The ruling on one who prostrates to an idol seeking worldly gain
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the ruling on one who says that if a man intends and deliberately prostrates before an idol seeking worldly benefit, and explicitly states with his tongue that he intends to worship it, then he is ruled to be a disbeliever, but his disbelief is not established in his inner self?
The Shaykh:
But the one who prostrates to an idol is a disbeliever. Are we to be concerned with these inner thoughts? The one who prostrates to an idol, the one who slaughters for other than Allah, the one who makes vows for other than Allah, is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). We base our judgment on the outward appearance. Hearts are with the Knower of the Unseen. But we base our judgment on the outward appearance. So whoever commits shirk (associating partners with Allah) is a mushrik. We do not say, "What was their intention?" I do not know what that is; all of this is false nonsense. Yes.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable.
The Shaykh:
This is from the methodology of the Murji'ah (a sect that excluded deeds from faith) that has crept into us. It is obligatory that we guard against it. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, do you accept?
The Shaykh:
There are nullifiers of Islam, and in all of them doubt arises, and they become mere talk and hold no value.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the ruling on one who says that if a man intends and deliberately prostrates before an idol seeking worldly benefit, and explicitly states with his tongue that he intends to worship it, then he is ruled to be a disbeliever, but his disbelief is not established in his inner self?
The Shaykh:
But the one who prostrates to an idol is a disbeliever. Are we to be concerned with these inner thoughts? The one who prostrates to an idol, the one who slaughters for other than Allah, the one who makes vows for other than Allah, is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). We base our judgment on the outward appearance. Hearts are with the Knower of the Unseen. But we base our judgment on the outward appearance. So whoever commits shirk (associating partners with Allah) is a mushrik. We do not say, "What was their intention?" I do not know what that is; all of this is false nonsense. Yes.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable.
The Shaykh:
This is from the methodology of the Murji'ah (a sect that excluded deeds from faith) that has crept into us. It is obligatory that we guard against it. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, do you accept?
The Shaykh:
There are nullifiers of Islam, and in all of them doubt arises, and they become mere talk and hold no value.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من أبواب موجبات الغسل — islamhouse.com (1:08:33)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.