Allâhu ta’âlâ has many names. We do not know their number. He has communicated ninety-nine of His names to people in the Qur’ân al-kerîm.
Kâdýzâde Ahmed Bey wrote in his explanation of Birgivî Vasiyyetnâmesi: “The ninety-nine names of Allâhu ta’âlâ are called Asmâ-i husnâ. The names of Allâhu ta’âlâ are Tawqîfi. That is, they are dependent upon the Sharî’at’s prescription. He is called by the names which the Sharî’at has dictated and referred to. The Sharî’at has not permitted us to call Him or to refer to Him with any names other than these.” It is written on the five hundred and forty-first page of Sharh-i Mawâqîf: “Qâdi Abû Bakr ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’ said that a name with a meaning not unsuitable for Allâhu ta’âlâ and which suits Him could be said. But the majority (of savants) said that none but only the ninety-nine names could be used.”
This means to say that it is not permissible to call Allâhu ta’âlâ ‘God.’ That is, it is a sin to call Him ‘God’. It is a grave and ugly crime not to be willing to use the name ‘Allah’, and to use the name ‘God’ or even one of the ninety-nine names instead of ‘Allah’.
Hadrat Noah’s ‘alaihi ’s-salâm’ son Yâfas[1] was a Believer. His children having increased in number, he became their chief. As they were taught by their grandfather, they all worshipped Allâhu ta’âlâ. When Yâfas (Japheth) drowned as he was crossing a river, his younger son, who was named Turk, took his father’s place. His children, increasing in number, were called Turks. These Turks were Muslims, patient and studious people, like their ancestors. With their numbers multiplying in the process of time, they spread out over Asia. Some cruel rulers who came to the fore defiled their heavenly dîn, and they began to worship idols. Of
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[1] Japheth.
these, the Yâquts, who live in Siberia today, still worship idols. As they became remote from the dîn, they gradually lost their former civilizations and morals. Especially Atilla, one of the chiefs of the Huns, was referred to as ‘Allah’s wrath’ because of his irreligiousness and cruelty. When the Islamic sun rose in the blessed city of Mekka and began to radiate its light of knowledge, morals and every kind of virtue over the world, the dictators, who were brought up under the Romans’ dissipations and immoralities that had spread as far as Asia, the irreligiousness, ignorance and savageness, which had covered all of Asia and Africa, prevented the people they were tyrannizing from hearing about and learning Islam. These obstacles were eliminated with the sword. The Turkish rulers,
owing to their nobility and vigilance, did not prevent Islam from being heard of. Shamsaddîn Sâmi wrote in Qâmûs-ul-a’lâm, “Flowing towards the northwest, the rivers Syr Darya (Jaxartes), in the north, and Amu Darya (Oxus), in the south, reach the eastern side of the Aral Sea, east of the Caspian Sea. The area between these two rivers is called Mâ-warâ-un-nahr (Transoxiana). The district to the south of the region between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea is called Khârizm. The city of Merv is in Khârizm. The provinces named Jurjân and Khorasan in Iran are to the south of Khârizm. This region is currently referred to as Turkmenistan. The region to the north of the Aral Sea is named Kazakhstan. The region to the south of Ma-warâ-un-nahr is Uzbekistan. The cities of Bukhara, Samarkand, and Tashkent are in Uzbekistan. The region to the east of Uzbekistan is called Tadzhikistan. The cities of Yârkand, Fargâne, and Kashgar are in Tadzhikistan. All these regions are called Turkistan. Samarkand was conquered by Sa’îd bin ’Uthmân ibni Affân, the Governor of Khorasan. The region Ma-warâ-un-nahr was totally conquered in 77 by Qutaiba. The Russians invaded Samarkand and all of Turkistan in 1285 [1868 A.D.] and in 1292, respectively. [Those free-masons who had attained power in the Ottoman State only watched these invasions.] Long before the Turk’s nobility and Islam’s honour came together, Assyrians had invaded Turkistan and accustomed the Turks to worshipping the sun and stars.” They would worship the sun as it dawned. For this reason, the sun’s name became tanyeri, that is, Tanrý (God). There are many âyat-i kerîmas in the Qur’ân in which Allâhu ta’âlâ declares:
“My name is Allah. Call Me Allah, worship Me by saying ‘Allah.’ Entreat Me by saying ‘Allah’!” It is obvious how wrong it is, how big an obstinacy it is not to call Him the names He likes, but to
refer to Him with the name God, which the disbelievers, who are His enemies, use for their idols, which He hates most. For example, if a ruler says to the persons under his command, ‘My name is Ahmad. Call me Ahmad!” and if they answer him, “No, sir. We do not feel like calling you Ahmad. We want to call you Stone or Wolf or Dog or the name of your basest and bitterest enemy.” And if they call him so, he will become extremely angry; likewise, instead of the name Allah, to recite the adhân or other acts of worship by uttering the name God, which He does not command and with which He is very displeased, will cause His wrath and enmity. When beginning to explain the adhân, Ibni Âbidîn ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’ says, “The adhân means to recite prescribed words in a prescribed manner.
