The Ruling on Hastening in Declaring Disbelief, Interpretation, and Burning Books

The questioner : This is a disbeliever.

The Shaykh : Because he lied about the Qur'an. And whoever says that Allah rose above the Throne, but that "rose" means "dominated," this is a denial through interpretation. One must look at whether this interpretation necessitates disbelief, open sinfulness, or if the person is excused for it?

The questioner : Is it permissible to offer condolences for him? For Sayyid.

The Shaykh : I say that hastening in declaring someone an innovator, interpreting, or declaring disbelief is forbidden and not permissible. Just as hastening in declaring things lawful or forbidden is forbidden. Beware of saying about Allah what you do not know. For Allah has forbidden that .
The ruling of declaring a person a disbeliever involves two things that are necessary. The first is that we know that the evidence indicates that the thing for which we declared him a disbeliever is indeed disbelief. How many things does a person think are disbelief when they are not? So we must know that the evidence indicates that this action or this statement is disbelief. The second thing is that we know that this person who made this statement or performed this action is not excused for his statement or his action. Because a person may say a word of disbelief and be excused, either due to ignorance, interpretation, or a state that came upon him, such as extreme anger or extreme joy, or something similar, and the word does not count as disbelief in his case. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: Her food and drink were left behind and lost, so she looked for them but did not find them. So she lay down under a tree waiting for death, because she had no food or drink with her. While she was like that, she saw the camel's bridle hanging on the tree, so she took it and said, "O Allah, You are my slave and I am your Lord." Is this word disbelief or faith? He said to Allah the Exalted, "O Allah, You are my slave and I am your Lord." What is this word, disbelief or faith? Disbelief. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "She made a mistake due to the intensity of her joy, and she was not a disbeliever." So not everyone who commits a word of disbelief or an act of disbelief becomes a disbeliever; rather, one looks at his state. He may be forced, and the forced one does not become a disbeliever. He may be overcome by extreme anger and say it without realizing it. He may be overcome by extreme joy and say it without realizing it. Therefore, it is not permissible for us to hasten in declaring people disbelievers, or innovators, or open sinners. Who is it that rules that this is disbelief or not disbelief? Who? Or before the scholars, Allah and His Messenger. Just as the one who rules that this is forbidden and this is lawful is whom? Allah. So the one who rules that this is lawful and this is forbidden, and this is obligatory and this is disbelief, and this is intention and this is innovation, is Allah and His Messenger. As for us, we do not rule over the creation. And O, glory to Allah, if you were in the position of this man whom you declared a disbeliever, or an innovator, or an open sinner, and the evidence was hidden from you, or you interpreted it, or it did not reach you through a path you are convinced of, for example, due to the weakness of its narrators, if you were in this position and a person came to declare you a disbeliever, would you be pleased with this or not? You would certainly not be pleased. So if you do not accept for yourself that someone declare you a disbeliever in a state where you are excused, how do you accept for yourself to declare someone else a disbeliever in a state where he may be excused? Then I say that no one is safe from error, neither a scholar, nor a preacher, nor a caller to Islam, nor an emir, nor a minister, nor the general public. Everyone makes mistakes and hits the mark. But the position of scholars with each other, or students of knowledge with those above them among the scholars, is to advise by contacting this scholar, or this caller, or this preacher, and discussing with him: "We have heard such and such about you, is this true?" If he says no, the matter is ended. If he says no, the matter is ended, and it becomes obligatory for you to defend his honor. And if you attribute this statement to him, you say, "This is a lie; I asked him and he said no." If he says yes, I say this. He says, "My brother, what is your proof?" This is a mistake, what is your proof? He may mention a proof that you are convinced by, and you may have been afraid for him. Or he may not mention a proof, or he may mention a proof that is not convincing.
And you say, "The proof is such and such, contrary to his statement," or "Your statement is not a valid proof because it is refuted by such and such." Then it is obligatory for each of you to return to the truth. This is obligatory, because through this path, hearts are united, words are gathered, and there is no dispute. It also gathers the people, not just the two men, but the other people as well. Because some people trust a person and follow him in his error and his correctness, and another person is the opposite, trusting another person and following his error and his correctness, so the people become divided. As has happened now in some issues, the youth have become divided. Why? Because they did not take the path of wisdom in contacting these people whom they were following, so that they could gather them on the truth.
Therefore, we warn against this path with the utmost warning. And we say that whoever declares a person a disbeliever who is not a disbeliever, the disbelief will return to him. The disbelief will return to him. Not by his statement that this is a disbeliever and he is not, but Allah may incline his heart, may Allah protect us, until he becomes a disbeliever. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed that whoever calls a man a disbeliever and he is not, it will return to him. I am not speaking to you specifically, I am speaking to all the people, all those present. So I say the issue is serious. Declaring disbelief is not a light matter. Declaring someone an open sinner is not a light matter. Declaring someone an innovator is not a light matter. The one who is stoned in this is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger. It is not you who declares people innovators, or disbelievers, or open sinners. And if you do something without knowledge, it will return to you. And the statement of the Messenger that it returns to him does not mean that he is a disbeliever now. No, he may be a disbeliever now, or his heart may be inclined and he may become a disbeliever in the future. We ask Allah for safety. So you must, my brother, be gentle with yourself first, and with your brothers second. And how good it is if a man comes to me when I make a mistake and I am in the position of error, and says, "I have heard such and such about you, is this true?" And often it is said to us, "I have heard such and such about you," and it has no basis. But a person may imagine from a word the speaker says, or misunderstand, or hold onto a part of the hadith, or something similar. So if people cooperated and reconciled and advised each other, it would be better than them throwing accusations as they say from behind the scenes and not caring about reform.
As for the issue of interpretation, the door of interpretation is long and wide, my brother. It requires that you stand at every text and look at how the interpretation is. The interpretation may be in issues that do not reach disbelief, and it may be in issues that reach disbelief. The interpretation may have a basis in the Arabic language, and it may not have a basis. So not every interpretation is accepted, and not every interpretation is rejected. Have you seen the statement of Allah the Exalted: . If you took the apparent meaning of the verse, when would you return? Here, when you are finished. Even though the intended meaning is if you wanted to . And interpretation has many categories, so it is not possible to rule on every issue that its interpretation is disbelief, nor on every interpretation that it is disbelief or open sinfulness. If someone says that Allah is not in the sky, we say to him, where is He? Where is He? So either he says that He is not in the sky, nor on the earth, nor inside the universe, nor outside the universe, nor connected to the universe, nor separated from the universe. Then he mentions a denial that fills the atmosphere, leading to non-existence. It leads to nothingness.
And for this reason, when Ibn Buruk said to Mahmud ibn Subuktakin (may Allah have mercy on him), "It is not said that Allah the Exalted is above, or below, or on the right, or on the left, or connected, or separated, or distinct, or intermingled," he said, "Distinguish for me between this god you claim and non-existence." He was unable to distinguish. So we ask him, if he says He is not in the sky, we say, where is He? So either he denies absolutely, describing Allah with non-existence, or he says as the Wahhabites from the Jahmiyyah and others said, that He is in every place, so He is not purified from any place.

