Dought & clear, - Will the repentance of one who impugns the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) be accepted? And is it better to admit it to the qaadi (judge)?

With regard to the Muslim who impugns the Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) in secret and conceals that: if he repents
before he is executed, will Allah accept his repentance sothat he
becomes a Muslim, because he had become a kaafir? Or does he have to
announce what he did so that he will be executed before Allah will
accept his return to Islam?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
Testifying that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
is the Messenger of Allah is one of the pillars of Islam. The Muslims
arecommanded to venerate and love their Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) and he is deserving of that, because of the
lofty status he has before Allah, and because of thefavours he has
done to this ummah, for he was the cause of their being brought out of
their state of ignorance and he was the cause of theirattaining all
that is good. How could any Muslim have the audacity, in spite of
that,to impugn the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)?
Hence the scholars are unanimously agreed that the one who impugns the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is a kaafir and
apostate whohas gone beyond the pale of Islam.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Impugning Allah or impugning His Messenger is kufr both inwardly and
outwardly,regardless of whether the one who does that believes that it
is haraamor he thinks that it is permissible for him, or he was not
thinking of the ruling when he did that. This is the view of the
fuqaha' and all of Ahlas-Sunnah who say that faith is comprised of
both words and deeds.
As-Saarim al-Maslool, 1/513
It says inal-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah(40/61):
The Holy Qur'an tells us that it is a grave sin to disparage the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or belittle him,
and the onewho does that is cursed. That is in the verses in which
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"Verily, those who annoyAllah and His Messenger (SAW) Allah has cursed
them in this world, and in the Hereafter, and hasprepared for them a
humiliating torment"
[al-Ahzaab 33:57]
"If you ask them (about this), they declare: We were only talking idly
and joking. Say: Was it atAllah and His Ayat (proofs, evidences,
verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and His Messenger (SAW)
that you were mocking?
Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after you had believed. If We
pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you because they
were Mujrimoon (disbelievers, polytheists,sinners, criminals, etc.)"
[at-Tawbah 9:65-66].
The fuqaha' are of the view that the one who does any of these things
is to be regarded as a kaafir. End quote.
It also says (22/184):
The ruling on the one who impugns him (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) is that he is an apostate, and there is no difference of
scholarly opinion concerning that.End quote.
If the one who impugns the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) is an apostate, then the punishment prescribed for him in
sharee'ah is execution; there is no difference of scholarly opinion
concerning that.
Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The majority of scholars are agreed that the one who impugns the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is to be executed.
End quote.
See:Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 8/82
Al-Khattaabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
I do not know of any of the Muslims who differed concerning the
obligation of executing him. End quote.
Ma'aalim as-Sunan, 3/295
Secondly:
If the one who impugned the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) repents and regrets what he did, and he comes back to Islam,
thatrepentance will benefit him in his relationship with Allah. So
before Allah he will be a believing Muslim. But with regard to his
execution, the obligation of executing him will not be waived. So he
will be killed as a Muslim, and he should be washed, the funeral
prayer should be offeredfor him, he may be inherited from and he
should be buried in the Muslim graveyard. As for the apostate who did
not come back to Islam, he is to be executed as a kaafir.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him)
was asked:
Will the repentance of one who impugned Allah, may He be exalted and
glorified, or who reviled the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) be accepted?
He replied:
There is a difference of scholarly opinion concerning that, and there
are two opinions:
(i)
The first opinion is that repentance will not be accepted from the one
who impugned Allah or His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him). This is the well-known view of the Hanbalis. Rather he is
to be executed as a kaafir, and the funeral prayer isnot to be offered
for himand supplication is not to be offered for mercy for him, and he
is to be buried in a place far away from the Muslim graves.
(ii)
The second opinion is that the repentance of one who had reviled Allah
or His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will be
accepted if it is known that he has sincerely repented to Allah, and
he admits thathe made a mistake and speaks of Allah, may He be
exalted, in a way thatreflects the veneration He deserves. This is
because of the general meaning of the evidencethat indicates that
repentance is accepted, such as the verse in which Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):"Say: O 'Ibaadi(My
slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil
deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah, verily, Allaah
forgives all sins" [al-Zumar 39:53]. There are some of the kuffaar who
impugn Allah, yet despite that their repentance is accepted. This is
the correct view. The repentance of one who impugned the Messenger
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is accepted, but he must be
executed. This is unlike the one who impugns Allah; his repentance is
accepted but he is not tobe executed, because Allah has told us that
He forgives transgressions against His rights if the person repents,
and thatHe forgives all sins. As forthe one who impugns the Messenger
(blessingsand peace of Allah be upon him), there are two matters to be
taken into consideration:
(a)The first is a shar'i matter, because he is theMessenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). Fromthis angle, he
repentance will be accepted if he repents.
(b)The second is a personal matter. From this nagle, repentance will
not be accepted, because it has to do withthe right of a human being,
and it is not known whether he would forgive it. On that basis he is
to be executed, but if he is executed, we should wash him, shroud him,
offer the funeral prayer for him and bury him with the Muslims.
This is the view favouredby Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, who wrote a
book on that entitledas-Saarim al-Maslool fiTahattum Qatli Saabb
ar-Rasool. That is because he has transgressed against the rights of
the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). By the same
token, if he were to slander the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him), he is to be executed and not flogged.
If it is asked: Has it not been proven that some of the people
impugned the Messenger (blessingsand peace of Allah be upon him)
during his lifetime and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) accepted their repentance?
The answer is: This is true, but that was during his lifetime
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and he waived what was
dueto him. But after his death, no one has the right to waive what is
due to him (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). So we must do
what is required if he(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is
impugned, which is to execute the one who impugns him and to believe
that the repentance of the one who does that is accepted with regard
to the relationship between that person and Allah, may He be exalted.
If it is asked: If it was possible that he (the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him)) would let him off if that happened during
his lifetime, doesn't that dictate that we should refrain from passing
judgement on him?
My response is: That does not dictate that we should refrain, because
evil has occurred by his impugning him, and it is not known whether
the effect of that impugningwill be removed; the basic principle is
that it remains.
If it is asked: Wasn't it usually the case that the Messenger
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) let off those who impugned
him?
My response is: Yes indeed, and perhaps letting them off during the
lifetime of the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
was done to serve a purpose, which was to soften people's hearts
towards Islam, as he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) knew
the identities of the hypocrites but he did not execute them, "lest
people say that Muhammad kills his companions." But nowadays if we
know that a specific individual is one of the hypocrites, we should
execute him. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him)
said:Refraining from killing a known hypocrite was only done during
the lifetime of the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him). End quote.
Majmoo' Fataawa ash-Shaykh al-'Uthaymeen, 2/150-152
But… So long as the matter has not reached the qaadi (judge), what is
prescribed is for the Muslim to conceal himself (his sins) and notgo
to the judge to confess his crime; rather he should strive hard to
repent and seek forgiveness, and do a lotof good deeds, so that Allah
will forgive him. Allah, may He be exalted,says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"And verily, I am indeed Forgiving to him who repents, believes (in My
Oneness, and associates none in worship with Me) and does righteous
good deeds, and then remains constant in doing them, (till his death)"
[Ta-Ha 20:82]
"Then, verily! Your Lord for those who do evil (commit sins and are
disobedient to Allah) in ignorance and afterward repent and
dorighteous deeds, verily, your Lord thereafter, (to such) is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful"
[an-Nahl 16:119].
And Allah knows best.