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Committing Sins Openly Does Not Render a Person a Disbeliever

Question

Scholars, I had a question on sins:1. Does boasting of ones sins make them a kafir? I read that ibn uthaymeen said one who does so should be killed? Is this valid?2. I was wondering, does envy or having ill thoughs about a fellow muslim make one a kafir3. Lastly, what if someone loves a sin/commiting a sin, does that make them a kafir? I mean, they like doing it/do not hate it but they know it is haram. They do not believe it is lawful despite feeling this way. I read this statement here from one salaf:Sin is the harbinger of kufr and there is the fear for the one who persists in sin that if he takes the matter lightly and does it as he does permissible things, without hating it or fearing the consequences, his faith will be rendered invalid. What does this mean? Does it apply to one who does not hate the sin but yet does not regard it as permissible/know it is haram?

Answer

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

A person does not become a disbeliever by committing a sin even if he does it openly and boasts of it, unless he believes it to be lawful.

Committing a sin openly while believing that it is forbidden does not entail that one deems the sin lawful.

You should have quoted to us the statement of Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him or informed us its source so that we could elaborate on it.

Hatred or suspicion are not acts that take a person out of the fold of Islam; rather, they are sins.

Loving the sin in a natural manner, in a way that a person desires it and wants to do it while he hates it Islamically and knows that Allah has forbidden it is not something that takes a person out of the fold of Islam.

It seems to us that you are affected with whispers in this field, so we recommend that you repel them, and not pay any attention to them because giving in to them leads to a great evil.

Allah knows best.

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