It is not permissible to recite its translation even if its meaning is the same and is understood by everyone. Nor is it permissible to recite it musically, spoiling its words. To spoil its words means to tune it to the pitches of music, and to add or to subtract vowel points, letters and prolongations in doing so. Also, it is a sin to listen to the adhân, the Qur’ân or a mawlid that are recited so. It is permissible and good to recite it melodically, [that is, to beautify the voice,] without additions, that is, without spoiling the words.”
When worships are not done as they are commanded, they become toys. It is the worst and the ugliest act of disbelief to make the dîn a plaything or to adapt it to customs.
Many of the ninety-nine names of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which He declares in the Qur’ân, indicate that He is creative.
Of these names, the name Khâliq means he who decrees and appoints. Bârî means he who creates. Musawwir means he who gives shape. For instance, when an engineer wants to build a house, first he makes decisions about the numbers, the dimensions, the amount of lumber, of bricks, of tiles, of cement, of iron, of area, of rooms, which are necessary; he calculates them and prepares a project. This is the meaning of khalq. Then the architect builds the house according to the project. The architect is the bârî of the building. At last the decorations and the ornaments of the building are added. The one who prepares these is the musawwir.
Allâhu ta’âlâ does not have a partner in anything He does. He, alone, is the khâliq, the bârî, the musawwir of every creature. To create is to make existent from nothing. To create also means to make a substance or an element existent, and, after making it
exist, to change it to some other being. For instance, an âyat which purports, “He created men from sperm and genies from fire,” informs us that this is so. The earth and the sky and the hundred and five elements which we know today used to be nonexistent. He created all these afterwards. By uniting together or breaking apart elements, oxides, acids, alkalis and salts, He forms millions of organic and inorganic substances, that is, He creates them. It is Allah’s ’âdat to create everything through some cause or medium. He alone creates, makes the causes, and gives them activity and effective power. The physical and chemical properties of substances, physical, chemical and biologic events, and reactions are the means by which He creates. He has created forms of energy, electricity, heat, mechanics, light and chemistry, and the various forms of energy that make reactions or causes. As He has made
these causes intermediaries for His creating substances, so He has made man’s mind and power intermediaries for His creating. For example, the heating of coal to over five hundred degrees, that is, up to the ignition temperature, and the beginning of the event of its burning are caused by the flames of a match; yet He is the One who creates the oxidization, the burning of the coal. The match is not the creator of the event termed burning. For, He, alone, creates the construction of the match, its properties, its flames, the energy of heat, the relation of the atoms of carbon to oxygen, and makes this exothermic event that heats the coal up, which then radiates red rays. Likewise when zinc dissolves in hydrochloric acid, a compound named chloride of zinc appears, which has a new property. This net of ions cannot be
said to be created by the atoms of zinc and the molecules of acid. For zinc and acid has no responsibility in the exchange of electrons during the formation of the ions of zinc and chlorine in the net of ions called chloride of zinc or its causes, e.g. forces of attraction and repulsion among ions; nor does the man who puts the zinc into the acid do anything besides doing so. The man has merely watched the formation of the chloride of zinc, the reaction, the properties, and the energies that form the net of ions that have been created by Allâhu ta’âlâ. This means to say that man’s mind and power, like other natural forces, are nothing but a cause, an intermediary for the creation of a new balance, order or system by changing the conditions, the equilibria among the substances, the elements, the properties, the powers
