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Swearing by the Gospel is apostasy & an insult to Islam

Question

My husband insults Islam, swears by the Gospel and combines prayers without a valid excuse. Is he a Muslim?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Scholars unanimously agree that a person who insults or mocks religion [Islam] is a disbeliever. The Maaliki scholar Al-Qaadhi ‘Iyaadh  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him reported a scholars’ consensus that any person who belittles or insults the Quran or the Mus'haf (printed Quran) or anything in it is a disbeliever.

Similarly, a person who swears by any of the distorted Gospels, out of respecting them or believing that their contents are true, is a disbeliever according to the unanimous agreement of scholars. This is because by doing so the person renders the Quran false, since it attests that they are distorted and false.

The Companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them unanimously agreed that a person who totally stops performing prayer is a disbeliever as well. ‘Abdullaah Ibn Shaqeeq  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him narrated that the Companions  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  them did not count the stopping of any act of worship an act of disbelief except the abandonment of prayer. [At-Tirmithi] Anyone who performs prayer occasionally or combines two prayers without a valid reason, as your husband does, is actually in great danger even though he is not judged as a disbeliever.

In conclusion, your husband is a disbeliever and an apostate whom you are not permitted to stay married to unless he repents and returns to Islam. File your case in court and it will bring about your separation from him.

Allaah Knows best.

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