The Difference Between Belief-Based Disbelief and Practical Disbelief?

The questioner :
Our Shaykh, please, regarding the one who abandons prayer, how does the legal ruling apply to him if his abandonment of
prayer is such that it is belief-based disbelief or practical disbelief? How does the legal ruling apply to him, and how did
the Imams apply the legal rulings to the one who abandons prayer?

The Shaykh:
The legal ruling, meaning the hadd, the legal hadd, yes.
There are three opinions regarding the one who abandons prayer:
The first opinion is that of Imam Abu Hanifa, that the one who abandons prayer is imprisoned until he repents or dies. This makes it clear that
the one who abandons prayer, merely by abandoning prayer, does not become a disbeliever, because he did not kill him but imprisoned him as a disciplinary measure for him. If he repents, that is what
Abu Hanifa intended by his imprisonment; otherwise, he dies while still abandoning prayer.
The school of al-Shafi'i and other Imams is that he is killed as a hadd, not for disbelief, just as the one who kills a soul without right is killed, and just as the married fornicator is killed, and similar to that
of the rulings, he is killed as a hadd, not for disbelief.
The third and final opinion is that of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, and it is the correct one, such that no other opinion can be
correct. It is that if the one who abandons prayer is asked to repent, otherwise he will be killed, and he prefers killing to repentance, then he is an
apostate from his religion. That is, he is killed at that time for disbelief and apostasy, not for open sinfulness or hadd. And he is not buried in the graves of Muslims. Why?
Ibn Taymiyyah found a very reasonable point. Every person, even if he is ignorant of what he has of fitrah, when it is said to him,
"If you work one hour for so-and-so and one hour for so-and-so, the first will give you five and the second
ten," there is no person who would prefer the first over the second when the work is the same. This is an example of the intuition present in a person.
And any person who is told, "Look, you can eat the plate... or the sweets, or whatever you call them, or we will kill you,"
would he prefer killing to eating? It is reasonable that a person believes that eating is halal but does not eat it and prefers killing over it?
Impossible. So, imagine a person is told, "Either you eat or you are killed," and he prefers killing to eating. What do we
believe about him? We believe that eating is haram for him, otherwise why would he ransom his blood for the sake of eating something he considers halal?
We come to the one who abandons prayer. Either he believes that this prayer is obligatory, or he believes it is not obligatory. If his belief is
the truth, and that this is an obligation imposed by the Lord of the Worlds upon His servants, and he is told, "Either you pray or you are killed,"
he should pray. Why would he rush to be killed and offer his life cheaply in exchange for something he believes is an obligation? But
if he does not rush to pray and prefers death to prayer, this means, as they say today, off the mark,
it means that this is a doctrinal man, meaning he has no doctrine. But here they intend the opposite, meaning he has a doctrine.
Yes, he has a doctrine. What is his doctrine? No religion, no prayer, no worship, no Allah, and so on. So when he is told, "Either
you pray or you are killed," he ransoms his life because he is doctrinal; he believes that this prayer is a superstition and nonsense, and he
fights the entire Islamic world in order to abolish his religion. Therefore, Ibn Taymiyyah says it is absolutely inconceivable
that a person who abandons prayer would accept killing and not pray. If he prefers killing to prayer, this is the greatest proof from
the reality of this person that he denies the prayer. So, Shaykh, this is the answer to what you asked about the legal ruling.

The questioner:
This is, of course, based on the Muslim state's treatment of him, which is to kill him.

