What is the ruling on saying, “Whoever blasphemes Allaah The Almighty intentionally is a disbeliever through words, not through deeds.”

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Blaspheming Allaah The Almighty is one of the gravest kinds of disbelief, and the scholars unanimously agreed that a person who does so is an apostate.

In Al-Mughni, Ibn Qudaamah stated that whoever blasphemes Allaah The Almighty is a disbeliever whether he is jesting or serious, and this is also applicable to whoever ridicules Allaah The Almighty, His verses or His Messengers, may Allaah exalt their mentioon. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allaah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?" Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals.} [Quran 9:65-66]

A person who blasphemes Allaah The Almighty and then returns to Islam should not be left unless he receives disciplinary punishment in order not to repeat this. If repentance is not enough for one who blasphemes the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, it is worthier not to be enough for the one who blasphemes Allaah The Almighty.

By the statement “Whoever blasphemes Allaah The Almighty is a disbeliever through words, not through deeds,” the questioner might mean that such a person becomes a disbeliever as a result of his words, not his deeds. It is known that disbelief occurs as a result of words (as when one verbally blasphemes Allaah The Almighty), as a result of deeds (as when one prostrates himself before an idol) or as a result of belief (as when one believes that this world is eternal and was not created). If the questioner means this, there is no problem. This is because one who disbelieves due to words or deeds is judged as an apostate when the necessary conditions are fulfilled and impediments are eliminated.