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Can a muslim apostate still be forgiven by Allah (swt) in the hereafter?

Q:

Salam aleikum

I know that a person who is proved to be a true murtad fitri by a judge must be killed and his repentance will not be accepted in this wordly life, but will Allah (swt) accept his repentance if it was sincere and forgive him in the hereafter?

A:

Wa Alaykumussalam

Thank you for your query.

If he repents sincerely, his repentance would be accepted but regarding Hudood whether he would be punished or not is discussed in Fiqh.

According to Shia Fiqh, there is a difference between man and woman and the conditions of Irtidad(apostasy) are important. We cannot call out anyone Murtad. If a man is Murtad Fitri he will be killed but if it is a woman, she wouldn’t be killed rather she would be imprisoned.

Some jurists believe that the punishment would be removed by the true repentance of an apostate(Murtad Fitri), so he will not be punished in the Hereafter, but his repentance may not prevent his sentence from being executed in this world If the person repents truly and even gets punished in this world, Allah(swt) would forgive him in the Hereafter for the true Tawbah he has done in the world.

Murtad Fitri and Milli:

The Jurists of the Shia faith have divided the apostate into two categories – Milli and Fitri. The ‘Murtad-e- Fitri’ is the one who is born into a family in which either one or both parents are Muslims and after he/she reaches to the age of maturity and willfully accepts Islam, then leaves the faith. However, the ‘Murtad-e-Milli’ is the person who was born into a family in which neither of his parents was Muslim and after reaching the age of maturity and willfully accepting Islam then leaves Islam for another religion or non.

In regards to the ruling for being an apostate, the Jurists of the Shia differentiate between male and female apostates. As for the woman who apostates – whether of the ‘Fitri’ or ‘Milli’ – if she repents, her repentance will be accepted and the penalty for apostasy will be removed from her. However, if she does not repent and recant, then she is to be flogged and imprisoned.

However for the man who apostates – either the Fitri or the Milli – there are different rulings. The most well-known position of the Jurists is that the repentance of the Murtad-e-Fitri is not accepted and thus his ruling is that he is to be executed. However the Murtad-e-Milli can repent and recant his statement of apostasy and if he does so, he will not be subject to the death penalty.

You can read about apostasy in detail on: www.al-islam.org/articles/thoughts-apostasy-islam-mahdi-azizan

May Allah(swt) grant you success

Wassalam,

Syed Haider