and the energies which Allâhu ta’âlâ has created in advance. Then,
Archimedes did not create a law, but only was able to see a relation between the properties that had already existed. By the same token, Thomas Edison, who invented the latest improvements on devices such as phonographs, megaphones and bulbs, did not create or make them, but caused them to be made. It is Allâhu ta’âlâ who created these. Edison, let alone creating these, did not even know anything concerning the functioning of his hands, eyes, feet and other senses; of his various cells, of his heart, lungs, kidneys and many other organs; of the construction of the various substances and tools which he used; or of the forces of atoms and protons in them, as he intemediated in the creation of new tools by gathering the existing substances together. Can a cause, an intermediary, who does
not know anything of the subtleties, neither in himself nor in the things which he uses, be said to be creative? The Creator is the One who knows the smallest and the subtlest aspects of these things and who makes all of them, and He is only Allâhu ta’âlâ.
A wise and intelligent scientist who has several university diplomas and who, having read the latest literature, has a great deal of experience will understand well that man is nothing but an intermediary, a cause in all his experiments and developments. Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, creates every event, every reaction, every action, and administers every law. The one and only honoured share that distinguishes man’s power from natural forces is that he is playing a role as an intermediary by thinking and by being conscious. Man can cause Allah’s creating to manifest itself as he wishes. Allâhu ta’âlâ declared in the seventieth âyat of Isrâ Sûra that by endowing man with this honoured share He has distingushed him from other creatures, thus creating him superior to other creatures.
The creator is only Allâhu ta’âlâ. It causes disbelief to call anybody besides Allâhu ta’âlâ the creator, no matter for what purpose. It is written in Birgivî Vasiyyetnâmesi: “If a person says that food comes from Allâhu ta’âlâ and man’s action is necessary, too, he becomes a disbeliever, for action also is created by Allâhu ta’âlâ.” That is, he who says that action, deed is created by man becomes a kâfir. Hadrat Ismâil Haqqî of Bursa writes in his Hujjat-ul-Bâligha, “In reality khâliq and râziq is Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is disbelief to call man khâliq and râziq. Man’s essential attributes are impotence and neediness. The attributes of Allah’s person are power and ghinâ.” We should not say about a person, “he created, he is creative.” We should not use the name Khâliq, which
belongs to Allâhu ta’âlâ, about anybody, nor should we refer to anybody as such. So are the names Rahmân and Rahîm.
Allâhu ta’âlâ has made other things causes for His creating something. He who wants something to be created should obtain the things that cause its creation. If there is human power among the things that cause the creation of something, the thing which is created is called artificial. For example, coke and vegetable oil are artificial. If there is no human power among the things that cause the creation of some substance, the substance created by this means is called natural. Though human power does not interfere with the creation of a natural substance, human power can be a cause in its being turned into an available state. Coal and butter are natural substances. To say, “Nature created..” about natural subtances and “man created...” about artificial substances or about events would in effect mean to describe other causes as being creative; this, of course, would be an ignorant and non-sensical statement. It would be like saying that bee created honey or saying that electricity created light.
