The State of the Secularists Between Hypocrisy and Disbelief

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Regarding the secularists, are they closer to hypocrisy or to disbelief?

Answer:
Manichaeism is a point of observation. Because they do not see religion being introduced into the affairs of people; rather, they see religion only for worship in the mosques only. As for political affairs, transactions, and their matters, they say these are for those who act upon them without a Shari'ah, without anything, according to their interests and desires. This is a great transgression against Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and a defiance of the Book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding life.
This is disbelief and a deviation. They are like the hypocrites; the hypocrites display Islam, they pray, they fast, and they swear by Allah, so there is no death except by Allah. But these people openly declare disbelief, they reject the Shari'ah of Allah and apply [their own rules] to the conditions of people and their transactions. This is an open transgression, or they display something and rule against it. These people have not erred in anything; they declared it openly, so they are worse than the hypocrites.