Reading about Disbelief Is Not Disbelief

5-12-2021 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is reading words that contain shrik take you out of Islam?

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.

It is agreed upon among Muslim scholars that narrating disbelief is not Kufr (disbelief).

The Quran included a large part of the stories of the disbelievers and their sayings and misconceptions.

Reading something that includes Kufr for a preponderant benefit, such as reading it in the context of responding to it and refuting it, or reading it to learn about it and warn against it, is not forbidden; rather, it is a good and beneficial thing.

As for reading that without a preponderant benefit, then one should not do that, because hearts are weak and misconceptions are attractive, as stated by some righteous predecessors.

But merely reading that while believing that this is disbelief does not take the doer out of the fold of Islam at all.

Allah knows best.

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