you follow is true,” and claims that he does this to preserve his standing among them, so that he remains esteemed and respected, or to obtain some worldly benefit through them. All such people fall within the general scope of Allah’s words:

“Whoever disbelieves in Allah after having believed—except one who is compelled while his heart remains firm in faith—but whoever opens his heart to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah, and for them is a tremendous punishment.”

Thus, He exempted only those who are compelled from being described as disbelievers and from the threatened punishment.

If someone who willingly manifests disbelief were not considered a disbeliever both outwardly and inwardly, Allah would not have judged those who mocked to be disbelievers when He said:

“If you ask them, they will surely say, ‘We were only talking idly and playing.’ Say, ‘Was it Allah, His verses, and His Messenger that you were mocking?’ * Make no excuses; you have disbelieved after having believed. If We pardon a group of you, We will punish another group because they were criminals.” [Al-Tawbah: 65–66]

Commenting on these verses, Shaykh al-Islām said: “He has declared that they disbelieved after having believed, despite their saying, ‘We uttered words of disbelief without believing in them; we were only talking idly and playing.’ He made clear that mocking Allah’s verses is disbelief. This can only come from someone who has opened his heart to such words. Had there been faith in his heart, it would have prevented him from uttering them.” (1)