Explaining the position of some groups regarding declaring people disbelievers and the Shaykh’s advice to them.
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The Shaykh : The Muslims, while the Salafis in some lands were all in agreement on proceeding with the call to the Book and the Sunnah and making the Muslims understand the tawhid (the oneness of Allah) mentioned in the two testimonies of faith; lo, Satan whispered to them a bid'ah (religious innovation), which is: declaring rulers disbelievers without any detail agreed upon by the scholars of the Muslims. So they divided the community into two parts, and people follow every caller, and as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in more than one verse: [Al-A'raf 7:187], these people whose call was...
The student: Peace be upon you.
Another student: And upon you be peace.
The Shaykh : May Allah bless the land in which they were, while they were one hand in the call to the Book and the Sunnah, and defining for people the true meaning of the two testimonies of faith; lo, they spread among people this belief that contradicts the Book and the Sunnah and what the righteous Salaf were upon; which is the general declaration of rulers as disbelievers. So they divided into two parts: ... one part continued—praise be to Allah—on the call to the truth, and the other part was occupied with it by the bid'ah (religious innovation) of declaring creation disbelievers. And I believe that this bid'ah is not limited to rulers; especially since I have experience with some people who used to explicitly declare the employees of these rulers disbelievers. So I said once, and this takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) is in the manner of that mufti (scholar who issues fatwas) who visited a student or a friend of his in his house, and honored him as much as Allah wills that he be honored. Then when he left his house, he left declaring him a disbeliever. Why? Because in some lands of the non-Arabs, they still care about honoring scholars with some formalities that we consider indicative of honor, but which are not what Islam cares about. So the scholar, for example, if he enters a gathering, the host must immediately take the shoe, direct it, and prepare it. If the scholar leaves, he does not make an effort to extend his hand for the shoe, direct it, and put it on; no, he meets him with it prepared for the foot, meaning, the host of the house forgot or did not care, or whatever, and left the Shaykh’s shoe as it was. When the Shaykh left, he looked and did not find the shoe directed and prepared for wearing. He said to him: You have become a disbeliever. He said to him: Why? He said: Because you did not honor the scholar, and the one who does not honor the scholar does not honor knowledge, and the one who does not honor knowledge does not honor the one who brought the knowledge, who is Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus he connected it to the Lord of the Worlds, because He is the one who sent Muhammad as a mercy to the worlds!!
So in this manner of sequence, he declared the host who honored him with the utmost honor a disbeliever. This is what has happened now from some people: the ruler is a disbeliever because he rules by a law that contradicts the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) without any detail. Is he a denier? Does he admit that the Shari'ah is the truth? ... in this, and the employees are satisfied with this ruling, even the imams of the mosques, even the preachers, even the teachers of religious education lessons, and so on, all of them receive their salaries from this ruler. So the entire ummah (the Muslim community) is disbelievers; and therefore they were called the "Group of Takfir." They left the Jumu'ah (the Friday prayer) and the jama'ah (congregation), and they began to pray alone!! There is no sect more dangerous than this sect; because in the name of the call to Islam, they first exited Islam, and they also took out many others with their ignorance and misguidance.
So I say, and the research in this is long, and to our brother Khalid, may Allah reward him with good, a very beneficial message in this regard; he collected the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah and from the sayings of the righteous Salaf and the imams; such that he fulfilled and completed it, and did not leave room for anyone, as I think, and Allah knows best. So the point is, we advise these people, whether the followed or the followers, we advise them with what we presented earlier to focus on the most important, then the most important. The Messenger focused on the most important, which is tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and the Islamic world today needs to understand tawhid, and it is in two parts: tawhid of the Lord of the Worlds in worship, and tawhid of the Master of the Messengers in following. This following is not known by the elite of people to this day, who say: there is no harm in innovating in religion, and bid'ah (religious innovation) is good, and its categories are divided and the five rulings apply to it, and so on, which is known. So if the elite are ignorant of the tawhid of the Messenger in following him; what do we say about the general people? Therefore, we advise the Muslims in general, and these who were occupied with the issue of takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) in particular, and they were occupied not with the mustahabb (recommended) over the fard (obligatory); but with what is not permissible over the fard; which is that they learn if they are ignorant, and that they teach if they are scholars, that they teach and learn what is obligatory for them to learn and teach.
And this is what comes to my mind now as an answer to that question.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : And in you, if Allah wills.
The student : Can I ask you, O honorable Shaykh, or in ...?
Another student: Our Shaykh, our guest brother has a question.
The Shaykh : Ah, it is his right.
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : It is his right; because we have spoken a word.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : And you, O Abu Ayyub, you do not have to remind me of the Syrian phrase: "The one who comes first takes the priority"; no, we said a word that our guest brothers, whom we rarely see, are more entitled to asking questions than our brothers whom we see often.
