بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Question: What is the religious ruling on someone who asserts promises of salvation, reward, or special religious status for performing acts that are considered forbidden or sinful? What if such rhetoric is used to coerce them or others into acts involving that which is known by necessity to be forbidden in Islam? What does this behaviour suggest about the individual's faith and moral standing within their religious community?
الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وبعد:
Declaring Halal what Allah has made definitively Haram, or the opposite is an act of disbelief. When a person does so and promises divine rewards for such things, like claiming that a sin will bring someone closer to Allah, allowing them to communicate with Allah, or put them in a better situation with Allah, then this constitutes a dual transgression: rejecting what is known by necessity in our faith as well as falsely attributing rulings to Allah. The scholarly consensus across all schools is unequivocal - such claims and actions, when made and done knowingly, constitute kufr. If a person were to make such claims and this is proven against them through clear evidence, then this person who states such things, encourages, and does them is a disbeliever.
Anyone who makes claims of salvation, attributes punishment or reward, or claims a special connection to Allah due to the performance of sinful acts has committed a grotesque and severe violation of Islam. This is a serious transgression against the clear, unambiguous texts and principles of the faith of Islam. When someone claims divine rewards for forbidden acts, they are making the Haram into something Halal, denying what is necessarily known in religion (معلوم من الدين بالضرورة). This is particularly heinous when they not only permit what is forbidden but actively promote it as virtuous. Such an act constitutes a false assertion in Allah’s Name and is disbelief.
Allah says,
لا تقولوا لما تصف ألسنتكم الكذب هذا حلال وهذا حرام لتفتروا على الله الكذب
“Do not say about what your tongues assert of falsehood, 'This is lawful and this is unlawful,' to invent lies about Allah”. [Surah Al-Nahl, 16:116]
Imam Ibn Kathir رحمه الله says commenting on this, “Allah the Most High prohibited following the path of the polytheists who made things lawful and unlawful merely based on terms they created and agreed upon according to their own opinions … this includes everyone who innovates a religious innovation without having legal evidence for it, or makes permissible something that Allah has forbidden, or makes forbidden something that Allah has permitted merely based on his opinion and desire... then He (Allah) made a threat concerning that.”
There is no doubt that the greatest innovation in this Deen is for a person to concoct a lie in Allah’s Name to manipulate and legislate a faith for himself, asserting how reward, status, and position with Allah is allocated. Someone who twists religious rulings to make the forbidden seem permissible or praiseworthy has engaged in two major violations:
- They have denied established religious rulings by making the Haram as Halal.
- They attribute falsehood to Allah by claiming there is a reward for their concocted lies.
Allah says:
إن الذين يفترون على الله الكذب لا يفلحون
“Indeed, those who invent lies about Allah will not succeed.” [Surah Yunus, 10:69]
While not every type of denial of divine law constitutes absolute disbelief, it is important to note that there are types of denial. There is complete rejection (إنكار كلي), denial while knowing the truth (الجحود مع العلم), and denial due to ignorance (الإنكار بسبب الجهل). While the latter may be excused in some circumstances, such as a person being new to the faith or having been raised away from scholars and the study of Islam, or not having access to knowledge that would regulate their understanding of the faith, when someone knowingly does the heinous things mentioned above not out of ignorance - but out of desire - while having full knowledge of such things, then, they are committing an act of Kufr by deliberately misrepresenting the divine law and seeking to lead others astray.
There is no doubt that if a person declared a known prohibition to be permitted, claiming that performing that prohibition would gain give someone special status with Allah, that such a claim is Kufr by simply believing it, even if they did not announce such a claim or teach it to others. What then can we say about a person who teaches it to others? How grave and serious would that be? It would be no less in gravity than the mere belief in such things. Worse, is a person who uses such false desirous opinions to coerce and persuade others to perform what is Haram, taking pleasure in that and fulfilling their desires.
