Is declaring a specific person among the worshippers of graves a disbeliever a matter of scholarly disagreement?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: What is your view regarding those among the contemporary scholars who claim that declaring a specific person among the worshippers of graves a disbeliever is a matter of scholarly disagreement, and who claim that they are not original disbelievers?
Answer:
This is a defective opinion, and its result is ignorance of this, this chapter. And I say, and I repeat, that it is not permissible for anyone to speak on these dangerous issues unless he has learned, gained insight, and studied the creeds correctly from the people of knowledge. Then, after that, if his situation compels him to speak, he speaks. And if he is not compelled to do so, he does not enter into it. This is what I say and repeat: this matter is very serious. The one who commits shirk (associating partners with Allah), the one who commits shirk, is ruled to be a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and the one who commits kufr (disbelief) is ruled to be a disbeliever, as far as appears to us, and we apply the rulings of disbelievers to him.
So if he dies, we do not bury him in the Muslim cemeteries, and his Muslim relatives do not inherit from him. We apply the rulings of disbelievers to him by virtue of his action, by virtue of his action and his statement, which is what we were commanded to do. We have nothing but the appearances; we rule based on what appears. As for what is between him and Allah, Allah is more aware of him and knows him better. If he is excused, and Allah knows that he is excused, then his case is left to Allah. We do not rule on hearts; rather, we rule on what appears to us. So whoever displays kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), we rule that he is a disbeliever and a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and we apply the rulings of shirk and the rulings of kufr to him, whether he is a specific person or not. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: What is your view regarding those among the contemporary scholars who claim that declaring a specific person among the worshippers of graves a disbeliever is a matter of scholarly disagreement, and who claim that they are not original disbelievers?
Answer:
This is a defective opinion, and its result is ignorance of this, this chapter. And I say, and I repeat, that it is not permissible for anyone to speak on these dangerous issues unless he has learned, gained insight, and studied the creeds correctly from the people of knowledge. Then, after that, if his situation compels him to speak, he speaks. And if he is not compelled to do so, he does not enter into it. This is what I say and repeat: this matter is very serious. The one who commits shirk (associating partners with Allah), the one who commits shirk, is ruled to be a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and the one who commits kufr (disbelief) is ruled to be a disbeliever, as far as appears to us, and we apply the rulings of disbelievers to him.
So if he dies, we do not bury him in the Muslim cemeteries, and his Muslim relatives do not inherit from him. We apply the rulings of disbelievers to him by virtue of his action, by virtue of his action and his statement, which is what we were commanded to do. We have nothing but the appearances; we rule based on what appears. As for what is between him and Allah, Allah is more aware of him and knows him better. If he is excused, and Allah knows that he is excused, then his case is left to Allah. We do not rule on hearts; rather, we rule on what appears to us. So whoever displays kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), we rule that he is a disbeliever and a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and we apply the rulings of shirk and the rulings of kufr to him, whether he is a specific person or not. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل تكفير المعين من عباد القبور مسألة خلافية؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.