The Ruling on Declaring a Disbeliever (Takfir) for One Who Prostrates to Other Than Allah
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, are the impediments to declaring someone a disbeliever (takfir) applied from the outset? Yes. Are the impediments applied to takfir from the beginning, such as if one sees a person prostrating to an idol, is he called a disbeliever, or do we look into his condition? Perhaps he does not know that it is an idol, or he is blind, or he prostrated in gratitude to Allah based on something he heard. What is the correct ruling in this matter?
Answer:
The correct ruling for one who prostrates to other than Allah, or slaughters for other than Allah, or makes a vow for other than Allah is that he is one who associates partners with Allah (mushrik), because he has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah), so he is a mushrik. He reads the Qur'an and hears the words of the scholars warning against shirk, so he is ruled to be a mushrik. If he repents to Allah and abandons this matter, then Allah will accept his repentance. As for us seeing him prostrate, slaughter, call upon, and seek aid from other than Allah, and saying, "Be patient and do not rule on him," this is the speech of the people of falsehood. We rule based on the apparent, we have nothing but to rule based on the apparent. He lives among the Muslims, hears the Qur'an, hears the words of the scholars, hears the warnings against shirk, and does not ask or investigate, and they say, "Be patient with him." This is ignorance of the rulings of the Shari'ah. This is a matter they raised in this era out of ignorance, lack of insight, and lack of knowledge. This is the result of self-styled scholarship and not seeking knowledge from its proper sources. They graduate themselves and their books without learning from the scholars and the people of insight. They stumble in these matters. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, are the impediments to declaring someone a disbeliever (takfir) applied from the outset? Yes. Are the impediments applied to takfir from the beginning, such as if one sees a person prostrating to an idol, is he called a disbeliever, or do we look into his condition? Perhaps he does not know that it is an idol, or he is blind, or he prostrated in gratitude to Allah based on something he heard. What is the correct ruling in this matter?
Answer:
The correct ruling for one who prostrates to other than Allah, or slaughters for other than Allah, or makes a vow for other than Allah is that he is one who associates partners with Allah (mushrik), because he has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah), so he is a mushrik. He reads the Qur'an and hears the words of the scholars warning against shirk, so he is ruled to be a mushrik. If he repents to Allah and abandons this matter, then Allah will accept his repentance. As for us seeing him prostrate, slaughter, call upon, and seek aid from other than Allah, and saying, "Be patient and do not rule on him," this is the speech of the people of falsehood. We rule based on the apparent, we have nothing but to rule based on the apparent. He lives among the Muslims, hears the Qur'an, hears the words of the scholars, hears the warnings against shirk, and does not ask or investigate, and they say, "Be patient with him." This is ignorance of the rulings of the Shari'ah. This is a matter they raised in this era out of ignorance, lack of insight, and lack of knowledge. This is the result of self-styled scholarship and not seeking knowledge from its proper sources. They graduate themselves and their books without learning from the scholars and the people of insight. They stumble in these matters. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تتمة باب العدة والإحداد — islamhouse.com (55:30)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.