Apostasy
Question
Assalam Alyaikum!
1. When I came to islam, I have very little knowledge. My great-grandmother was died and she was christian. I remembered that she had called me when I was very small and told smth before she was died. I didn’t remember what this was. I don’t why but I decided that it can be shahadah. I didn’ understand that this is just my fiction and I made dua for her. I made tawba for it with shahadah recently only. I understood not to do so in the first year of islam but I did’t know that to make dua for died kafir is kufr (I knew this only recently and I said shahadah at once). Is it was kufr in my situation also?
Answer
Wa’alaykum as Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
Whilst it is not permissible to seek forgiveness or pray (for the entry into paradise) for a disbeliever who passed away, it is not Kufr, and does not take one out of the fold of Islam.
Furthermore, you assume that your great-grandmother possibly did recite the Shahadah. If you have a greater thought that she did indeed become a Muslim, then you may pray for her. If you are very doubtful, then pray that Allah blesses her with what is best.
وأما بعد وفاته فيحرم الدعاء للكافر بالمغفرة ونحوها ؛ لقول الله تعالى : { ما كان للنبي والذين آمنوا أن يستغفروا للمشركين ولو كانوا أولي قربى من بعد ما تبين لهم أنهم أصحاب الجحيم } وقد جاء الحديث بمعناه ، وأجمع المسلمون عليه . (الموسوعة الفقهية الكويتية – 11/ 187)
والاستغفار للكافر حرام قال الله تعالى: {اسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ أَوْ لاَ تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ إِن تَسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ سَبْعِينَ مَرَّةً فَلَن يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَهُمْ ذلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَفَرُواْ بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَاللَّهُ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَسِقِينَ} (التوبة: 80) (المحيط البرهاني – 2/ 337)
And Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala knows best.