The Mu’tazîla, one of the seventy-two heretical groups of Muslims, believe that man is the creator of his actions. Because they deduce this wrong belief from Qur’ân al-kerîm and from hadîth-i sherîfs, they are not disbelievers. But because they will not admit the truth, they will be scorched for a while in Hell. But it is kufr for those who know nothing of âyats or hadîths, of the dîn or îmân, to say, “You have created,” to sultans or rulers in order to cringe and curry favour. It is very dangerous to impute creativeness to someone other than Allâhu ta’âlâ. Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, is the creator of everything. There is no creator besides Him. But Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
’âdat is such that He creates everything through causes. In this way, He puts the world of matter and social life in order. Were He to create without causes, this universe would not have its present order. As microbes cause diseases, clouds bring rains, the sun effects life, catalysts aid chemical reactions, animals change vegetable substances into meat, milk, honey, and leaves synthesize organic substances, likewise, men cause aeroplanes, automobiles, medicines, electric motors and many other things to be made. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the One who gives power and effectiveness to all these causes. He has also given men wisdom and will in addition. It would not be right to call the causes and means creators. This fact is expressed very well in the phrase,
“Lâ hawlâ walâ quwwata il-lâ bil-lâh.” But some Râfidîs, who are also called Shi’îs or Alawîs, say that sins
are created by men and that Allah creates goodness only. My Turkish books, Eshâb-ý kirâm and Hak Yolun Vesîkalarý[1] quote such statements of the Râfidîs and answer them very well.
Those names of Allah which reveal His attributes, such as, ’Âlim (omniscient), Sam’ (hearing), Basîr (seeing), Qâdir (powerful, capable), Murîd (decreeing), Mutakallim (saying), and the like, can be used for men provided one shall consider the meanings and conditions communicated in the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss. In its treatment of the disasters incurred by the tongue, the book Hadîqa writes that it is harâm to name men with the names which belong only to Allah, such as Rahmân, Quddûs, Muhaymin and Khâliq. Hadrat Imâm-i Navavî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’ communicates this in detail in his explanation of Muslim. It is permissible to use those names that are Allah’s attributes such as “Azîz” also for men with their figurative meanings; yet it is not proper adab and it is better to observe the adab and not to use them.
Whenever uttering, hearing or writing the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ, it is wâjib to say or to write when it first occurs and it is mustahab if it is used more than once to recite a word of reverence, such as Subhânallah, Tabârakallah, Jalla-jalâluh, ’Azîmush-shân, Jalla-qudratuh or Ta’âlâ. As for uttering a certain prayer called the salawât when hearing the name of Rasûlullah, the same rule applies. It is written in Bezzâziyya and in the fifth part of the book Hindiyya: “When you hear the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ it is wâjib to show respect by saying ‘jalla jalâluh’ or ‘ta’âlâ’ or ‘tabâraka’ or ‘subhânallah.’ And, when you repeat the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ, it is mustahab to say, ‘Allâhu ta’âlâ,’ instead of only saying ‘Allah.’ That is, it is necessary to add a word of reverence after saying the name of Allâhu ta’âlâ.” Similarly, one should not only say “Qur’ân,” but always say “Qurân al-kerîm.” As it is understood, it would be wrong to say or to write, “Allah said that...” or “Allah ta’âlâ said that...” You should say, “Allâhu ta’âlâ said that...” Islam does not accept racism. All nations, speakers of all languages should
utter these Arabic words. They should not be disrespectful by attempting to translate them. It is written in the final chapter of the fifth volume of Ibni Âbidîn and in the annotation of Kâdi-zâde by Birgivî: “It is mustahab to add the benedictory phrase ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ when you say [or write]
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[1] Documents of the Right Word; first edition, 1992; 480 pp.; available from Hakîkat Kitâbevi, Fâtih, Istanbul, Turkey.
the name of a Sahabî, and to add ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’ with the name of one of the other scholars.”
Scholars of Ahl as-sunnat say, “We should love the As-hâb-i-kirâm very much and respect and revere them. Therefore, it is mustahab to say, ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ whenever we write, read or hear the name of any one of them.” These facts are written also in our (Turkish) book Islâm Ahlâký. In order to deceive Muslims, Râfidîs say, “The As-hâb-i-kirâm are very exalted. No word could express the degree of their exaltedness. To add the phrase ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ to their names would mean to insult them. Therefore, such things should not be said.” We should not believe Râfidîs!
