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Fatwa CenterPretending to be Christian while remaining Muslim for the sake of money
Question
There is a Muslim man who lives in a western country like the USA. He undergoes bad financial conditions. Furthermore, he pays the expenditure and financial maintenance of his family in his homeland. He found that he could change his conditions through declaring his conversion to Christianity and going to the church in order to have the nationality of this country. Consequently, his conditions will be improved. Bearing in mind, he will remain a Muslim in secret until he fulfills his purpose and then he will reveal his Islam. Please advise.May Allaah Reward you
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
The act of showing disbelief through adopting Christianity and apostasy is a form of disbelief as long as the following conditions are fulfilled: puberty, sanity, free choice and all the impediments such as ignorance, madness, compulsion, and so on, are absent. Such a person will be regarded as a disbeliever even if he does not intend that by his heart. The aim of obtaining money does not validate the act of disbelief. The aim behind apostasy is always obtaining wealth or honor. Likewise, the aim behind claiming prophethood is seeking headship or fame. So, anyone who does an act of disbelief intentionally, with his free choice, becomes a disbeliever even if he does not intend to be so.
Ibn Nujaym 
said, "If a person utters a word of disbelief out of jest or play, scholars unanimously consider him a disbeliever regardless of his real belief."
You should know that there is nothing that permits the utterance of words of disbelief other than compulsion. Ibn Taymiyyah said:
The one who disbelieves without compulsion or utters words of disbelief willingly, has opened his heart to disbelief. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {But those who [willingly] open their breasts to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allaah.} [Quran 16:106] He is considered so because he prefers this worldly life to the Hereafter. That is supported by the Hadeeth of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: “One may be a believer in the morning and turn into a disbeliever at night and one may be a believer at night and turn into a disbeliever in the morning, selling his religion in return for a trivial worldly gain.”
Ibn Hazm said in his book Al-Fasl, “I exclude the one who claims to be a disbeliever under pressure from being a disbeliever because this case falls under the Concession of Allaah The Almighty. On the other hand, the one who shows acts of disbelief without being a reader, witness, of narrator of these acts or without being compelled to do so, that one is considered to be a disbeliever according to the unanimous agreement of the Ummah, which is based on the rule that the one who utters a word of disbelief is a disbeliever.”
Therefore, such a person should abandon these devilish thoughts and seek the lawful means for obtaining provision. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And whoever fears Allaah – He Will Make for him a way out. And Will Provide for him from where he does not expect.} [Quran 65:2,3]
Abu Umaamah 
narrated that the Prophet of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said:
“The Holy Spirit inspired into my heart that no soul will die without completing its provision and life. So, fear Allaah and be moderate in your request. Let not the feeling of finding the coming of the provision slow stimulate you to seek provision through disobeying Allaah. The Provision of Allaah cannot be obtained except by obeying Him.” [At-Tabaraani; Al-Albaani: Saheeh chain of narrators]
Allaah Knows best.
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