The Shaykh:
Yes, I was commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah, and he said, "Except by right..."
The audio returned at 00:42:19.
from practical disbelief, it is open sinfulness. But we must also know that what is said about disbelief is also said about open sinfulness. We must
know this other fact, because if we know it, it will facilitate for us the understanding of other texts whose understanding may be obscured for
many people due to their negligence of this division. The truth is that open sinfulness is also of two types: open sinfulness of the heart and practical open sinfulness. Where
did we get this whole division from? From the Shari'ah. The previous verse The other verse So, which ruler does practical or belief-based disbelief apply to?
Similarly, practical or belief-based open sinfulness applies to him. Also... Allah the Exalted said about Iblis, "So he rebelled against the command of his Lord." What
happened with this rebellion? He became the most disbelieving of the disbelievers through rebellion, because it was belief-based rebellion. And here is a subtle scientific point. If we asked a
questioner, "Why did Iblis become a disbeliever and become the most disbelieving of the disbelievers and the chief of the disbelievers in the Hellfire?" The answer is always that he
disobeyed the command of the Lord of the Worlds. Would disobeying the Lord of the Worlds be disbelief? The answer is no, this is not
the correct, precise answer. It is true that he disobeyed the command of the Lord of the Worlds, but if we limited ourselves to this
answer, would every person who disobeys the Lord of the Worlds be like Iblis? Is that so? The answer is no, it is not so.
So, the disbelief of Iblis, who opposed the command of the Lord of the Worlds, is not equal. If Iblis the accursed had only opposed the command of the
Lord of the Worlds, he would not have been among the eternal dwellers in the Fire, and his disbelief would have been less than disbelief. But his disbelief was attached to his heart
because he said to his Lord, "Shall I prostrate to one You created from clay?" Meaning, is it reasonable that I, who You created from fire, and You said to the Lord of the Worlds,
"You created me from fire," to one created from clay? Meaning, he objected to Allah regarding this command that was issued to him. And from here
you understand the previous statement about the one who judges by what Allah has revealed and denies it. That is, he denies the judgment by what Allah has revealed in his heart.
Meaning, he says, "What...?" So this is exactly like Iblis. Therefore, Iblis's disbelief is not because he only opposed the command, but because
it was accompanied by his opposition to the command of his Lord, and his objection to the command of his Lord, and that this thing is unreasonable: "Shall I prostrate to one You created
from clay? You created me from fire and him from clay." Therefore, when he said, "So he rebelled against the command of his Lord," it means belief-based rebellion
accompanied by a false belief, which is his arrogance over Allah and his objection to Him commanding him to prostrate, and he is of a type
of clay different from Adam's clay; he was created from fire and Adam was created from clay.
We come now to the second type of open sinfulness: practical open sinfulness. We must understand this, which is also another category. He, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; and when he is trusted, he betrays." The signs of the hypocrite. Are we hypocrites? Hypocrisy
is belief-based or practical? Many people have passed through this hadith and it does not occur to them: is this belief-based hypocrisy
or practical hypocrisy? The answer is practical hypocrisy, not belief-based hypocrisy. Why? Because the signs of the hypocrite mean
the Muslim hypocrite has three signs: when he speaks, he lies, and so on. Why did he call him a hypocrite? Because it is expected of the Muslim
that he be truthful, that he be trustworthy, and that he fulfill his promise. This is the nature of the Muslim. And the opposite of
that is the nature of the disbeliever, which is to be the opposite of that: when he promises, he breaks his promise. This is the nature of the disbeliever: when he promises
he breaks his promise, when he speaks he lies, and when he is trusted he betrays. This is the nature of the disbeliever. I say now, when we find a Muslim doing the work
of this disbeliever, doing an action contrary to his belief and contrary to his religion. His religion forbids him from lying, yet he lies. Who
lies? The disbeliever. As for the believer, it is expected of him that he does not lie. So when the Muslim lied, he did an action
contrary to what is in his heart. He displayed from his work what is contrary to what is settled in his belief. By this consideration, he was called a hypocrite. So he is
a practical hypocrite, not a belief-based hypocrite! Meaning, he does the work of the disbelieving hypocrites who are in the lowest depth of
the Fire. This hadith must be understood as meaning that there is practical hypocrisy.
And similarly... other hadiths. The story of Hafiz ibn Balta'ah, the noble Companion, one of the participants in Badr, when he wrote to his people
