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Is my statement, "I don't care if I am a disbeliever," considered disbelief, and will my repentance be accepted, and must I utter the Two Testimonies despite the continued intrusive thoughts and complete lack of certainty?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Loathing obsessive thoughts is a sign of sound belief and strong faith, as Imam Al-Nawawi affirmed. Apostasy does not occur through obsessive thoughts. The default is that a servant remains Muslim unless there is definitive proof to the contrary. One who utters words that could indicate apostasy or something else is not excommunicated. If ninety-nine interpretations point to excommunicating a Muslim and one interpretation points to keeping him in Islam, then that one interpretation should be acted upon. The door of repentance is open to everyone, even to the disbeliever and the hypocrite. Repentance wipes away sins, no matter how great they are, as Allah Almighty says: "Say, 'O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.'" A person is not held accountable for obsessive thoughts if they repel them and do not believe in them or act upon them.

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

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