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Is he who pleases people by displeasing God considered a polytheist, such as one who does not lower his gaze from an unveiled woman so that he is not called a bigot, because he prioritized obedience to the created over obedience to the Creator?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is a severe warning and threat against those who please people at the expense of Allah's displeasure. The disobedience committed by a servant to please people is of two types:

The first type: Disbelief (Kufr), such as committing acts or uttering words of disbelief. This renders its perpetrator a disbeliever if the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are met and its impediments are absent, such as knowledge, intent, and absence of coercion.

The second type: A sin, and not an act of disbelief, such as not lowering one's gaze, lying, drinking alcohol, and listening to music. This type does not render its perpetrator a disbeliever, even if it is a major sin, as long as he believes in Allah and His Messenger and does not deem the sin permissible. This is the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama'ah.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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