in Mecca informing them that the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, was determined to raid them in their own homes. He was
a believing Companion. He wrote the letter and gave it to a woman and ordered her to go to Mecca and deliver the letter there to
Quraysh, informing them that the Messenger wants to raid you. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic informed the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him,
of what he had done. So he sent Ali and al-Zubayr on two horses and said, "Go to the place of so-and-so, and you will find there a traveling woman, meaning
a woman riding a camel, with the letter, the letter of Hafiz ibn Balta'ah. So they mounted and set out, hastening until they found
the traveling woman. They dismounted her and said to her, "Either you produce the letter or we will strip your clothes. We will undress you as Allah created you..."
She took out the letter from her hair, from her braids, and they took the letter to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) read the letter, and it was exactly as he had been revealed. He read it to the Companions, and among them was 'Umar ibn al-Khattab.
(may Allah be pleased with him), the Fa'ir (the one who separates truth from falsehood). When he heard what was in the letter, the matter alarmed him, and he said, "O Messenger of Allah, let me kill this."
The hypocrite. He said, "O 'Umar, what makes you think that? Perhaps Allah looked upon the people of Badr and said to them, 'Do whatever you wish, for I have forgiven you.'"
The point here is that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab judged a memorizer of the Qur'an to be a hypocrite, even though he believed in Allah and His Messenger. In fact, he
was one of the people of Badr, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said. So what does this mean? It means that he performed the actions of the hypocrites, who
display Islam while denying faith in their hearts, and their deeds are the deeds of the disbelievers. Here he is sending a message to the disbelievers
of Quraysh to inform them in advance that the Messenger intends to raid them so that they can take precautions. So 'Umar considered it permissible to declare him
a hypocrite because he performed the actions of the hypocrites, who display Islam while harboring disbelief in their hearts. Likewise, the hadith of the verse
of the hypocrite: "Three types," meaning the one who performs the actions of the disbelieving hypocrites, and he is a Muslim who prays and fasts and testifies that there is no god
but Allah. We must be aware of this reality. Just as disbelief is divided into practical disbelief and creedal disbelief, so too
is open sinfulness and injustice divided into creedal open sinfulness and practical open sinfulness, and creedal injustice and practical injustice. Likewise, hypocrisy
is divided into creedal hypocrisy and practical hypocrisy. I forgot to bring you the evidence for dividing injustice into two types. As for
general injustice, for example, taking this person's money, insulting this one, and abusing that one, this is known to be of the practical type.
But creedal injustice is as He Blessed and Exalted is He said in the advice of Luqman to his son, as he was admonishing him: "O my son, do not
associate partners with Allah, for associating partners with Allah is indeed great injustice." And therefore, when the verse "And they do not mix their faith with injustice; those are the ones who will have the reward"
and "they are the ones who are guided" became difficult for the Companions, they said, "Which of us has not mixed his faith with injustice? Which of us has not mixed his faith with
injustice?" He said to them (peace and blessings be upon him), "Is that not so? Have you not read the words of our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He? "
At that time, they understood. O my happiness, the injustice mentioned in the previous verse is associating partners with Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. So we do not
take the word "disbelief," nor the word "open sinfulness," nor the word "injustice," nor the word "hypocrisy" always in one meaning. Rather, it
always comes with two meanings: creedal and practical. And thus, the difficulty is resolved for many people. Recently, I was in Jordan about a month and a half ago because of this joke, meaning the failure to distinguish between
practical disbelief and creedal disbelief. There I found a person who called for the declaration that all Muslims today are disbelievers who have apostatized
from their religion, and a group gathered around him. He and his group were originally from the Muslim Brotherhood there, so we split from them
They left their religion, and a group gathered around him. Their origin, he and his group, is from the Muslim Brotherhood there, so we split from them.
When he did not understand this reality, he committed disbelief other than disbelief. He would hear a verse If all these rulers are all disbelievers of apostasy, and the first employees under his hand are supporters of him in that.
of all Muslims. They do not pray in the mosques, neither Jumu'ah nor congregation.
But if you explain to us how they declared the people disbelievers as well.

