The Ruling on Declaring a Specific Person a Disbeliever and Clarifying the Statement of the Murji'ah

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Is it permissible for any person to declare a specific individual a disbeliever, whoever he may be?

Answer:
If something issues from him that necessitates declaring him a disbeliever, he is declared a disbeliever. If something issues from him in the form of a statement, action, or belief that necessitates declaring him a disbeliever, he is declared a disbeliever based on what issued from him, until he repents to Allah the Exalted. May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh.
Do they kill the apostate? If something issues from him that necessitates apostasy, they call him to repent; if he repents, well and good, otherwise they kill him. Why do they kill him? It is because they ruled that he is a disbeliever, acting in accordance with the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): We are the Murji'ah who say that we must know what is in his heart; even if he says or does something, he is not declared a disbeliever until it is known. This is the stronger position, not the position of the people of the Sunnah. Yes. Hearts are known only to Allah; we rule based on the apparent. Yes.