The Hanafis declaring a disbeliever (takfir) of the one who says: "I am a believer, if Allah wills."

The Shaykh : And as a result of that, the Hanafis went to the extreme and said: Whoever says "I am a believer, if Allah wills" has committed disbelief (kufr). Whoever says "I am a believer, if Allah wills" has committed disbelief. They based this ruling on their previous ruling, which is an error built upon an error. They said that faith (iman) does not accept increase. So if the one who says "I am a believer, if Allah wills" means that he is in doubt about his faith, then whoever is in doubt about his faith is a disbeliever (kafir). But if we realize that their statement that "faith does not accept increase" is an error, we know that the ruling they mentioned is an error. Therefore, the belief of the Salaf was that if they were asked, "Are you a believer?", they would say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills," because they believe that righteous deeds are part of the completion of perfect faith. And resulting from the previous error was an even more serious error, which is a fatwa issued hundreds of years ago by some of the Hanafis that it is not permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i. Why? Because they are in doubt about their faith. The Shafi'is, men and women, if asked, say: "I am a believer, if Allah wills." And the Hanafis, if asked, say: "I am truly a believer." So they ruled that the Shafi'is are disbelievers because they are in doubt about their faith. The truth is that the Shafi'is are not in doubt about the independent faith in their hearts, as a faith that accepts increase. Rather, they are in doubt about a faith that accepts increase; they are not in doubt about a faith that means the limited faith of the Hanafis. And from this arose this long and wide disagreement, which led the opponents to this unjust fatwa that ruled that perhaps half of the Muslim community (ummah) is in disbelief and misguidance. And yet, this fatwa was corrected after a time to some extent, and I do not say to the full extent, because a later mufti came and answered that it is permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i, placing them in the position of the People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab). And the meaning of this is that it is permissible for a Hanafi to take a Shafi'i woman as his wife, but it is not permissible for a Hanafi to give his daughter in marriage to a Shafi'i, because he said "placing them in the position of the People of the Book." So just as it is permissible for a Muslim to marry a woman from the People of the Book, but it is not permissible for him to marry his daughter to a man from the People of the Book, so this last mufti said that it is permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i, but it is not permissible for him to marry his daughter to a Shafi'i. All of this and that resulted from the misunderstanding of faith and the assertion that faith does not accept increase or decrease, despite the clarity of the verses and hadiths that faith is diverse and varied. And the greatest proof of that is the previous hadith: . In this hadith, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the best of deeds, and he answered by saying: "Faith in Allah." This indicates that the faith whose abode is the heart is an action. And if it is an action, it means it accepts increase and decrease, so it is not a static thing. And this is what each of us observes in himself. When a Muslim hears news from a person he trusts, it is cast into his soul that this news is true. Then if a second man or a second reporter informs him of the same news, his faith in the truth of this news increases. Then if another and another comes, every time a reporter comes, he finds in himself an increase in certainty regarding the truth of that news. So it is not possible to imagine that this certainty and conviction, whose abode is the heart, is static and stops at a certain level. Likewise, the faith that increases with righteous deeds and decreases with evil deeds has no limit that can be said "up to here and stop." Rather, it accepts increase to where it is not imagined. Therefore, it came in the Noble Qur'an when Ibrahim (peace be upon him) asked his Lord, the Lord of the Worlds, for a sign, he said: . This tranquility was not due to Ibrahim's (peace be upon him) doubt in the power of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to give life, but rather to increase his certainty, tranquility, and faith. This is what the majority say: that faith accepts increase, and it is this tranquility and increase in certainty.