The questioner :
Also, I found people like these, and more, two years ago in Makkah al-Mukarramah during the Hajj season. We were invited to lunch, and there

The Shaykh :
was a group of Sudanese scholars with a young, enthusiastic leader who also adopted this idea. He even stated
that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are disbelievers, and the supporters of the Sunnah from the Salafis who are there in Egypt are also disbelievers,
who are the callers to the oneness of Allah and are known for that. So there is no Muslim on the earth except... the group there in
Sudan. I also found a very small group of these people in al-Zabadani, outside Damascus, fifty
kilometers away. I stayed up with two or three of them until one-thirty in the morning. The cause of this misguidance
all returns to their failure to notice the division of disbelief into creedal and practical. And it was a favor from Allah upon us
and upon the people that the group in Jordan was guided, because we sat with them for three sessions. The first session
was two hours, the second session was five hours, and the third session was six hours. And the fourth session, in
the last trip two weeks ago, extended from after the Maghrib prayer until the dawn. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, guided them
after they understood this reality. So memorize it, for it will help you first to understand the subject well,
and to explain this subject to others, if Allah wills.
What do you mean by this established ruling?

The questioner :
......

The Shaykh :
Some of them have passed away...

The questioner :
Of course, all these details came about until the leader of them there in Jordan told me, "The matter reached a strange point. In the second meeting,

The Shaykh :
Of course, all of this is details that came up until I told them that their leader there in Jordan reached the point where the strange thing happened: at the first meeting, the second meeting.

The questioner :
Yes, he doubted me because it was the first meeting. It had started after 'Asr until sunset, so one of our brothers called the adhan, as we do

The Shaykh :
here. They asked to leave. Of course, the host, who is my brother-in-law, and the group knew his idea, that
he did not call the adhan except because they do not pray behind us. And one of the strange things is that I am their teacher. I learned during the discussion that I
am their teacher in their Salafi ideas. Their prayer is exactly like our prayer. I mean, the most prominent thing is the movement of their fingers, which
the masses of people today reject out of ignorance of the Sunnah. And when my brother-in-law invited them to the meeting and gave them the choice: either
The masses of people today deny it out of ignorance of the Sunnah. He said, when my son-in-law invited them to the meeting and gave them the choice, either that or.
or you come to him, they said, "No, we will come to him. He is our Shaykh and our teacher, and so on." So when the iqamahThe Shaykh : was called, they left. They would not pray behind this so-called teacher. Why? Because they had deviated a very serious
deviation. From that second meeting, their leader objected to me. He said, "I was told that you saw a man wearing a gold ring
and you objected to him." I was truly astonished. I said, "What, and what should I do?" He said, "You must research the topic
of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) today. The entire Ummah is mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah)." So we entered another scientific topic. Some of our brothers told us today that
there are two realities: Islam and faith. When the discussion revolves around Islam, it takes one path, and when the discussion
revolves around faith, it takes another path. The discussion was long, of course, about this detail. And I gave him an example in some
gatherings. I said to him, "This man is next to me. I am on his left, and you are on his right. We are both praying in the row. I
noticed that he has a gold ring on his finger, so I objected to him. You do not object to him. What is the difference between you and me? The difference
is that I saw him praying, so I made his prayer a proof of his Islam. And you invalidated his Islam based on a doubt that arose in your mind that
all humans are supporters of the established ruling. And what makes you think that? As long as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) objected to that Companion
who killed the man who was a mushrik when he saw himself under the blow of the sword and said, "There is no god but Allah." He said in his heart
that the Companion only said what he said in his heart out of fear, so he killed him. When the news reached the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he objected to him
and said, "Did you cut open his heart?" Meaning, he said the word "Islam." He said, "It is that by which his blood and his wealth are protected," as in the
famous hadith. So I said to our companion, "This one whom you see praying next to you, is not this prayer a greater indication of
his Islam than the words of that mushrik, 'There is no god but Allah,' under the blow of the sword? There is no doubt that the matter is so. The difference
between you and me is that you did not count this ritual, and I counted it. So I did not assume that he is a mushrik and a disbeliever,
but I assumed that he is a Muslim. And when I saw the gold ring on his finger, I objected to him. Whereas you object to him. This
objection and the reason for it is that we are divided. You judge him as not a Muslim, and I judge him as a Muslim. The important thing is that
they have many, many problems. And praise be to Allah, we returned from there, and they all returned to the row and to
They have many problems, and very many. And praise be to Allah, we returned from there, and they all returned to the ranks and to.
And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, it is they who are the disbelievers.

The questioner :
......