What is the limit for declaring a specific person a disbeliever, and is it permissible for the common people to declare those who have fallen into shirk (associating partners with Allah) to be disbelievers?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: I hope you will clarify for us the limit for declaring a specific person a disbeliever, and whether it is permissible for the common people to declare those they believe have fallen into shirk (associating partners with Allah) to be disbelievers?
Answer:
Only scholars who know the nullifiers of Islam and also know when a person is judged to have committed apostasy and disbelief—after the impediments such as ignorance and ta'wil (figurative interpretation) are removed—may engage in takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever). It is not permissible for the common people to ever engage in takfir; this is the exclusive domain of scholars. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: I hope you will clarify for us the limit for declaring a specific person a disbeliever, and whether it is permissible for the common people to declare those they believe have fallen into shirk (associating partners with Allah) to be disbelievers?
Answer:
Only scholars who know the nullifiers of Islam and also know when a person is judged to have committed apostasy and disbelief—after the impediments such as ignorance and ta'wil (figurative interpretation) are removed—may engage in takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever). It is not permissible for the common people to ever engage in takfir; this is the exclusive domain of scholars. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [803 -858] ما هو حد تكفير المعين، وهل للعوام أن يكفروا من وقع في الشرك؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.