Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhIf someone calls Allah (swt) a father, or a “spiritual father” as stated in fatwa No 90195, is he an apostate or did he only commit a severe sin? What is the penalty for someone who says (and insists that) Allah (swt) is a father?Jazaak Allahu Khair

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The matter is as stated in the referred Fatwa that it is not permissible to say this expression for many reasons that we mentioned in the Fatwa.

Saying this expression involves great sin as this is a deviation in Allah’s Names and Attributes as we mentioned in the Fatwa itself.

However, although this deviation is a kind of shirk, as Ibn Abbas said about the verse, {And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names.} [Quran 7:180]: it means they commit Shirk (about His Names).’; but there are some conditions for declaring someone as a disbeliever. So, not everyone who says a word of Kufr (disbelief) becomes a disbeliever unless some conditions are met while there are no impediments for declaring him as such; as we have already highlighted in Fataawa 8106 and 87963.

Allah knows best.