The questioner : Yes, he says there is a strange phenomenon among the youth, which is that they burn the book *Al-Zilal* (The Shadows), as well as the books of Ibn Hajar and al-Nawawi, because they say they have errors in creed.

The Shaykh : There is no power and no strength.

The questioner : Some of them burned *Fath al-Bari*.

The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah. Okay, now we are talking about the negation of the brother and the affirmation of the Shaykh? Negation, my brothers, is difficult. For you to say that this did not happen is seen as one of the most difficult things.
Because the one who says it did not happen must have gone around the entire world and not seen it, and that is impossible. Therefore, the scholars said: do not testify to a negation; testify to the negation of knowledge. What does "knowledge" mean in "negation of knowledge"? You say, "I do not know such-and-such." But if you say "such-and-such has not been established," every person could refute you, because saying "it has not been established" requires you to go around the entire world, its surface and its depths, and know that it did not happen. In any case, there may be people who are foolish. Red-faced, he does not weigh things with a straight balance, he does not know the rights of the scholars, and he does not know the benefits or advantages that resulted from this scholar. So if he slips up in a single mistake, he considers everything wrong. This man is most like whom? Think. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) gave an example. Of whom? One to whom you have done good for a long time. If you do him wrong once, he says, "I have never seen any good from you." A sensible person must know the rights of people. As for burning the book *Fath al-Bari*—may Allah keep us safe from that—it means burning the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), burning the words of the scholars, burning this, this.
The precious treasure of the Muslim community. So he must repent to Allah for what he did, and seek forgiveness from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And if he burned a book belonging to someone else, he is liable to compensate for it; but if it was his own book, the loss is his. Likewise, we say regarding *al-Zilal* (The Shadings): there is no doubt that it contains errors, and it contains correct speech. So if he had followed the method of Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Duwaysh, tracking the errors he sees as errors and pointing them out, and leaving the book so that people benefit from the good in it and avoid the evil in it,