قال اللهُ عز وجل: قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُم مَّا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ مِن رِّزْقٍ فَجَعَلْتُمْ مِنْهُ حَرَامًا وَحَلَالًا قُلْ آللّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ أَمْ عَلَى اللَّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ وَمَا ظَنُّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَلَـكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ
Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said, “Say: 'Have you seen what Allah has sent down to you for sustenance and you have made it lawful and unlawful?' Say: 'Has Allah permitted you (to do so), or do you invent (lies) against Allah?' And what do those who invent lies against Allah on the Day of Resurrection think? Verily, Allah is full of bounty to mankind, but most of them are ungrateful.” [Surah Yunus, 59-60]
This is with regard to the ruling on such a statement. As for the person who makes them, then:
A person who makes permissible what is forbidden is not only a disbeliever but has increased their disbelief by telling others to do what is forbidden as something permitted.
In the Sunan of Imam al-Tirmidhi, as well as that of Imam al-Bayhaqi, and the Tafsir of Imam Ibn Jarir al-Tabari from Adi ibn Hatim رضي الله عنه that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recite the verses, “They took their rabbis and priests as gods besides Allah.” He said, “O Messenger of Allah, we didn’t use to worship them!” He replied, “When they made Halal the Haram and made Haram the Halal, did you follow them?” Adi replied, “Yes”. He said, “That was your worship of them.”
Allah described the polytheists in the Quran as those who:
وَلا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ
“…do not forbid that which Allah and His messenger forbid, and they do not surrender to the True Faith.” [Surah At-Tawbah, 9:29]
وقال اللهُ عز وجل: إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا وَيُحَرِّمُونَهُ عَامًا لِيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللهُ فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللهُ زُيِّنَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ وَاللهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ
“Indeed, the postponing [of restriction within sacred months] is an increase in disbelief by which those who disbelieve are led astray. They make it lawful one year and unlawful another year to correspond to the number made unlawful by Allah and [thus] make lawful what Allah has made unlawful. Made pleasing to them is the evil of their deeds; and Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.'" [Surah At-Tawbah, 9:37]
These verses delineate to us a number of things:
- Claims of making the Haram into Halal and vice versa are acts of disbelief.
- Calling others to that is an increase of disbelief beyond mere rejection of Allah’s rule.
- Viewing such acts as good, and wholesome, and being pleased with them makes this more severe.
- By doing these acts and holding these beliefs they have disbelieved through and opposed true religion.
The basis of their disbelief here is manifold: disbelief by abandoning Allah’s faith, by rejecting His Rulings, by refusing to submit to them, and by replacing what Allah Legislated with their own desires. Disbelief is not restricted to the mere absence of belief. A person may say, “I believe in Islam! I believe in the Quran!” but yet they set themselves up as equals to Allah by legislating reward and punishment, denying what Allah has allowed and allowing that which He has forbidden. Such a person is a Kafir who has left the faith of Islam.
In the Sunan of Imam al-Tirmidhi from Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه, the first of three that will be taken to account on the Day of Judgment is the reciter of the Quran. Allah will say to him, “Did I not teach that which was revealed upon My messenger?” He will reply “Of course, my lord!” “Then what did you do with what you were taught?” He will say he stood all night and all day reciting it. Allah will say to him, “You lie!” - upon which the angels will repeat “You lie!” – Allah will say to him “Instead you wanted people to say about you that you were a Qari, and that’s been said!” and he will be tossed into the hellfire.
Although this hadith does not condemn every person who acts ostentatiously to eternal hellfire, as all believers who sin but remain believers can be forgiven and purified in the fires of hell, it does drive home a very important point: mere claims of piety will not save you sin, disbelief, and ultimately from Allah’s punishment. Therefore, simply claiming to love Islam, read the Quran, and be a Muslim are of no benefit when you are a heretical, misbelieving reprobate using the faith for your own evil intents.
