Is This Hadith of the Prophet (Allah Bless Him and Give Him Peace), “Whoever Cheats Is Not of One of Us,” Mean a Person Is Non-Muslim?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Do hadith statements like these (mentioned in the Hadith) mean a person is non-Muslim if he does them? The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “whoever cheats (deceives) is not of one of us [the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him)].” [Muslim]
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) فَلَيْسَ مِنّا ‘is not one of us’ that appear in the prophetic hadith have been interpreted by the various commentators to mean:
- he is not from our path and sunna way
- he is not following our path
- he is not practicing the rulings of our sharia
- he is not from the people of our path or our religion, as a rebuke
- he is not from those who are following our sunna, upholding our way
[Abdul-Haqq al-Dehlawi, Lama‘at al-Tanqih Sharh fi Mishkat al-Masabih; Ali al-Qari, Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh Mishkat al-Masabih; Adhim Abadi, Awnul Mabud li Sharh Abi Dawud]
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said these words as a rebuke and disapproval due to the enormity of the action. It does not mean he has come out of the fold of Islam, and he is not one of the Muslims.
May Allah Most High protect us all from all kinds of sins and give us divine enablity (tawfiq) to follow His commands and prophetic teachings and sunnas, amin
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[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.