At many places of Qur’ân al-kerîm, Allâhu ta’âlâ uses the word ‘We’ to refer to Himself. Allâhu ta’âlâ is one. He declares in Qur’ân al-kerîm that He is one. At many places of Qur’ân al-kerîm He did not say ‘I’ to refer to Himself. To express His greatness, to indicate the fact that He is owner of everything and dominant over everything, He says, ‘We,’ instead of, ‘I.’ Wherever He says, ‘We,’ it should be construed as, ‘I, the owner of all, the commander of all.’
It is written on the two hundred and sixty-eighth page of the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtâr: “Allâhu ta’âlâ likes those who give their children such names as Abdullah, Abdurrahmân, Muhammad, Ahmad... It is permissible to give men those names of Allah, such as ’Alî, Rashîd, Kabîr and Badî’ with their meanings suitable for men; yet the ignorant may make errors in the meanings and pronunciations of these names, thus causing sins and even disbelief. Instead of Abdulqâdir, for instance, they say Abdulkoydur, which causes kufr when said intentionally. He who disgraces these names on purpose, e.g., he who says Abduluzays instead of Abdul’azîz becomes a kâfir. So is the case with saying Hamo instead of Muhammad, Hasso instead of Hasan, and Ibo instead of Ibrâhîm.” [Hence it is understood that it is harâm to read the Qur’ân musically, and thereby
change the words.] These names should be esteemed. Some tradesmen write these blessed names on shoes or slippers for advertisement because they are their names, and those who buy them put them on their feet, and, hence, step on them. There is the fear that both those who write them and those who step on them will lose their îmân.
Ibni Âbidîn states as follows in the third volume: “Îmân means the heart’s acknowledgement of or belief in all the tenets which, according to the unanimity (of scholars), Muhammad
‘alaihissalâm’ brought from Allâhu ta’âlâ. These tenets can be exemplified as belief in the facts such as that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and is one, that we will be resurrected after death, that it is fard (or farz) to perform (the ritual prayer called) namâz and to fast during the month of Ramadân, that it is harâm to drink wine [and for women to expose their heads, hair or legs in the presence of men who are nâ-mahram to them]. A person who professes belief (in these tenets) is theoretically a Mu’mîn, or Muslim. A person who commits an act of disbelief, such as worshipping idols or throwing a copy of Qur’ân al-kerîm into a foul place, becomes a kâfir (disbeliever). Two other acts of disbelief are to perform namâz deliberately without an ablution and to despise an act of sunnat. A person does not become a kâfir by denying something which is clearly understood, though it is not based on an âyat-i-kerîma or which is not mutawâtir, i.e. not understood clearly from commonly known hadîth-i-sherîfs, or something which has not been conveyed through ijmâ’. A person who says ‘halâl’ about something which is clearly declared to be ‘harâm’ becomes a disbeliever. Examples of this are drinking wine and eating pork. It will not make a person disbeliever to say ‘halâl’ about something which is
‘halâl’ intrinsically but ‘harâm’ under certain conditions. An example is to take property which belongs to someone else. If a certain statement made or a certain act done by a Muslim is open to interpretation (ta’wîl), i.e. if it indicates his disbelief in many respects and denotes that he is not a disbeliever in one respect, this one respect should be taken into consideration and he should not be called a kâfir. If he professes that he did not mean that one respect, it will now be concluded that he is a kâfir. If scholars are not unanimous on that a certain statement causes (one to become) a disbeliever (when one makes it), a person who makes that statement cannot be called a kâfir.
