The Shaykh’s clarification of the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community regarding declaring someone a disbeliever, on the occasion of hearing some preachers who accused him of declaring those who follow the schools of jurisprudence to be disbelievers.

The Shaykh : ... the evil of our deeds. He whom Allah guides has no one to misguide, and he whom He misguides has no one to guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, , , . As for what follows:
Indeed, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. And after that:
It was supposed that I would listen to you to some hadiths according to the regular lesson we have been following for years, selecting them from what is authentic in the book "Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib." That was the plan, but I saw fit to deliver a word to you on the occasion of news, which is not actually new, but it is a reminder, so .
One whom I trust told me that one of the mosque preachers delivered a long sermon and stated in it, exactly as the reporter conveyed it to me—and he is, as I mentioned to you, trustworthy in my estimation—he said: "The leader of the Salafis in this town, or he said the country, I heard with my own ears explicitly state that whoever follows one of the four schools of jurisprudence is one who associates partners with Allah." He did not say "disbeliever," but rather "one who associates partners with Allah." I say: he did not say this because they distinguish between disbelief and associating partners with Allah, even though that is not the case with us; because every disbelief is associating partners with Allah, and every associating partners with Allah is disbelief. So if he had said "he is a disbeliever," his expression would have been milder, even if he was on misguidance. But when he said "he is one who associates partners with Allah," he added another layer of misguidance to the misguidance.
I think you are not—or at least the majority of you—are in need of the detail that we believe and hold, but I believe that some of the brothers among those who keep us company, closely or somewhat closely, may not have previously known our view clearly on this issue, or they may have known it but the idea has not taken hold in their hearts. So perhaps if they hear such an unjust sermon, they might be affected by it. So I am speaking this word first to these brothers, whom we think want the truth and love to be among those who listen to the statement and then follow the best of it. As for those who do not fear Allah, do not revere Him, and do not give weight to the Day of Reckoning ; that will not benefit them, even if I brought them every verse.
I say—O brothers—we are of the call that it is not permissible to declare a Muslim a disbeliever. Rather, we go further and say: even if he actually disbelieved, if he actually disbelieved, we do not declare him a disbeliever; because it is possible that he has an excuse with Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He—and Allah—Mighty and Majestic—says in His Book: . The intention behind the sending of the Messenger is not that the Messenger is sent and then this call does not reach some of them, so for this group, the Messenger’s call has not reached them, and consequently the argument has not been established against them. Among the clear and manifest proofs is that we are today fourteen centuries after the sending of the Messenger—peace be upon him—and yet we are certain that there are people in the North Pole and the South Pole, at least, who have never heard of the religion of Islam by its name, and have never heard the name of our Prophet Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him and his family... which necessitates their eternal abode in the Fire on the Day of Resurrection; because the condition of accountability and obligation has not been realized in them, which is the reaching of the call.
Then, the intention behind the reaching of the call is not the reaching of its name or the reaching of its wording. We know—this is another picture—that many Europeans have heard the name of Islam and the name of the Prophet of Islam, but they did not know the reality of Islam or the perfection of the Prophet of Islam. This has many reasons, and we are not addressing them now. All of these are disbelievers without doubt; because , but this is not absolute; rather, it is restricted to those whom the call has reached. Those whom the call has not reached have a special reckoning on the Day of Resurrection; they have a special treatment from Allah, the Wise, the Merciful, the Compassionate, as stated explicitly in some authentic hadiths that Allah—Mighty and Majestic—will send to these people whom the call has not reached an old man who has reached extreme old age and does not understand what is said to him, or a small child who has not reached the age of accountability, or a man from the period of ignorance whom the call has not reached; such as these, our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—on the Day of Resurrection will send to them a Messenger; so whoever obeys this Messenger will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys him will enter the Fire; so that it is true for them that the argument of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—is established against all His servants, even in that gathering on the plains of the Day of Resurrection.
