Maliki and Hanbali position on tawbah from apostasy/kufr

[Slave_of_ Allah]

As-Salamu-Alaykum,

On the subject of a person who does tawbah from kufr/apostasy, I have read that Imam Abu Hanifa held that he will not get the reward of the good deeds he did prior to doing tawbah, whereas Imam Shafi'i held that such a person will get the reward for those good deeds.

I wanted to know what the positions of the Maliki and Hanbali madhabs are on this subject. Could someone help?

Jazaak Allah Khayr.

[Slave_of_ Allah]

As-Salamu-Alaykum,

I contacted the Awqaf in the UAE (via their sms service) regarding this question. Below is their response:

Question: If a person commits kufr and then does tawbah, Imam Abu Hanifa believed that he will lose the reward of good deeds he did prior to committing kufr, whereas Imam Shafi'i held that the reward of those good deeds will be restored.

What is the position of the Malikis and the Hanbalis on this?

Answer: Majority of the Imams of Islam believe (such as Imams Malik, Shafi'i, and Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on them): They believed that the reward of the actions of the apostate (is) lost only, not the same acts. However, if he died an infidel, he missed his actions and its reward.

But Imam Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, said that the actions of the apostate (along) with the reward will be lost even if he does not die, but he must repeat pilgrimage of Islam (i.e. Hajj) if he returns to Islam. And Allah Knows Best.

[Slave_of_ Allah]

As-Salamu-Alaykum,

I would also like to share the answer I received from the directorate of fatwa in the judicial department of Abu Dhabi:

Muslim scholars agreed that disbelief makes deeds become worthless if the person died as a disbeliever. Allah says in the Holy Quran: “And whoever denies the faith his work has become worthless.” And He also says: “If they had associated others with Allah, then worthless for them would be whatever they were doing.” And He says: “Those who denied Our signs and the meeting of the Hereafter - their deeds have become worthless.”
If a person apostatized and then he repented so his previous deeds became worthless. Allah says in the Holy Quran: “If you should associate [anything] with Allah, your work would surely become worthless.” This statement is addressed to followers of the Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him). It is obvious that this is a general statement; it is not only including people who apostatized and died as disbelievers. Therefore, Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, and Imam Ahmed according to one narration, said that if a Muslim apostatized and later he repented and came back to Islam then his deeds will not come back to him. If he had vows or expiation for oaths he will not be requested to fulfill any of that after his repentance. Also if he had done pilgrimage before his apostasy then he will be requested to go on pilgrimage again. And he will not be responsible for any of his action during his time of apostasy except for divorce and his action against others.
Nevertheless, Imam Shafi’i and Imam Ahmed, according to another narration, have another opinion. According to them, if an apostate repents then he will regain his good and bad deeds. This opinion is biased on the verse in which Allah said: “And whoever of you reverts from his religion [to disbelief] and dies while he is a disbeliever - for those, their deeds have become worthless in this world and the Hereafter, and those are the companions of the Fire, they will abide therein eternally.” Shafi’i understood from this verse that the worthlessness of deeds is only for apostates who died as disbelievers.

Two opinions are reported from Imam Ahmed regarding the rewards of apostates who repented and came back to Islam. The first opinion is that their deeds became worthless permanently, and according to the second opinion, they regain their rewards after they repent. The Hanbali scholars tend to favor the second opinion.

And Allah Knows Best.