—ʿUmar—to Qudāmah, saying:

“Hā Mīm.”

“The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knowing.”

“The Forgiver of sin, Accepter of repentance, Severe in punishment.”

“I do not know which of your two sins is greater: your first declaring what is forbidden lawful, or your subsequently despairing of Allah’s mercy?”

This matter, upon which the Companions agreed, is also agreed upon by the imams of Islam; they do not dispute it. Whoever denies obligations whose obligatory nature is manifest and established by mass transmission—such as the five daily prayers, fasting the month of Ramadan, and pilgrimage to the Ancient House—or denies the prohibition of things whose forbidden nature is manifest and established by mass transmission—such as acts of sexual immorality, injustice, wine, gambling, fornication, and the like—or denies the permissibility of things whose lawful nature is manifest and established by mass transmission—such as bread, meat, and marriage—is an unbeliever and apostate. He is called upon to repent; if he repents, he is spared, and otherwise he is put to death. If he conceals such beliefs, he is a clandestine unbeliever and hypocrite who, according to most scholars, is not called upon to repent. Rather, once this is exposed, he is put to death without being called upon to repent.

Among these are those who deem certain acts of sexual immorality lawful, such as forming bonds of brotherhood with women outside the prohibited degrees of marriage and being alone with them, claiming that these women receive blessings through what they do with them, even though it is forbidden by the Shariah.

The same applies to those who deem such conduct lawful with beardless youths and claim that taking pleasure in looking at them and having physical contact with them is a path for some spiritual wayfarers, whereby they ascend from love of the created being to love of the Creator. They encourage acts that lead to the gravest sexual abomination, and may even deem that abomination itself lawful, as do those who say that sodomy is permissible by right of slave ownership. All of these are unbelievers by the consensus of the Muslims, and they are comparable to