The Sects of the Murji'ah and Their Doctrines, and the Transmission of the Words of the Scholars Thereon, Along with the Accusation by Some of the Old Misguided Sects that the People of the Sunnah are Murji'ah.

Khalid al-Anbari: Then, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah divided the sects of the Murji'ah into three categories. Some of them say: "Faith is merely what is in the heart." Others say: "It is merely the utterance of the tongue." This is not known for anyone before the Karramiyyah, the well-known sect.

The Shaykh: Yes.
Khalid al-Anbari: There is a third opinion among the Murji'ah, who are the Murji'ah of the jurists. They say: "It is the affirmation of the heart and the utterance of the tongue." Most of the Murji'ah—as we have learned from your eminence—hold that it "does not increase or decrease, does not become partial, and its people do not differ in degree in it; rather, the faith of all is equal." As for the Salafis, the people of Hadith and the Sunnah, they say that it is belief, utterance, and action; it increases and decreases, becomes partial, and its people differ in degree in it. They make exceptions in faith and consider it a root and a branch. As for us, as I add to your kind words a kind saying by Ibn Abi al-'Izz in his "Commentary on the Tahawi Creed," he says, among other things: "The condemned irja' that was condemned..."

The Shaykh: Excuse me, how does he say it?
Khalid al-Anbari: He says: "The condemned irja' leads to the manifestation of open sinfulness and sins; for the servant says: 'I am a true believer and Muslim, complete in faith and Islam, and a close friend of Allah among the awliya (close friends of Allah).' So he does not care about the sins that occur from him. In this sense, the Murji'ah said: 'A sin does not harm with faith for one who commits it.'" This is definitely false, as Ibn Abi al-'Izz says. There is also another opinion by the Hafiz of the Maghreb, Abu 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-Barr, which supports what your eminence said. He says: "This is my opinion," meaning the opinion that the one who abandons prayer is not a disbeliever. He says: "This is an opinion held by a group of the Imams, among those who say: Faith is utterance and action. The Murji'ah also held this opinion, except that the Murji'ah say: The affirming believer is complete in faith. We have mentioned the disagreement of the Imams of the People of the Sunnah and the Community regarding the one who abandons prayer. As for the people of innovation, the Murji'ah said: The one who abandons prayer is a believer complete in faith, if he is affirming, not denying, and not arrogant." This is the end of the words of the Hafiz (may Allah have mercy on him).
However, Your Eminence, this fabrication is not new; rather, it is an old fabrication. For the Qadi, the Shaykh, the scholar Abu al-Fadl al-Sakaski mentioned in his book "Al-Burhan fi 'Aqaid Ahl al-Adyan" (The Proof in the Creeds of the People of the Religions): "A group of the people of innovation called the Mansuriyyah accuse the People of the Sunnah of being Murji'ah because of their saying—that is, the saying of the People of the Sunnah—that the one who abandons prayer, if he is not denying its obligation, is a Muslim according to the correct view of the madhhab—that is, the madhhab of Imam Ahmad. And they say: This leads to the fact that faith, in their view, is utterance without action." The Shaykh al-Sakaski defended the People of the Sunnah and refuted this accusation in the aforementioned book.
Your Eminence, the Shaykh.