Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterWhether repentant person is responsible for people he encouraged to sin
Question
Unfortunately, in his past, he has engaged in several haram sexual conversations and activities with people on the internet. He also participated in some sexual games (sexting) with these people. Forgive me; for example, he told them and instructed them what to do on their bodies and private parts. He became very ashamed and repented and sought forgiveness, but there is still one thing that bothers him: for the last few months, he has been terrified and worried by these thoughts: "What if I caused people to harm themselves when I gave them such instructions and directions?" "What if the instructions I gave them caused their deaths or maybe gave them heart attacks or put them in accidents?" The reason why these thoughts came to him is because the people he did these activities with had their connections cut off, and after a while, they stopped talking and never wrote back. So he started to suspect that they became the victim of heart attacks or accidents. What he want to know is the following: if someone died while doing such chats/activities or got into accidents or heart attacks, would he be responsible for it? Would he be responsible or the cause of death of these people if they died while they did these haram activities and he instructed them to do things on their bodies? And does he need to fast two months for this and pay blood money? Note that he cannot find them or their relatives and does not know if they are alive or not. He also does not know if they were believers or not. He is terrified and depressed and does not know what to do. Please help.
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
We ask that person to calm down and to take it easy upon himself and not destroy himself with this anxiety and depression. If he sincerely repents to Allah from these heinous actions while fulfilling the conditions of sincere repentance, as highlighted in fatwa 86527, then he should have good expectations of Allah. Indeed, Allah accepts the repentance of those who repent to Him, and He wipes out their sins.
Allah says (what means): {Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He Who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.".} [Quran 39: 53]
Allah also says (what means): {But indeed, I am the Perpetual Forgiver of whoever repents and believes and does righteousness and then continues in guidance.} [Quran 20:82]
Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said, "Whoever repents before the sun rises from the west, Allah accepts his repentance." [Muslim]
Indeed, Allah accepted the repentance of the man who killed ninety-nine souls, as in the story in a Chapter in Saheeh Muslim entitled: “Chapter of the acceptance of the repentance of the killer, even if he had killed so many souls.”
As for the people who followed him voluntarily by their own will in doing the evil and corruption that he invited them to do, then it is they who earned those sins. None of them has any right on him, and he did not wrong them, because he did not force them to do what they did.
The evidence about the difference between the case of choice and the case of coercion is that the woman who voluntarily consented and accepted to fornicate, the scholars of Fiqh did not oblige the adulterer to give her compensation (for the harm he caused her), contrary to a woman who was forced (raped).
Shaykh ‘Ulaysh, from the Maaliki School of Fiqh, said, "Fornication with a woman who obediently accepted does not make her deserve a dowry; and this is the adopted view."
Ibn Al-Qayyim 
said, "The woman who voluntarily consented and accepted to fornicate does not deserve the dowry, because she voluntarily gave herself to him, so she is not entitled to a compensation. This is similar to the case in which she allows someone to cause damage to a part of her body (she is not entitled to compensation from the person who caused the damage)."
Therefore, he should not pay attention to his fears that he might be responsible for those people and that if someone died because of that, he is considered as if he had killed him, and that he has to pay blood money, and the like of devilish thoughts that might cause him grief and ruin his life with psychological harm and pain.
We advise him to forget the past and to do good in the future, to be keen on seeking beneficial knowledge, performing good deeds, and keeping company with righteous people who would remind him of his Lord if he forgets, help him when he remembers, and protect him from the evil of the devils among humankind and jinn.
Allah knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
