The Ruling on Declaring Someone a Disbeliever and Warning Against Specific Individuals
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The questioner:
What is his statement if some of the parties specifically? We asked, I do not know, and we will descend to some of the customs, and they will command what Allah has revealed and they will be commanded, and that is what was revealed to them, so you dismissed them because of that.
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible to interpret the Muslims except with evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. The specific interpretation varies, and you do not know what state they died in. Even if they left behind some of the things that lead to being declared a disbeliever, you do not know if they repented or did not repent, so do not judge them definitively as disbelievers. Rather, you say: whoever did such and such from the category of transgression is a disbeliever. As for specifying people without knowing their state at the time of death, this is not permissible. In any case, a person preserves the message of facilitation, hastening, and reverence. Allah has not burdened him with this. He must reform himself, learn, call to Allah, reconcile hearts, unite the word, and spread love among the Muslims. As for not naming work except saying so-and-so is a disbeliever and so-and-so is an innovator and so-and-so and so-and-so, this is a calamity.
Except for a person who deceived the people and left them books containing misguidance. You know the misguidance in his books, but as for him, do not judge him; you do not know about him. But it is said: the book about so-and-so contains such and such and such and such. It is obligatory for the Muslims to be wary of being deceived in this, and so on. This is fine. But as for individuals, I do not involve myself with them; leave them to Allah the Exalted and Majestic. Yes.
What is his statement if some of the parties specifically? We asked, I do not know, and we will descend to some of the customs, and they will command what Allah has revealed and they will be commanded, and that is what was revealed to them, so you dismissed them because of that.
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible to interpret the Muslims except with evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. The specific interpretation varies, and you do not know what state they died in. Even if they left behind some of the things that lead to being declared a disbeliever, you do not know if they repented or did not repent, so do not judge them definitively as disbelievers. Rather, you say: whoever did such and such from the category of transgression is a disbeliever. As for specifying people without knowing their state at the time of death, this is not permissible. In any case, a person preserves the message of facilitation, hastening, and reverence. Allah has not burdened him with this. He must reform himself, learn, call to Allah, reconcile hearts, unite the word, and spread love among the Muslims. As for not naming work except saying so-and-so is a disbeliever and so-and-so is an innovator and so-and-so and so-and-so, this is a calamity.
Except for a person who deceived the people and left them books containing misguidance. You know the misguidance in his books, but as for him, do not judge him; you do not know about him. But it is said: the book about so-and-so contains such and such and such and such. It is obligatory for the Muslims to be wary of being deceived in this, and so on. This is fine. But as for individuals, I do not involve myself with them; leave them to Allah the Exalted and Majestic. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 29 من 36 /شرح العقيدة الواسطية (شرح قديم)/الدين والإيمان قول وعمل/صالح الفوزان/العقيدة/كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:06:59)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.