Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan
Question: Assalam alaykum,
My friend uttered words of disbelief with his tongue which he did not belief in his heart. But he is not sure whether he did it on purpose or not. During the course of the day he renounced it but one thing he is sure is that he did not belief what he said. Is his Islam still valid?
Answer: Wa alaykum al-Salam
Thank you for your question.
There are two positions among the scholars regarding one who utters words of disbelief, intentionally, but not intending its meaning or not intending to actually depart from Islam. The position of the majority is that the utterance of disbelief, intentionally, even though not intending its meaning, is disbelief. The second position states that it is not disbelief. [Radd al-Muhtar]
Accordingly, it is advised that your friend recites the testimony of faith and repent from those utterances. This also serves as a lesson for us all to be more particular regarding that which we utter and pronounce.
May Allah protect us all and grant that we leave this world upon Iman and faith in Him and His Prophet sallaLlahu alayhi wasallam.
And Allah knows best
Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan
Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.