The Condition of Knowledge in the Word of Tawhid and the Ruling on One Who Says It Without Knowing Its Meaning
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: One of the conditions of *La ilaha illa Allah* is knowledge. Is this a condition for ruling that a man is a Muslim? In other words, if a person says *La ilaha illa Allah* but does not know its meaning, does he enter into Islam?
Answer:
He knows its meaning. Yes, he knows its meaning. We do not know what is in his heart. If he says *La ilaha illa Allah*, we accept it from him outwardly until something is revealed from him that contradicts it. We hold back from declaring him a disbeliever, accept him, and rule that he is a Muslim outwardly until something is revealed from him that contradicts it. Then he is ruled to have committed apostasy. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: One of the conditions of *La ilaha illa Allah* is knowledge. Is this a condition for ruling that a man is a Muslim? In other words, if a person says *La ilaha illa Allah* but does not know its meaning, does he enter into Islam?
Answer:
He knows its meaning. Yes, he knows its meaning. We do not know what is in his heart. If he says *La ilaha illa Allah*, we accept it from him outwardly until something is revealed from him that contradicts it. We hold back from declaring him a disbeliever, accept him, and rule that he is a Muslim outwardly until something is revealed from him that contradicts it. Then he is ruled to have committed apostasy. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [3436/2282] شرط العلم في كلمة التوحيد وحكم من قالها جاهلا معناها - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.