This meaning is confirmed in Allah’s book:
مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتَهَا نُوَفِّ إِلَيْهِمْ أَعْمَالَهُمْ فِيهَا وَهُمْ فِيهَا لَا يُبْخَسُونَ
أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ إِلَّا النَّارُ وَحَبِطَ مَا صَنَعُوا فِيهَا وَبَاطِلٌ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
“Whoever desires this lowly life and its adornments, we expedite to them their actions therein, and they won’t be shortchanged. These are people who for in the next life they will have nothing but the Fire; their endeavors have failed them and invalid is all they have done.” [Surah Hud, 11:15-16]
Allah the Most High in His Book mentions these two things distinctly, i.e. the disbelief of turning away and the disbelief of denial, because they are different. Allah the Most High said:
قال اللهُ تعالى: فَلا صَدَّقَ وَلا صَلَّى * وَلَكِنْ كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّى
“And he did not accept the truth, nor did he pray. But he denied and turned away.'" [Surah al-Qiyamah, 31-32]
This demonstrates that the coercive use of false religious promises is a severe form of exploitation that combines religious distortion with harm to others, making it particularly egregious from an Islamic standpoint. These meanings found in the sacred texts of Islam were codified and systemized in the works of Islamic exegesis and jurisprudence. There is unequivocal and unambiguous clarity that a person who makes Halal what Allah has made Haram through no uncertain terms has left the faith of Islam and thrown away their allegiance to Allah and His Messenger. Worse still is the person who calls others to that and then uses them for his own pleasure, enrichment, and hedonism.
Here are a number of scholarly texts driving this point home from the scholars of Islam, of the four canonical schools of thought as well as others.
From the Hanafiyyah:
Mulla Ali al-Qari رحمه الله in Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar" (p. 271) said, “There is no disagreement among Muslims that if a person openly denies the clear, mass-transmitted obligations and the clear, mass-transmitted prohibitions, then he is asked to repent. If he repents from them, [good], and if not, he is executed as a disbeliever and apostate.” [1]
Imam Muhammad bin Ismail al-Rashid al-Hanafi رحمه الله in "Alfaz al-Kufr" (pp. 89-92) cited many statements from Hanafi books containing this denial, including his saying, “In Al-Zahiriyyah: Whoever is told 'Eat from what is permissible' and he says 'The forbidden is more beloved to me,' he has disbelieved, or if he says 'The forbidden is permissible for me,' he has disbelieved... And in Al-Jawahir: Whoever says, 'I wish wine or adultery or oppression or killing people was permissible' has disbelieved... And whoever denies the prohibition of what is unanimously agreed to be forbidden, or doubts it - like wine, adultery, sodomy, and usury, or claims that minor and major sins are permissible, has disbelieved. And in Al-Yatimiyyah: Whoever says after being certain of the prohibition of something or the prohibition of an act he did: 'This is permissible,' has disbelieved, and whoever permits the sale of wine has disbelieved.” [2]
Imam Ibn Nujaym in Al-Bahr al-Ra'iq رحمه الله said in al-Bahr ar-Raiq, “The principle is that whoever believes the forbidden to be permissible: if it is forbidden due to others' rights, like others' property, he does not disbelieve. But if it is forbidden in itself, then if its evidence is definitive, he disbelieves, otherwise not. It was said: This detail applies to the knowledgeable person. As for the ignorant person, there is no distinction made between what is forbidden in itself or due to others' rights. Rather, the distinction in his case is that if something is definitively established, he disbelieves by denying it, otherwise, he does not. So he disbelieves if he says 'Wine is not forbidden,' and some scholars restricted this to when he knows of its prohibition, not when he says 'It is forbidden, but this is not what you claim is forbidden.' And he disbelieves if he says 'The prohibition of wine is not established in the Quran,' and whoever claims that minor and major sins are permissible, and by making permissible intercourse with a menstruating woman.” [3]
From the Malikiyyah:
Qadhi Iyad رحمه الله said in al-Shifa (2/611-612), “Muslims have unanimously agreed upon the disbelief of anyone who makes permissible killing, drinking alcohol, or adultery - from what Allah has forbidden - after knowing of its prohibition, like the people of permissiveness from the Qarmatians and some extremist Sufis.” [4]
