(may Allah have mercy on him) - In the chapter after the two hundred and fifth.

The Shaykh : The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the chapter after the two hundred and fifth: "The chapter on the one who says to his brother, 'O disbeliever.'" The hadith he cited in this chapter had previously been mentioned with a different wording, and it seems he is now drawing attention to another meaning that aligns with the previous one, as he is narrating here with a sound chain from Ibn 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
This hadith appeared in a previous chapter with the wording: . So, in terms of meaning, this hadith confirms the meaning of the previous hadith. It states that if any man says to his brother, "Disbeliever"—meaning, "You are a disbeliever" or "He is a disbeliever," which is the implied meaning—then one of the two has returned to it. We have already understood the correct meaning of such a phrase from the previous lesson. "One of the two has returned to it" means: if the person addressed is truly a disbeliever, then the word has fallen in its proper place. But if the person addressed is not a disbeliever, but rather a Muslim, who may be an open sinner or even a righteous person, then the name of disbeliever returns to the one who applied it to that Muslim. I want to emphasize what I explained in the previous lesson: the hadith gives us two things. The first is that it is not permissible for a Muslim to declare another Muslim a disbeliever, and this is clear. The second point, and here lies the precision: if a Muslim says to his Muslim brother, "Disbeliever," and the one being declared a disbeliever—the one to whom it was said—is a Muslim, appearing to be a Muslim, but in reality Allah knows he is a disbeliever, then the word has fallen in its proper place, and there is no sin on the one who uttered the word of disbelief. This is also clear. But the precision lies in the case where the matter is not so; that is, if the one being declared a disbeliever is, in the knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), not a disbeliever and does not deserve the word "disbeliever," then what befalls the one who declared him a disbeliever? The apparent meaning of the hadith is that it returns to him; he becomes a disbeliever. He does not become a disbeliever. So what is the meaning? The sin of disbelief befalls him. The sin of disbelief. Zayd said to 'Amr, "You are a disbeliever." 'Amr, the one being declared a disbeliever, is in one of two states: either he is truly a disbeliever in the knowledge of Allah, in which case the word has hit its mark and there is no sin on the one who declared him a disbeliever. Or, if the reality is that the one being declared a disbeliever, who is 'Amr, is in the actual knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) not a disbeliever but a Muslim, then the sin of declaring someone a disbeliever returns to the one who declared him. The sin of declaring someone a disbeliever returns to him; the ruling of disbelief does not return to him. Do you understand? The issue is this: I say, may Allah forbid it, if I say to one of the Muslims, "You are a disbeliever," and if this person appears to us to be a Muslim, but I have ascertained the reality of his matter and said to him, "You are a disbeliever," and in fact he is a disbeliever in the knowledge of Allah, then there is nothing wrong; the word has hit its mark. But may Allah forbid it, if he is a Muslim in the knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and I either intentionally sought to harm him and slander him without right, or I made a mistake, then in that case, that word does not touch him with harm; he remains a Muslim as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows him. But I, by saying to him "disbeliever" when he is not a disbeliever—the hadith says: . We said he is a Muslim, not a disbeliever. So, do I return to this declaration of disbelief? The answer is: I return, may Allah forbid it, to the sin of declaring someone a disbeliever, not to the ruling of disbelief. Have I made the issue clear to you? Because this is very important, as many people understand that as soon as one person says to another, "O disbeliever," or as passed in the previous hadith, "O enemy of Allah," that it returns to him and he becomes what? A disbeliever, simply by the word his Muslim brother was accused with, or simply by saying to him "O enemy of Allah," he becomes an enemy of Allah. No, if that person is a Muslim and not a disbeliever and not an enemy of Allah, then what befalls the one labeled with this word is the sin of declaring someone a disbeliever, not the ruling of disbelief. So the author seems to have repeated this chapter to focus this reality in the mind of the Muslim. In the same sense, the second hadith in this chapter, which is also from Ibn 'Umar but with the wording . Memorize this: instead of "with disbelief," it is "with the sin of disbelief" or "with the sin of declaring someone a disbeliever." This is more accurate.