We request clarification of what al-Tahawi mentioned: that people in matters of faith are of three types: a believer who affirms, a denier who rejects, and a doubter who wavers?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The questioner, Abdullah al-Qahatani, says: Imam al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in the al-Tahawi Creed that people in matters of faith are of three types: a believer who affirms, and he is the one who is saved; a denier who rejects; and a doubter who wavers. Is this wavering what a person might find in himself, or what is it? And is there an explanation for this classification? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
Doubt is disbelief, may Allah protect us from it. Doubt in the heart regarding the creed and faith is disbelief.
The presenter:
We seek refuge in Allah.
The Shaykh:
What does not harm is waswas (whispers of Satan), if a person has waswas; he is a believer who affirms, but waswas occurs to him.
The presenter:
Perhaps this is what confused the questioner.
The Shaykh:
And he did not speak of it; this does not harm him, if Allah wills. But if he is doubting in his heart and wavering, then he is a disbeliever. Yes.
The presenter:
The classification of Imam al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him).
The Shaykh:
This is good. There is no doubt that people do not fall outside these categories: either a believer who affirms with sound faith, or a disbeliever who denies, may Allah protect us from it, or one who wavers, a doubter who wavers. Doubt is wavering between two matters where neither is preferred over the other; this is doubt. So this is like the first one: a disbeliever.
The questioner, Abdullah al-Qahatani, says: Imam al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in the al-Tahawi Creed that people in matters of faith are of three types: a believer who affirms, and he is the one who is saved; a denier who rejects; and a doubter who wavers. Is this wavering what a person might find in himself, or what is it? And is there an explanation for this classification? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh:
Doubt is disbelief, may Allah protect us from it. Doubt in the heart regarding the creed and faith is disbelief.
The presenter:
We seek refuge in Allah.
The Shaykh:
What does not harm is waswas (whispers of Satan), if a person has waswas; he is a believer who affirms, but waswas occurs to him.
The presenter:
Perhaps this is what confused the questioner.
The Shaykh:
And he did not speak of it; this does not harm him, if Allah wills. But if he is doubting in his heart and wavering, then he is a disbeliever. Yes.
The presenter:
The classification of Imam al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him).
The Shaykh:
This is good. There is no doubt that people do not fall outside these categories: either a believer who affirms with sound faith, or a disbeliever who denies, may Allah protect us from it, or one who wavers, a doubter who wavers. Doubt is wavering between two matters where neither is preferred over the other; this is doubt. So this is like the first one: a disbeliever.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، نرجو توضيح ما ذكره الطحاوي أن الناس في الإيمان ثلاثة أصناف: مؤمن مصدق، وجاحد مكذب، وشاك متردد؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.