It is mustahab to advise a murtad so as to eliminate his doubts. If he asks for more time, then he has to be imprisoned for three days. If then he does not repent, the court decides on his execution. This is valid in case he escapes to Dâr-ul-harb (a country of kâfirs) and later becomes a prisoner of war. Repenting means repeating the Kalima-i shahâdat and at the same time giving up the act or word that caused kufr. It is written on the hundred and ninety-eighth page of the second volume of Hadiqa: “When either of the husband or wife becomes a murtad, their nikâh becomes void. Their subsequent children will become walad-i zinâ (bastards). If the husband repents, they should renew
their nikâh. But the wife cannot be forced to renew the nikâh. If the wife has become a murtad, she will be forced to repent and then the nikâh will be renewed. Since there has not been a divorce, hulla is not necessary.” When a person who has denied something on which there is no unanimity repents, it is prudent, that is, good for him to renew his nikâh. When a person becomes a murtad, he loses possession of all of his property. All of it will be taken away from him. If he repents it will be returned to him. If he dies or goes to Dâr-ul-harb, it will be given to his Muslim inheritors. (Dâr-ul-harb is a country where non-Muslîm rules and laws are in effect, such as France and Italy.) What he earned when he was a murtad becomes fay and belongs to the Bayt-ul-mâl (the treasury of the
Islamic government). Those who have the rights to take jizya are paid from this fay. His earnings in Dâr-ul-harb becomes fay to Muslims when he becomes a prisoner of war. [Hindiyya and Qadîhân] If he dies there, his property becomes the property of his inheritors. None of the worships of a murtad is acceptable. His nikâh to any woman is not valid. When they become prisoners of war; they won’t be made slaves or jâriyyas, but a man will be executed and a woman will be imprisoned. Animals they slaughter or hunt are not edible. Their serving as witnesses is not acceptable. They will not be anyone’s heirs. A murtad’s earnings in Dâr-ul-islâm (an Islamic country), if he earned them after becoming a murtad, will not be willed to anybody. His commercial agreements in Dâr-ul-Islâm, according to Imâm-i a’zam, will be kept pending and if he becomes a Muslim, they will become nâfiz (valid). If he dies or goes to Dâr-ul-harb, all of them will become invalid. According to Imâmayn, they
are valid as soon as he repents, then he makes qadâ (repeats) all of the worships he had not performed before he became a murtad. Even though all the worships he had performed before were destroyed as a result of him becoming a murtad, after repenting, he will only repeat his hajj (pilgrimage), if he is rich. If a woman’s husband becomes a murtad she can marry (another man) by the time the (period of time called) iddat expires.
[Some people say, “How does a person become a kâfir by saying one word though he performs namâz and does every kind of worship and pious deed?” Kâdýzâde Ahmed Efendi ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’ writes in his explanation of Birgivî: “As a kâfir becomes a Believer by saying the word tawhîd once, so a Believer becomes a kâfir by saying one word. When the husband or the wife becomes a murtad with kufr-i inâdî (obstinate
kufr), their nikâh becomes void, but this does not mean a divorce. For this reason, it is permissible for them to renew their îmân and nikâh more than three times without hulla. (Hulla is an interim marriage procedure which Islam dictates as a condition which a three-time divorced couple has to fulfil for the permissibility of a third remarriage. This condition enjoins the woman to marry another man and perform waty with him before she can marry her former husband. This deterrent ordinance in Islam’s marital code bears hard on the sentiment of jealousy intrinsic in man’s nature and cautions him against the consequences of indulgences in his right to divorce, and thereby protects a married woman from being a plaything in the hands of her husband and leading a married life made intolerable
by the continuous trepidation of an unexpected and unwarranted divorce. The woman, on the other hand, if she really loves her husband and is afraid of having to part with him for good, will concern herself more closely with her possible role in the episodes that occasioned the former two divorces lest it should take place a third time, since her husband might very well choose to do without her rather than stomach the excrutiating aspect of hulla.) It is not enough for one of them only to renew the nikâh. The husband and wife should renew their nikâh in the presence of two witnesses. In the Shâfi’î Madhhab, if she repents during the time of her iddat it is not necessary to renew the nikâh. For facility, he who is in the Hanafî Madhhab should take a verbal proxy from his wife for renewing the nikâh and say in the presence
of two witnesses, “I have remarried my wife, who has been my wife before this renewal, acting by proxy on her behalf and in person on my behalf.” Male or female, every Muslim should say a certain prayer which renews the îmân and nikâh, “Allâhumma innî urîdu an ujaddidal-îmâna wannikâha tajdîdan bi qawli Lâ ilâha illallah Muhammadun rasûlullah,” in the morning and in the evening every day. It is good for the husband and wife to say it together. In a mosque, after the prayer of a namâz, which has been performed by a large congregation, if the imâm says this prayer together with the congregation, the congregation will be each other’s witnesses and their nikâhs will be renewed. For a Muslim, it is valid and acceptable to repent while he is taking his last breath. For the kâfîr, it is not so. Every Muslim, every morning and evening should recite the following prayer of îmân:
‘Allâhumma innî a’ûdhu bika min an-ushrika bika shay-an wa ana a’lamu wa astaghfiru-ka li-mâ lâ-a’lamu innaka anta allâmulghuyûb.’ The morning prayer can be started after
midnight. The evening prayer starts with zawâl (midday). Denial of being a murtad means to repent from it.
