Practical Disbelief and Belief-Based Disbelief and Their Divisions
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The scholars’ division of disbelief into practical disbelief and belief-based disbelief leads some of the brothers to understand that practical disbelief is only minor, so he says.
The Shaykh:
Practical [disbelief] has two divisions, just as belief-based [disbelief] has two divisions: minor and major. Prostrating to other than Allah and attributing the vision of Basra [to other than Allah] is major practical disbelief. And the act of [sexual] intercourse with a corpse, slandering lineage, and raising the [tents of] the South for the sake of [their] misfortune is practical disbelief committed by its practitioners. This is an error, meaning, why is it [considered] an illness as long as he has discernment? So this is not correct. If one prostrates to other than Allah, to the sun, or to the dead, it is absolute disbelief, even if he does not believe that it is permissible. When he does this, he disbelieves by it, just as if he cursed Allah and His Messenger and said, “I did not intend to curse Allah and His Messenger.” Yes.
The questioner:
I say that belief-based [disbelief] is major absolutely, may Allah forgive you, it takes one out of the religion. I say that belief-based [disbelief], may Allah forgive you, is not divided into two categories like practical [disbelief].
The Shaykh:
It takes one out of the people [of Islam]. He said, it takes one out of the people. If one believes that fornication is permissible, or that intoxicants are permissible, or that shirk (associating partners with Allah) is permissible, it is major disbelief.
The scholars’ division of disbelief into practical disbelief and belief-based disbelief leads some of the brothers to understand that practical disbelief is only minor, so he says.
The Shaykh:
Practical [disbelief] has two divisions, just as belief-based [disbelief] has two divisions: minor and major. Prostrating to other than Allah and attributing the vision of Basra [to other than Allah] is major practical disbelief. And the act of [sexual] intercourse with a corpse, slandering lineage, and raising the [tents of] the South for the sake of [their] misfortune is practical disbelief committed by its practitioners. This is an error, meaning, why is it [considered] an illness as long as he has discernment? So this is not correct. If one prostrates to other than Allah, to the sun, or to the dead, it is absolute disbelief, even if he does not believe that it is permissible. When he does this, he disbelieves by it, just as if he cursed Allah and His Messenger and said, “I did not intend to curse Allah and His Messenger.” Yes.
The questioner:
I say that belief-based [disbelief] is major absolutely, may Allah forgive you, it takes one out of the religion. I say that belief-based [disbelief], may Allah forgive you, is not divided into two categories like practical [disbelief].
The Shaykh:
It takes one out of the people [of Islam]. He said, it takes one out of the people. If one believes that fornication is permissible, or that intoxicants are permissible, or that shirk (associating partners with Allah) is permissible, it is major disbelief.
Source
شرح العقيدة الواسطية [ ابن باز ]، العقيدة الواسطية - الشريط الثالث — islamhouse.com (1:18:30)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.