The Ruling on a Specific Person Who Falls into One of the Nullifiers of Islam
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The questioner:
This questioner says: Is this statement correct? "We do not rule that a specific person is a disbeliever if he falls into a nullifier of Islam, so we do not say to him, 'You are a disbeliever,' but rather we rule that his action or statement is disbelief."
The Shaykh:
This is the statement of the Murji'ah. You are repeating to us the words of the Murji'ah. We declare it to be disbelief based on what he did or said, and we have only the apparent to go by; we do not look into what is beyond the apparent. So if one commits an act of disbelief, we declare him a disbeliever; if he does something, we consider it forbidden. We have only the apparent to go by. As for hearts, no one knows what is in them except Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Now, if a person calls upon other than Allah, worships graves, and then dies, do you wash him? Do you pray over him while he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah)? Do you bury him in the Muslim cemeteries while he is a mushrik? You have only the apparent to go by; you rule by the apparent state, unless he is ignorant and does not know, and people like him are ignorant of this matter, in which case it is excused for the ignorant. But do we say, "We consider this to be disbelief, but the person is not a disbeliever"? How can he commit an act of disbelief and not be a disbeliever? How can he say a word of disbelief and not be a disbeliever? Yes.
The questioner:
He says: And for a specific individual, must the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever be present?
The Shaykh:
For a specific individual or not, we have only the apparent to go by, my brother. We have only the apparent to go by. We rule about people based on what appears from them. As for the hidden and the hearts, no one knows them except Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
This questioner says: Is this statement correct? "We do not rule that a specific person is a disbeliever if he falls into a nullifier of Islam, so we do not say to him, 'You are a disbeliever,' but rather we rule that his action or statement is disbelief."
The Shaykh:
This is the statement of the Murji'ah. You are repeating to us the words of the Murji'ah. We declare it to be disbelief based on what he did or said, and we have only the apparent to go by; we do not look into what is beyond the apparent. So if one commits an act of disbelief, we declare him a disbeliever; if he does something, we consider it forbidden. We have only the apparent to go by. As for hearts, no one knows what is in them except Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Now, if a person calls upon other than Allah, worships graves, and then dies, do you wash him? Do you pray over him while he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah)? Do you bury him in the Muslim cemeteries while he is a mushrik? You have only the apparent to go by; you rule by the apparent state, unless he is ignorant and does not know, and people like him are ignorant of this matter, in which case it is excused for the ignorant. But do we say, "We consider this to be disbelief, but the person is not a disbeliever"? How can he commit an act of disbelief and not be a disbeliever? How can he say a word of disbelief and not be a disbeliever? Yes.
The questioner:
He says: And for a specific individual, must the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever be present?
The Shaykh:
For a specific individual or not, we have only the apparent to go by, my brother. We have only the apparent to go by. We rule about people based on what appears from them. As for the hidden and the hearts, no one knows them except Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
شرح نواقض الإسلام [ صالح الفوزان ]، بداية من الناقض الخامس : من أبغض شيئًا مما جاء به الرسول - صلى الله عليه وسلم - ولو عمل به؛ كفر — islamhouse.com (13:32)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.