The Ruling on Declaring Muslim Rulers Disbelievers
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, there are those who declare Muslim rulers disbelievers without exception, and there are those who do not declare them disbelievers except if they make the haram permissible, and there are those who say that only the one who changes [the religion] is declared a disbeliever. What is the deficiency in this, and what is the correct position?
Answer:
The truth in this is clear: takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) is not for the general public. Everyone who speaks of takfir, and everyone who issues such a ruling, must refer this matter to the scholars of knowledge and insight.
It is obligatory for a person to restrain himself from these matters and not to spread the issue of takfir among the people, nor to spread the issue of the Murji'ah, which holds that no one is ever declared a disbeliever. These are all defective opinions, and it is not permissible for them to be spread among the people. This matter is to be referred to the scholars of knowledge,[An-Nisa 4:83], and the matter is to be entrusted to them.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you
The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, there are those who declare Muslim rulers disbelievers without exception, and there are those who do not declare them disbelievers except if they make the haram permissible, and there are those who say that only the one who changes [the religion] is declared a disbeliever. What is the deficiency in this, and what is the correct position?
Answer:
The truth in this is clear: takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) is not for the general public. Everyone who speaks of takfir, and everyone who issues such a ruling, must refer this matter to the scholars of knowledge and insight.
It is obligatory for a person to restrain himself from these matters and not to spread the issue of takfir among the people, nor to spread the issue of the Murji'ah, which holds that no one is ever declared a disbeliever. These are all defective opinions, and it is not permissible for them to be spread among the people. This matter is to be referred to the scholars of knowledge,
And when there comes to them information about [public] security or fear, they spread it around. But if they had referred it back to the Messenger or to those of authority among them, then the ones who [can] draw correct conclusions from it would have known about it.
وَإِذَا جَاءَهُمْ أَمْرٌ مِّنَ الْأَمْنِ أَوِ الْخَوْفِ أَذَاعُوا بِهِ وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَإِلَىٰ أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَنبِطُونَهُ مِنْهُمْThe presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source
شرح الكافية الشافية في الانتصار للفرقة الناجية [ القصيدة النونية ] [ صالح الفوزان ]، فصل : في تعيين أن اتباع السنة والقرآن طريقة النجاة من النيران — islamhouse.com (1:02:07)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.