Types of Kufr: Belief, Speech, and Action
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: Recently, those who claim that people do not become disbelievers if they commit shirk (associating partners with Allah) but do not believe in it have spread. They say that one does not become a disbeliever by belief alone, and if one does not act on it, what is your response to the proponents of this statement?
Answer:
The scholars hold that kufr (disbelief) occurs in many things, including belief. Belief is one type of kufr. Arrogance is by speech. That is, if one takes refuge in Allah, or the Messenger, or the Qur'an, even if he does not believe in his heart, he becomes a disbeliever. And regarding the narration, we say, "We do not know what they knew; we believe this."[At-Tawbah 9:65] We say, "We do not know what they knew; we believe this." [At-Tawbah 9:65] If you continue, kufr is by speech and by action. So, if one slaughters for other than Allah, or vows for other than Allah, or prostrates to other than Allah, this is kufr by the action of the one who slaughtered. As you know, the one who slaughtered the fly entered the Fire, even if he did not believe in his heart that his action was kufr. His action was kufr, and he responded to kufr and obeyed the polytheists, even if he did not believe in his heart, but only did it to get rid of it or for mere agreement. He did not ask about the heart, but kufr was established upon him by the action he performed, which indicated turning away from Allah the Exalted. It is by action, and also by doubt and hesitation: Is the Qur'an true, or is it not true? Is the saying of the Messenger true, or is it not true? If he doubts, he is a disbeliever. And belief in the creation is a type of kufr. Belief is a type of kufr. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Honorable Shaykh, he says: Recently, those who claim that people do not become disbelievers if they commit shirk (associating partners with Allah) but do not believe in it have spread. They say that one does not become a disbeliever by belief alone, and if one does not act on it, what is your response to the proponents of this statement?
Answer:
The scholars hold that kufr (disbelief) occurs in many things, including belief. Belief is one type of kufr. Arrogance is by speech. That is, if one takes refuge in Allah, or the Messenger, or the Qur'an, even if he does not believe in his heart, he becomes a disbeliever. And regarding the narration, we say, "We do not know what they knew; we believe this."
And if you ask them, they will surely say, "We were only
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُمْ لَيَقُولُنَّ إِنَّمَا كُنَّاWe were only conversing and playing." Say, "Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger
إِنَّمَا كُنَّا نَخُوضُ وَنَلْعَبُ قُلْ أَبِاللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ وَرَسُولِهِThe presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
شرح نونية ابن القيم [52] — alfawzan.live (1:15:55)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.