Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on religious obligations of non-Muslims converting to Islam

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadiq al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Sunday, the 11th of Jumadi al-Awwal. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi answered a question about the past deeds of a non-Muslim who has become a Muslim, and said: If a non-Muslim converts to Islam, he/she will not be responsible for the past years in which he did not pay khums, zakat, fidya, and expiation. But from now on, he/she must fulfill these duties. However, if they owe money to someone, or have killed someone and must pay blood money, some jurists say he is responsible for that payment and must clear all their debts.

Referring to verses 42 to 44 of Surah al- Muddaththir, [what made you endure the torment of hellfire? They answer that we were not among those who prayed, and we did not feed the poor.] His Eminence said: The predominant opinion of jurists is that non-Muslims are obligated to fulfil the Furu of Sharia. So, if they repent before death, they will be blessed by Islam, meaning their missed Sharia obligations will be forgiven. But if they die in the state of kufr, they will be held accountable for their wrong beliefs, as well as the religious obligations that they did not fulfill.

Regarding the ruling on Qaasir vs. Muqassir non-Muslims who do not convert to Islam before their death, the Marja said: This issue is an area of great disagreement among jurists, but what is certain is that the Qaasir does not deserve punishment, whereas the Muqassir deserves punishment.

It should be mentioned that the two words roughly represent undeliberate vs. deliberate shortcoming in terms of recognition of Ahlul-Bayt and Sharia-based duties.