The Meaning of the Hadith: "Whoever cheats us is not one of us"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. The Honorable Shaykh says: Regarding the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)Sunan Ibn Majah 2225Da'if (Darussalam), is the meaning that the person is not a believer with complete faith? Or is it one of the hadiths of warning that are to be passed on as they came?
The Shaykh:
This is the correct view: that it is not to be interpreted, but passed on as it came, so that this serves as a deterrent for people. Because if you tell people that the meaning of the hadith is that the person does not disbelieve, but that his faith is deficient, they will be lax regarding this matter. But if it is not interpreted and they hear it as it is, it will deter them and keep them away from this thing. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. Correct.
The Shaykh:
If one of the Khawarij comes to you and says, “The one who cheats is a disbeliever, based on this hadith,” you tell him, “No, he is not a disbeliever; the meaning of the hadith is that he is not a believer, meaning he does not have complete faith.” So when there is a need, you give this answer. But if there is no need, do not tell people, “Look, the meaning of the hadith is such and such,” because this diminishes its importance in their eyes. Yes.
May Allah reward you. The Honorable Shaykh says: Regarding the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
Whoever cheats us is not one of us.
من غشنا فليس مناThe Shaykh:
This is the correct view: that it is not to be interpreted, but passed on as it came, so that this serves as a deterrent for people. Because if you tell people that the meaning of the hadith is that the person does not disbelieve, but that his faith is deficient, they will be lax regarding this matter. But if it is not interpreted and they hear it as it is, it will deter them and keep them away from this thing. Yes.
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. Correct.
The Shaykh:
If one of the Khawarij comes to you and says, “The one who cheats is a disbeliever, based on this hadith,” you tell him, “No, he is not a disbeliever; the meaning of the hadith is that he is not a believer, meaning he does not have complete faith.” So when there is a need, you give this answer. But if there is no need, do not tell people, “Look, the meaning of the hadith is such and such,” because this diminishes its importance in their eyes. Yes.
Source
75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 05 — archive.org (1:14:55)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.