The student : You are with us in this, by Allah, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes, may Allah reward you with good.
The student : They have the right over us, welcome to them.
The Shaykh : Please proceed.
but most of the people do not know."
وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَThe student: Peace be upon you.
Another student: And upon you be peace.
The Shaykh : May Allah bless the land in which they were, while they were one hand in the call to the Book and the Sunnah, and defining for people the true meaning of the two testimonies of faith; lo, they spread among people this belief that contradicts the Book and the Sunnah and what the righteous Salaf were upon; which is the general declaration of rulers as disbelievers. So they divided into two parts: ... one part continued—praise be to Allah—on the call to the truth, and the other part was occupied with it by the bid'ah (religious innovation) of declaring creation disbelievers. And I believe that this bid'ah is not limited to rulers; especially since I have experience with some people who used to explicitly declare the employees of these rulers disbelievers. So I said once, and this takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) is in the manner of that mufti (scholar who issues fatwas) who visited a student or a friend of his in his house, and honored him as much as Allah wills that he be honored. Then when he left his house, he left declaring him a disbeliever. Why? Because in some lands of the non-Arabs, they still care about honoring scholars with some formalities that we consider indicative of honor, but which are not what Islam cares about. So the scholar, for example, if he enters a gathering, the host must immediately take the shoe, direct it, and prepare it. If the scholar leaves, he does not make an effort to extend his hand for the shoe, direct it, and put it on; no, he meets him with it prepared for the foot, meaning, the host of the house forgot or did not care, or whatever, and left the Shaykh’s shoe as it was. When the Shaykh left, he looked and did not find the shoe directed and prepared for wearing. He said to him: You have become a disbeliever. He said to him: Why? He said: Because you did not honor the scholar, and the one who does not honor the scholar does not honor knowledge, and the one who does not honor knowledge does not honor the one who brought the knowledge, who is Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus he connected it to the Lord of the Worlds, because He is the one who sent Muhammad as a mercy to the worlds!!
So in this manner of sequence, he declared the host who honored him with the utmost honor a disbeliever. This is what has happened now from some people: the ruler is a disbeliever because he rules by a law that contradicts the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) without any detail. Is he a denier? Does he admit that the Shari'ah is the truth? ... in this, and the employees are satisfied with this ruling, even the imams of the mosques, even the preachers, even the teachers of religious education lessons, and so on, all of them receive their salaries from this ruler. So the entire ummah (the Muslim community) is disbelievers; and therefore they were called the "Group of Takfir." They left the Jumu'ah (the Friday prayer) and the jama'ah (congregation), and they began to pray alone!! There is no sect more dangerous than this sect; because in the name of the call to Islam, they first exited Islam, and they also took out many others with their ignorance and misguidance.
So I say, and the research in this is long, and to our brother Khalid, may Allah reward him with good, a very beneficial message in this regard; he collected the evidence from the Book and the Sunnah and from the sayings of the righteous Salaf and the imams; such that he fulfilled and completed it, and did not leave room for anyone, as I think, and Allah knows best. So the point is, we advise these people, whether the followed or the followers, we advise them with what we presented earlier to focus on the most important, then the most important. The Messenger focused on the most important, which is tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and the Islamic world today needs to understand tawhid, and it is in two parts: tawhid of the Lord of the Worlds in worship, and tawhid of the Master of the Messengers in following. This following is not known by the elite of people to this day, who say: there is no harm in innovating in religion, and bid'ah (religious innovation) is good, and its categories are divided and the five rulings apply to it, and so on, which is known. So if the elite are ignorant of the tawhid of the Messenger in following him; what do we say about the general people? Therefore, we advise the Muslims in general, and these who were occupied with the issue of takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) in particular, and they were occupied not with the mustahabb (recommended) over the fard (obligatory); but with what is not permissible over the fard; which is that they learn if they are ignorant, and that they teach if they are scholars, that they teach and learn what is obligatory for them to learn and teach.
And this is what comes to my mind now as an answer to that question.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : And in you, if Allah wills.
The student : Can I ask you, O honorable Shaykh, or in ...?
Another student: Our Shaykh, our guest brother has a question.
The Shaykh : Ah, it is his right.
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : It is his right; because we have spoken a word.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : And you, O Abu Ayyub, you do not have to remind me of the Syrian phrase: "The one who comes first takes the priority"; no, we said a word that our guest brothers, whom we rarely see, are more entitled to asking questions than our brothers whom we see often.
The student : You are with us in this, by Allah, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes, may Allah reward you with good.
The student : They have the right over us, welcome to them.
The Shaykh : Please proceed.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.