Is a kafir who rejects islam innocent? I don’t mean someone who actively fights against islam but a person who after hearing about islam rejects it. Can such a person be called innocent in the eyes of islam?
Answer:
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If by “innocent” you mean he is not described as a Kaafir (a disbeliever) and free of the sin of Kufr (disbelief), then the answer is no because whoever hears of the religion of Islam and does not believe in it, then he is a disbeliever and a sinful person.
If he dies upon his disbelief, he will be one of the people of Hellfire even if he has never been in his life belligerent with the religion of Islam.
Abu Hurayrah, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “I swear by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, there is no Jew or Christian of this nation (of people from the time of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, until the Day of Judgment) who hears about me and then dies without believing in what I was sent with, except that he will be amongst the people of Hellfire.” [Muslim]
Sa’eed ibn Jubayr said about this Hadeeth: “The verse from the Book of Allah that proves this is the verse (which means): {But whoever disbelieves in it from the [various] factions – the Fire is his promised destination.} [Quran 11:17]”
Indeed, the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the scholars prove that whoever follows (or adopts) a religion other than Islam, then he is a non-Muslim and his religion is rejected, and he will be one of the losers in the Hereafter.
Allah Says (what means):
* {And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.} [Quran 3:85]
* {Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam.} [Quran 3:19]
So, how can he be innocent after this, simply because he was not belligerent to Islam? Rather, just by his disbelief, he is belligerent to Allah; Allah Says (what means): {…and the disbeliever is ever, against his Lord, an assistant [to Satan].} [Quran 25:55]; meaning helping Satan against his Lord by enmity and Shirk.
Allah knows best.