Thread by @DrShadeeElmasry

Age of Apostasy.
This is our theology on apostasy:
1 It will happen. Not only that, there will be a time when the flood gates of ridda burst open. "They will leave it in droves as they entered it in droves," the Prophet peace be upon him said (Haakim).

2 They will be replaced. For every person or group that leaves Islam, Allah will bring another individual or group in their place. Interestingly, a recent Pew study came to this exact conclusion, indicating the truthfulness of the Divine promise.

3 It's not random. There are actions you can do to earn Allah's protection from ridda.
- love of Allah & His Prophet ﷺ
- humility towards Muslims
- aloofness with rejectors of faith
- striving for the sake of the deen
- not fearing the blame of people

Now these, in reverse order, are the signs of losing iman, wal-iyadhu billah. First, one begins to fear the opinions of people when it comes to their deen. So they stop practicing it. They cut corners. They look for odd opinions that will please people.

Then they stop striving for Islam. It's not cool to them. Then they start fraternizing with the enemies and loving them. One after the other, the barriers of protection come down.

All of this is in 5:54 Ma'ida
"If any of you lleave your faith, then Allah will soon replace you with people He loves and who love Him, people who are humble towards the believers, hard on the disbelievers, and who strive in Allah’s way, and don't fear the blame of the blamers."

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ

One of the things I was taught is that the population of the umma never decreases. It's part of Allah's promise to the Prophet ﷺ that "what is to come is better for you than what has passed," and implies the number of people believing in him.