The Criterion for Ruling That a Person Has Departed from the People of the Sunnah and the Community
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, when do we rule that a person has departed from the people of the Sunnah and the community?
Answer:
We rule based on his words and deeds that appear to us. We do not pry into hearts. If he displays good, we accept it. If something appears from him that necessitates his departure from the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community, whether in word or deed, we rule accordingly. Unless he is coerced or has an excuse. In that case, we do not rule against him because of the excuse. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, when do we rule that a person has departed from the people of the Sunnah and the community?
Answer:
We rule based on his words and deeds that appear to us. We do not pry into hearts. If he displays good, we accept it. If something appears from him that necessitates his departure from the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community, whether in word or deed, we rule accordingly. Unless he is coerced or has an excuse. In that case, we do not rule against him because of the excuse. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-008-أصول أهل السنة|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (56:49)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.