How did the Salaf interpret the statement of Allah the Exalted: “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed—those are the disbelievers,” “those are the open sinners,” and “those are the wrongdoers”? And was there a transmission of scholarly consensus regarding its interpretation?
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Question:
How did the Salaf interpret the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Ma'idah 5:44], "So those are the open sinners," and "So those are the wrongdoers"? And was there a report of scholarly consensus on its interpretation?
Answer:
They interpreted it by saying that these are all descriptions of the one who does not judge by what Allah has revealed: that he is a disbeliever, that he is an open sinner, and that he is a wrongdoer. However, they say that if he believes that this is permissible—that judging by other than what Allah has revealed is permissible, or that it is better than judging by what Allah has revealed, or that it is equal to it—then this is major shirk (associating partners with Allah) that takes one out of the religion. But if he believes and acknowledges that judging by what Allah has revealed is obligatory, and that judging by other than it is forbidden, yet he does it out of desire, for a bribe, or for some other reason, then he is the doer of a major sin among the major sins. It is practical disbelief (kufr 'amali); it does not take one out of the religion, but it is a major sin as long as his belief remains, because the obligation is to judge by what Allah has revealed. But if he believes that judging by other than what Allah has revealed is permissible, then he is a disbeliever with major shirk, because his belief is corrupted. Yes.
How did the Salaf interpret the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers.
وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَAnswer:
They interpreted it by saying that these are all descriptions of the one who does not judge by what Allah has revealed: that he is a disbeliever, that he is an open sinner, and that he is a wrongdoer. However, they say that if he believes that this is permissible—that judging by other than what Allah has revealed is permissible, or that it is better than judging by what Allah has revealed, or that it is equal to it—then this is major shirk (associating partners with Allah) that takes one out of the religion. But if he believes and acknowledges that judging by what Allah has revealed is obligatory, and that judging by other than it is forbidden, yet he does it out of desire, for a bribe, or for some other reason, then he is the doer of a major sin among the major sins. It is practical disbelief (kufr 'amali); it does not take one out of the religion, but it is a major sin as long as his belief remains, because the obligation is to judge by what Allah has revealed. But if he believes that judging by other than what Allah has revealed is permissible, then he is a disbeliever with major shirk, because his belief is corrupted. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، كيف فسر السلف قوله تعالى ﴿ومن لم يحكم بما أنزل الله فأولئك هم الكافرون﴾، ﴿فأولئك هم الفاس #فتاوى ا — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.