The books Berîqa and Hadîqa, in their chapters dealing with the calamities incurred by the tongue, and also in the book Majmâ’ul-anhur it is written: “A Muslim, male or female, will lose his or her îmân and become a murtad (apostate) when he or she says or does something which has unanimously been reported by Islamic savants to cause kufr, and which he or she knows that if done it will cause kufr, but he or she does it deliberately [willingly, not under duress], whether he or she does or says it seriously or to make others laugh, not being thinking of what one is saying does not make an exception to this rule. This class of kufr is called Kufr-i inâdî. The previous thawâbs of the person who became a murtad by means of kufr-i inâdî will become null and void. If this murtad repents, the thawâbs of his previous worships will not be returned. If he is rich, he has to perform hajj again. It is not necessary for him to reperform his previous salâts, to pay again the zakât he gave, or to fast again for those fasts performed during the time while he was a murtad. But it is necessary for him to do the acts of worship he had not done before his apostasy, for when he becomes a murtad his previous sins will not be erased. The ones he did not perform during his apostasy are not done again. One’s nikâh will be void when one
becomes a murtad with kufr-i inâdî. In this case, they must renew the nikâh in front of two witnesses, but hulla is not required. It is not enough only to say the Kalima-i Shahadat for repentance. Repentance for the thing which caused one’s apostasy is required too. If one says or does something which he earlier did not know would be a cause of apostasy, or if one deliberately says a word which is not unanimously stated by Islamic savants to be a cause of apostacy, in this case, it is doubtful if one will lose one’s faith or if one’s nikâh will become void. For precaution, you had better renew your faith and your nikâh. It is called kufr-i jahlî (kufr of ignorance) to express a word which you do not know to be a cause of apostasy, for it is fard for a Muslim to learn the things which are compulsory for everyone to know. To be unaware of those matters is not an excuse, and a grave sin for a Muslim. The nikâh and the faith of a person will not be void when he expresses a word which is a cause for apostasy, accidentally, in a state of confusion or interpretatively. In this case, it will be a precaution to make tawba and istighfâr, that is, tajdîd-i îmân (to renew his faith), but tajdîd-i nikâh, that is, to renew his nikâh is not
required.” If a Muslim attends the mosques (to perform salâts), it is normally out of the question for him to be a murtad (apostate) with kufr-i inâdî. Since there is a possibility even for the people attending mosques to express kufr in one of the other four ways, the imâms of the mosques make the people in a mosque recite this prayer, “Allâhumma innî urîdu an ujaddidal îmâna wannikâha tajdîdan bi-qawli lâ ilâha illallah Muhammadun rasûlullah.” Hence, tawba (repentance), tajdîd-i îmân, tajdîd-i nikâh will be done. Thus, the command given to the Muslims through the hadîth-i-sherîf “Renew your îmân by saying lâ ilâha illallah” is performed.