The Ruling on One Who Denies an Attribute of Allah

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, does a Muslim leave the fold of Islam simply by denying one of the attributes of Allah, or can he remain a Muslim despite his misunderstanding of that attribute?

Answer:
Those who deny the attributes fall into two categories. Those who know the evidence for them but stubbornly deny them are disbelievers. As for those who deny the attributes because they follow others or interpret them, relying on an interpretation they believe to be correct, they are misguided but not declared disbelievers. Note this.
If he relied on an interpretation he believed to be correct, but it was not correct, he is called a wrongdoer, but he is not declared a disbeliever; because he did not do it intentionally, and he thought it was correct, and it became what is correct, or he was following others, so he is not declared a disbeliever, but he is misguided. However, if the truth became clear to him, and it was clarified to him, and he persisted in his school of thought in denying the attributes, he is a disbeliever.