Imam al-Dardir al-Maliki رحمه الله said in the chapter on apostasy regarding things that make one a disbeliever from his Al-Sharh al-Saghir (4/435), “If one denies what is agreed upon by consensus, such as the obligation of prayer, or the prohibition of adultery, or makes permissible what is unanimously agreed not to be permissible from what is known in religion by necessity through the Quran or mass-transmitted Sunnah.” [5]
From the Shafiyyah:
Imam An-Nawawi رحمه الله in Rawdat al-Talibin (10/65) said, “If someone denies something that has consensus and is known from the religion of Islam by necessity, he becomes a disbeliever if there is a text about it, and likewise if there is no text according to the most correct opinion. But if it is not known from the religion of Islam by necessity such that not all Muslims know it, he does not become a disbeliever. And Allah knows best.” [6]
Imam Qalyubi رحمه الله in his Marginalia (4/176) said, “And he disbelieves if he makes permissible what is forbidden by consensus of the four Imams - and likewise the opposite - and it must be something known by necessity.” [7]
From the Hanabilah:
Sheikhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله says in Majmu' al-Fatawa" (3/267), “When a person makes permissible what is forbidden by consensus, or makes forbidden what is permissible by consensus, or changes the law that is agreed upon by consensus - he becomes a disbeliever and apostate by agreement of the scholars.” [8]
In Kashshaf Al-Qina' 6/139-140, Imam al-Buhuti رحمه الله said, “Whoever considers intoxicating hashish to be permissible has committed disbelief without dispute. Similarly, if one denies the obligation of the five acts of worship mentioned in the hadith ‘Islam is built upon five…’, or denies any one of them, including purification from both types of ritual impurity, they have committed disbelief. The same applies if one denies the permissibility of bread, meat, and water, or makes permissible fornication and similar acts like false testimony and homosexuality, or makes permissible the abandonment of prayer, or denies anything from the clearly forbidden matters that are unanimously agreed upon as prohibited such as pork, alcohol, and similar things, or doubts these while being someone who cannot be ignorant of such matters - all of these constitute disbelief because it is a rejection of Allah, His Messenger, and the entire Muslim community.” [9]
From the Zahiriyyah and others:
Imam Ibn Hazm رحمه الله in Al-Fisal (3/114) said, “Whoever makes permissible what Allah the Most High has forbidden, while knowing that Allah the Most High has forbidden it, he is a disbeliever by that act itself. And everyone who makes forbidden what Allah the Most High has made permissible, has indeed made permissible what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has forbidden, because Allah the Most High has forbidden people from making forbidden what Allah has made permissible." [10]
Imam al-Shawkani رحمه الله in Al-Dawa' al-'Ajil fi Daf' al-'Aduw al-Sa'il (p. 68) said, “It has been established in Islamic principles: that whoever denies and rejects definitive consensus, and acts contrary to it out of rebellion or by making it permissible or by belittling it: is a disbeliever in Allah and in the purified law which Allah the Most High has chosen for His servants." [11]
Imam Muhammad Sultan al-Khujandi رحمه الله in Habl al-Shar' al-Matin (p. 108) said, “Indeed, making forbidden what is permissible and making permissible what is definitively forbidden is disbelief, and likewise ruling on permissibility, prohibition, prevention, and allowance randomly without evidence. Whoever makes forbidden what the law has made permissible, or vice versa, has disbelieved, due to Allah's saying in Surah An-Nahl: 'And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, "This is lawful and this is unlawful," to invent falsehood about Allah. Indeed, those who invent falsehood about Allah will not succeed.'" [An-Nahl: 116] [12]
In Summary:
The evidence here is clear-cut. Declaring Halal what Allah has made definitively Haram, particularly when promising divine rewards for sins, constitutes a dual transgression: denying what is necessarily known in religion and falsely attributing rulings to Allah. The scholarly consensus across all schools is unequivocal - such acts, when done knowingly, constitute kufr, especially regarding matters definitively known in religion.
If such claims are proven against a person, then the person who states such a thing is a disbeliever. The person who promotes such ideas to others increases in disbelief. The one who uses these ideas to manipulate and control others is not only a disbeliever, but a heretical sinner who deserves to be warned about, chastised, and barred from Muslim communities.
-- Sheikh Joe Bradford (06 November 2024)
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