The Ruling on Dividing the Religion into Generalities, Details, and Husks

Question:
Honorable Shaykh! What is your opinion of those who emerge and divide the religion into generalities and details, husks and kernels, and say that the details are like shaving the beard, raising the hand at the takbir of standing for the tashahhud, straightening the rows, and so on?

Answer:
The details and generalities are valid; the religion is composed of details, generalities, issues, and chapters, and there is no doubt about that. As for the husks—may Allah protect us from that—saying that there are husks in the religion is apostasy from Islam. But I do not think a Muslim, let alone a student of knowledge, would say that there are things in the religion that are husks. This is considered apostasy from Islam. The one who describes some matters of the religion, even if they are sunnahs and not obligations, as long as they are established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and says that they are husks, this is apostasy. He must repent to Allah the Exalted. There are no husks in the religion; the religion is entirely valid, and it is all of great value, and it is all good. As for the fact that there are general issues and detailed issues in the religion, that is indeed the case. But the generalities are built from the details; the generalities are built from the details, so they are necessary. What is the meaning of being lenient with the details, or making people disdain them, or not learning them? No, that is invalid. If the intention is to make people disdain them and to permit them to be neglected before people, then that is an invalid matter, and one fears apostasy for the one who does it. The one who makes people disdain the detailed and branch issues of the religion and says, "These are details, do not concern yourselves with them," one fears apostasy for him. He is not far from the husks; he is not far from them. These generalities are composed of the details, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that faith has seventy-odd branches, the highest of which is the saying So would anyone say that these branches are details with no value, and that one does not safeguard oneself in them? It is not permissible for a Muslim, let alone a student of knowledge, to say this. As for the fact that the issues of the religion differ, some being greater than others, or some being general and some detailed, these are divisions that exist and are present. But it is obligatory for us to care about them all, the generalities and the details. It is obligatory for us to learn the generalities and the details, and not to disdain anything of the matters of our religion. This is the obligation.
And shaving the beard is a sin, without doubt, and growing the beard is obedience. It is a detail of the matters of the religion, and a part of the practice of the sunnah. It is a detail that has its value. So the one who takes lightly the shaving of the beard and says, "These are motivations," or "The religion has hair," or something similar to that, this is dangerous speech. One fears apostasy for the one who says it, may Allah protect us, because he mocks the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says: So the one who mocks anything of the matters of the religion, even if it is recommended, even if the sunnah is not obligatory, is considered an apostate from the religion of Islam. The one who mocks, or is lenient with some things, or says that they are husks, or that they are precedents, this is a great danger to a person's religion. Belt.