So if this type of disbelievers, the Europeans today, have heard the name of Islam and the name of the Prophet of Islam, but the call of Islam has not reached them—and when I say the call of Islam has not reached them, I mean the call of Islam in its true reality, otherwise the call might reach one of them under the name that it is the call of Islam. Let us give a clear example that the entire masses of those who belong to the Sunnah or to the people of the Sunnah believe in; that example is the Islam of the Qadiyyan. The Qadiyyan have a lot of activity in Europe and in America and in many lands of the world, and we know for certain that many Christians have "become Qadiyyan," and I do not want to say they became Muslim, but when they became Qadiyyan, they thought they had become Muslim because those who called them to Qadiyyanism did not actually, in deed or in word, according to the correct view, call them to Qadiyyanism, but rather called them to Islam. And the "Qadiyyan" themselves in all lands of the world, including this land, and especially Damascus, have afflicted it for many years, and I have debated some of them a lot and a lot. They call Muslims to the correct Islam, to the purified Islam, as they claim. Likewise, when they call non-Muslims, such as Christians, as they claim, they call them to Islam. So many of those Europeans became Muslim with this Islam of theirs. But when we apply to the Qadiyyan, let alone those who were entangled by them and deceived by their call; when we apply to all of them the Sunnah of Islam, which is based on the Book and the authentic Sunnah on one hand, and based on the understanding of these two sources according to the methodology of the righteous predecessors, as we always and forever emphasize; when we apply this principle, which is the basis upon which a Muslim cannot be a true Muslim except; when we apply it to the Qadiyyan, we find that they are not Muslims!! How can a ruling of Islam be issued for one who has not explicitly stated that there are prophets to whom revelation comes from Allah after the Seal of the Prophets? And I do not want to lengthen the speech about the Qadiyyan; especially since I have spoken about them a lot and a lot. I am only giving this speech as one example: did the call of Islam actually reach these Europeans through the Qadiyyan and they became Qadiyyan as I said earlier? The call of Islam did not reach them.
Therefore, I cannot say: these Christians who used to believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so they disbelieved, and that was their right, then they believed in Allah, the One, the Unique, but they disbelieved from another side; because the Qadiyyan taught them the opposite of what is in the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslim community; which is the coming of many prophets, among other disbelieving beliefs that they hold. The call did not reach these Christians; therefore, we do not say these are disbelievers in the sight of Allah; because the disbeliever in the sight of Allah is the one against whom the argument has been established.
This is also a long topic, and I have delved into it more than once, so I do not want to prolong the discussion in detail here, but I am now entering the matter at hand. Many Muslims today, from the people of the Sunnah and the community, live among the people of the Sunnah and the community, and yet they have not understood tawhid (the oneness of Allah), which is the foundation of Islam. Without it, nothing of the beliefs or deeds of one who claims Islam benefits him, nor any good he presents before meeting his Lord; for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: . Many of the masses of Muslims today live among Muslims, fasting and praying, and yet they have not understood tawhid, which is the head of Islam, as we mentioned. Has the call reached them? I say: Who conveys the call to them? It is supposed that these people receive the call from their shaykhs (scholars or teachers) from whom they receive knowledge. But I do not say that the famous saying applies to these people: "He who lacks a thing cannot give it." Who presents tawhid to one who needs to know it? It is the one who knows and is a scholar who believes in tawhid. These shaykhs are of two types—and I say this frankly—one type knows tawhid in its reality, but he is content with himself and leaves the people and what they believe, either out of fear, or out of greed for this world, or status, or position, or job, or something similar. And among them are those to whom the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) applies: ; so it is said of these people: "He who lacks a thing cannot give it."
So the general public of Muslims today, from whom we hear shirk (associating partners with Allah), enter the mosque that was built for the worship of Allah alone, as He said: . He enters the mosque, his foot slips, and he says: "Ya Baz (O Hawk)." And you are going to the "Baz" mosque to worship "Baz," or to worship the Lord of "Baz" and the Creator of "Baz"?
This poor man does not know; he does not know, for example, the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): . This authentic hadith is the most truthful place where it is applied: it is the disbelief uttered by one who comes to the mosque to worship Allah alone, , and yet he begins his entry into the mosque by supplicating to other than Allah! But I say, with regret: he is ignorant, and the one who taught him is ignorant that his saying, "Ya Baz, help me," is worship of the hawk other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)! They are all ignorant of this reality and do not know that supplicating to Allah is worship of Him, and consequently they do not know that supplicating to other than Allah is also worship of Him and shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
These are realities that the masses of people do not know; that is because the call to tawhid has been around for a long time, and much shirk and idolatry has entered it, until these germs and microbes settled upon tawhid and covered it over, so that most people have become ill with an illness that is true death; for what is the benefit of a person's life in this world while he lives worshipping other than Allah and is ignorant that he is worshipping other than Allah? And it is not only this; he enters the mosque, and there is a grave in the mosque, so he comes to it and asks of it what he asks of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)! He asks of the buried dead person, who may have become dust, what if this dead person were alive, he would not have been able to help him, nor to provide him with what he hopes for and seeks from him.
I say: With all these misguidances, we cannot declare these Muslims to be disbelievers; because the proof has not been established against them; because there are not many callers who have controlled the atmosphere of Syria, for example, let alone other countries, and the call to pure tawhid, free of shirk, has reached these masses. There is not a large number; rather, there are very few individuals, and their voices are lost, having no effect except on individuals who connect with them on special or general occasions, but it is not comprehensive. This is our belief. If an individual from these people who pray with us and fast with us falls into disbelief, we do not declare him a disbeliever, but if we know that, we clarify to him that this is disbelief and this is shirk with Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so beware of it.