their hearts). And they
are those who are astray.
91. Verily,
those who disbelieved, and died while they were disbelievers, the
(whole) earth full of gold will not be accepted from anyone of them even
if they offered it as a ransom. For them is a painful torment and they
will have no helpers”[Aal ‘Imraan 3:90-91].
And He says:
“Verily,
those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again)
disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allaah will not forgive
them, nor guide them on the (right) way”
[al-Nisa’ 4:137].
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Tafseer al-Qur’aan al-‘Azeem (1/753):
Here
Allah tells us about the one who enters Islam and then recants, then
comes back to it, then recants and persists in his misguidance, and
increases in it until he dies: there is no repentance after his death
and Allah will not forgive him or grant him any way out from what he is
in, and there is no way he could be guided. Hence He says: “Allaah will
not forgive them, nor guide them on the (right) way.” Ibn Abi Haatim
said: … It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him)
said concerning the verse, “and go on increasing in disbelief”: They
persist in their disbelief until they die. This was also the view of
Mujaahid. End quote.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (16/28-29):
Concerning these whose repentance will not be accepted, there were several opinions:
It
was said that it is because of their hypocrisy, or because they
repented from sins less grave than shirk but did not repent from shirk,
or it was said that their repentance would never be accepted after
death. But the majority, such as al-Hasan, Qataadah, ‘Ata’,
al-Khorasaani and al-Suddi said: Their repentance will never be accepted
when death comes to them. So this is like the verse in which Allah says
(interpretation of the meaning): “And of no effect is the repentance of
those who continue to do evil deeds until death faces one of them and
he says: ‘Now I repent;’ nor of those who die while they are
disbelievers” [al-Nisa’ 4:18].
And
the same applies to the verse in which Allah says (interpretation of
the meaning): “Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe
(again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief;
Allaah will not forgive them, nor guide them on the (right) way”[al-Nisa’ 4:137]. Mujaahid and other mufassireen said: “and go on increasing in disbelief” means, they remain steadfast in that until they die.
I
[Ibn Taymiyah] say: That is because the one who repents is giving up
kufr, whereas the one who does not repent is persisting in it and adding
kufr to kufr. The words “and go on increasing in disbelief” are like
saying, they persisted in kufr and continued in kufr and remained in
kufr. So they became disbelievers after becoming Muslim, then their kufr
increased and did not grow less. The repentance of these people will
not be accepted, referring to their repentance when they are dying,
because the one who repents before death comes has repented soon enough
and recanted his kufr, so it did not increase; rather it decreased,
unlike the one who persisted in kufr until the time of death. End
quote.
There
is no difference of opinion among the scholars that if the apostate
repents sincerely and comes back to Islam, Allah, may He be glorified
and exalted, will accept him and forgive him for what is past, even if
he has apostatized repeatedly.
This is with regard to Allah in the Hereafter.
As
for the rulings in this world, some of the scholars said that if a
person apostatises repeatedly he should be executed and his repentance
not accepted. The difference of opinion among the scholars about
accepting repentance has to do with rulings in this world only and does
not have to do with a person’s standing before Allah in the Hereafter,
may He be glorified and exalted.
Ibn Qudaamah said in al-Mughni (12/271):
To
sum up, the difference of opinion among the imams concerning the
acceptance of their repentance has to do with rulings in this world, not
executing them, and affirming that they should be treated as Muslims. As
to whether Allah accepts their repentance and forgives the one who
repents and gives up (apostasy) both inwardly and outwardly, there is no
difference of opinion concerning that. End quote. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 30/16:
When
the fuqaha’ differed concerning the acceptance of the repentance of one
who apostatises repeatedly and the acceptance of the repentance of the
heretic, that only has to do with the ruling on outward appearances,
because the repentance of such people cannot be trusted. But if he is
sincere in his heart towards Allah in his repentance then he is included
in the words of Allah (interpretation of the meaning): “Say: “O ‘Ibaadi
(My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing
evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah, verily, Allaah
forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-Zumar
39:53].
According
to the correct scholarly opinion, the repentance of one who has
apostatised repeatedly is to be accepted with regard to rulings in this
world too, and he comes under the same rulings as any other Muslim. This
is the view of the majority of Hanafi and Shaafa‘i scholars and is the
well-known view among the Maalikis, and is the second of the two views
of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
See
Haashiyat Tabyeen al-Haqaa’iq, 3/284; Fath al-Qadeer, 6/68; al-Insaaf,
10/332-335; Tuhfat al-Muhtaaj, 9/69; Kashshaaf al-Qinaa‘, 6/177-178;
al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 14/127-128. In al-Mabsoot (10/99-100) it is
attributed to ‘Ali and Ibn ‘Umar that they did not accept the repentance
of one who had apostatised repeatedly. Based
on that, the repentance of one who had given up prayer is acceptable if
he is sincere, even if he repeatedly gave up prayer, but he should
beware, because death may come before he is able to repent and Allah may
cause his punishment to come in this world before the Hereafter.
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