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Acts of disbelief before the age of puberty

Question

When I was young, I unknowingly committed acts that would render the one who does them a disbeliever. Now I have repented to Allaah The Almighty, but my heart is always preoccupied with this matter. What should I do?

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.

As long as you are religiously committed, submitting to the orders of Allaah The Almighty and abstaining from what He has prohibited, what you have done when you were young is overlooked. This is to be said even if we adopt the view that a minor can undergo a judgment of apostasy, because once the apostate declares the Two Testimonies of Faith without doing anything that nullifies Islam, he is considered to have repented and returned to Islam.

The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , mentioned that Allaah The Almighty ordered him to fight people until they profess that nothing is truly worthy of worship but Allaah The Almighty. If they do so, their life and property will be safe as long as they do not commit any act that necessitates their subjection to the prescribed (legal) penalties, and their account in other affairs will be left to Allaah The Almighty. [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

This Hadeeth indicates the sanctity of a person’s life and property once he professes the Two Testimonies of Faith and does not commit any act that would nullify them. There is no doubt that the common meaning of religious commitment nowadays is much more comprehensive than the mere declaration of the Two Testimonies of Faith. It means being steadfast in religion; and steadfastness in religion really means true repentance.

We advise you, dear brother, to stop worrying and to ignore obsessive doubts and Satanic whisperings. Preoccupying yourself with these matters may lead to grave results, so you must stop doing so.

Allaah Knows best.

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