excerpt from Shaykh Mubashar Ahmad Rabbani’s book “Ahkām wa Masā’il – In the Light of the Qur’an and Sunnah”:
Nowadays, the modernist faction claims that Sharʿi rulings and ḥudūd (prescribed punishments) need to be revised. They say ijtihād (independent reasoning) should be used to change the Islamic penal code to suit contemporary needs. Is this claim correct? Please clarify in the light of the Qur’an and Ḥadīth.
The Sharʿi rulings and the boundaries set by Allah (ḥudūd Allāh)—as revealed by Allah the Exalted—are immutable. No individual, group, parliament, or government holds the authority to alter or revise them.
Whether it is:
Claiming the right to revise or reinterpret such rulings is strictly forbidden (ḥarām). These laws are to be applied in every era and generation exactly as they were enforced during the era of the Prophet ﷺ and the Rightly Guided Caliphs رضي الله عنهم.
Whoever, while outwardly identifying as a Muslim, attempts to alter, undermine, or object to the divine law revealed by Allah and deems the ḥudūd Allāh to be contrary to human rights, such a person is guilty of manifest disbelief (kufr) and becomes liable for capital punishment under Islamic law.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
"Whoever changes his religion, kill him."
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar, Bāb: No one should be punished with Allah’s punishment – Ḥadīth 3017
In our times, the younger generation must not be deceived by modernist ideologies or Western influence, lest they fall into the pit of apostasy (irtidād).
Rather than being poisoned by the toxic propaganda of Jews, Christians, disbelievers, and idolaters, Muslim youth should:
Muslim parents are urged to:
May Allah the Exalted protect the entire Muslim Ummah from the fitnah of apostasy, and grant us the ability to become true practicing Muslims and mujahidīn (strugglers in His cause).
Āmīn.
❖ Question:
Nowadays, the modernist faction claims that Sharʿi rulings and ḥudūd (prescribed punishments) need to be revised. They say ijtihād (independent reasoning) should be used to change the Islamic penal code to suit contemporary needs. Is this claim correct? Please clarify in the light of the Qur’an and Ḥadīth.
❖ Answer:
The Sharʿi rulings and the boundaries set by Allah (ḥudūd Allāh)—as revealed by Allah the Exalted—are immutable. No individual, group, parliament, or government holds the authority to alter or revise them.
Whether it is:
- Ṣalāh (prayer),
- Ṣawm (fasting),
- Zakāh,
- Ḥajj,
- Inheritance laws,
- Family laws,
- or the prescribed ḥudūd (such as for adultery, theft, or consumption of alcohol)—
these are all part of divine legislation.
Claiming the right to revise or reinterpret such rulings is strictly forbidden (ḥarām). These laws are to be applied in every era and generation exactly as they were enforced during the era of the Prophet ﷺ and the Rightly Guided Caliphs رضي الله عنهم.
Whoever, while outwardly identifying as a Muslim, attempts to alter, undermine, or object to the divine law revealed by Allah and deems the ḥudūd Allāh to be contrary to human rights, such a person is guilty of manifest disbelief (kufr) and becomes liable for capital punishment under Islamic law.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
"Whoever changes his religion, kill him."
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Jihād wa al-Siyar, Bāb: No one should be punished with Allah’s punishment – Ḥadīth 3017❖ A Stern Warning:
In our times, the younger generation must not be deceived by modernist ideologies or Western influence, lest they fall into the pit of apostasy (irtidād).
Rather than being poisoned by the toxic propaganda of Jews, Christians, disbelievers, and idolaters, Muslim youth should:
- Adhere to authentic Islamic teachings.
- Strive to become practicing Muslims.
Muslim parents are urged to:
- Raise their children according to Islamic principles.
- Inculcate within them love for Islamic rituals and obligatory acts.
- Prevent them from being enticed by Western culture, secular civilization, and immorality.
- Refrain from enrolling them in institutions that imitate Jewish and Hindu ways of life.
May Allah the Exalted protect the entire Muslim Ummah from the fitnah of apostasy, and grant us the ability to become true practicing Muslims and mujahidīn (strugglers in His cause).
Āmīn.
