Apostates

Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Shall I inform you of the gravest of the major sins?" He repeated this three times. They said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He said: "Associating partners with Allah and undutifulness to parents." He was reclining and then sat up and said: "And indeed, the false statement." He repeated it so many times that we wished he would stop.

‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The major sins are associating partners with Allah, undutifulness to parents, murder, and intentional false oath."

Ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: A man said: "O Messenger of Allah, will we be punished for what we did during jāhiliyyah (the pre-Islamic period of ignorance)?" He said: "He who does good in Islam will not be punished for what he did during jāhiliyyah, and he who commits evil in Islam will be punished for the previous and later deeds."

Abu Mūsa (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I came to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) along with two men (from the tribe) of Ash‘ariyyīn, one on my right and the other on my left, while the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was brushing his teeth (with a tooth-stick), and both men asked him for employment (as governors). The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu Mūsa (or O ‘Abdullāh ibn Qays)!" I said: "By Him Who sent you with the truth, they did not tell me what was on their minds and I did not feel that they were seeking employment." As if I were looking now at his tooth-stick being drawn to a corner under his lips, and he said: "We will not (or, we do not) appoint for our affairs anyone who seeks that position. But O Abu Mūsa! (or O ‘Abdullāh ibn Qays!) You go to Yemen." The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) then sent Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal after him, and when Mu‘ādh reached him, he spread out a cushion for him and asked him to sit. There was a fettered man beside Abu Mūsa. Mu‘ādh asked: "Who is this (man)?" Abu Mūsa said: "He was a Jew and became a Muslim and then reverted back to Judaism." Then Abu Mūsa asked Mu‘ādh to sit down but Mu‘ādh said: "I will not sit down till he is killed. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger (for such cases)," and he repeated it thrice. Abu Mūsa ordered that the man be killed, and he was killed. Then they discussed the voluntary night prayers and one of them said: "I pray and sleep, and I hope that Allah will reward me for my sleep as He rewards me for my prayers."

Abu ‘Abdur-Rahmān ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "It is as though I am looking at Allah's Messenger as he tells the story of one of the prophets (peace be upon them) as his people struck him and caused him to bleed, and he wiped the blood from his face, saying: 'Allah, forgive my people for they do not know.'"

‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: If I narrate to you anything from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), it is dearer to me to fall from the sky than to lie about him. But if I speak to you concerning matters between me and you, then war is deception. I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: "At the end of time, there will come a people, young in age and foolish in mind. They will speak about the best words of creation, but they will pass through Islam as an arrow passes through its target. Their faith will not go beyond their throats. Wherever you encounter them, kill them, for killing them is a reward for the one who kills them on the Day of Judgment."

‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard Hishām ibn Hakīm recite Sūrat al-Furqān during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). I listened to his recitation and noticed that he recited it in many ways which the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) had not taught me. So I was about to jump upon him during the prayer, but I waited till he finished the prayer, whereupon I seized him by either his upper garment or mine and asked him: "Who taught you how to recite this Sūrah?" He replied: "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) taught me how to recite it." So I said to him: "You have told a lie! By Allah, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) taught me this Sūrah which I have heard you recite." So I set forth, leading him to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). I said: "O the Messenger of Allah, I heard this man recite Sūrat al-Furqān in ways which you have not taught me, and you taught me how to recite it." On that, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O ‘Umar, let go of him! Recite, O Hishām." So Hishām recited before him in the way I had heard him recite. the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It was revealed like this." Then the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Recite, O ‘Umar!" So I recited it. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It was revealed like this." And then he added: "Indeed, this Qur’an has been revealed in seven different ways, so recite it in the way that is easy for you."