What is your opinion of those who say: "Whoever says: 'disbelief less than disbelief,' or 'shirk less than shirk,' or that there is minor shirk and major shirk"

The questioner: A continuation of the question is the statement of some scholars today in many lectures and sermons that whoever says: "disbelief less than disbelief," or "shirk less than shirk," or that there is minor shirk and major shirk, shirk that takes one out of the religion, and disbelief that does not take one out of the religion, and so on; has innovated in the religion of Allah what He has not sent down as authority. Rather, disbelief is one thing; minor shirk and major shirk, its name is shirk; major disbelief and minor disbelief, it is all disbelief; does this statement have a share of truth, and can we say that it is a refutation of the methodology of the righteous Salaf in interpreting and dividing disbelief into two types?

The Shaykh: There is no doubt that this is a refutation of the methodology of the righteous Salaf, but in reality, let us clarify exactly what these people are aiming at; we must ask them when you want not to distinguish between major shirk and minor shirk, or between creedal shirk and practical shirk; do you mean that merely when a person says: "By my honor," that he has apostatized from his religion? This... and therefore, it is my habit to be careful, even though I am investigating with them, I want to understand from him what he means behind his words; so if he is only denying this verbal terminology, then his denial is formal and superficial and has no value, but this denial retains great value and has its great danger if he includes those who said, and how many Muslims today say in their speech, especially in Syria, in Palestine, in Egypt, you, and so on; they swear by their honor, by their father's head, by their grandfather, by... and so on; has this person apostatized from his religion and have we applied the rulings of apostasy to him? I do not think a sane Muslim says or utters from his mouth what this means! If they do not mean this, then this denial remains formal and has no value, and I have not actually heard this from anyone; I mean, it can be said: that he writes well, and if I had heard it, I would have established the argument against him from his words; because I do not imagine, especially since many of these writers today want to be lenient with people and not strict with them, so I asked them this question: does merely when one of these common people - and how many there are in this time! - says: "By my honor"; has he disbelieved and apostatized from his religion? Do you imagine he says this?

The questioner: I do not imagine, but they said that.

The Shaykh: They said.

The questioner: It has been said: Rather, they have an argument for that; and it is that the Messenger - may peace and blessings be upon him - when he said to Sa'd ibn Ubadah - or to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, I do not remember - when he swore by his father or by the Ka'bah or by al-Lat, approximately; he said to him: . So they said that "La ilaha illa Allah" here is his return to Islam after he apostatized from his religion; because he apostatized, and "La ilaha illa Allah" is the entry to Islam...?

The Shaykh: This compels me to a new research and a peculiar detail, we divided earlier disbelief into two parts or shirk, creedal disbelief and practical disbelief, now it is necessary to clarify the facts for people with another division, so we say: Disbelief is two types; disbelief of the heart and verbal disbelief, and what causes a Muslim to apostatize from the religion is disbelief of the heart, as for verbal disbelief, he does not apostatize from his religion by it, and I mentioned earlier the hadith of 'Umar in "the two Sahihs" when the Messenger - may peace and blessings be upon him - heard him swear by his father, he said: , he did not order him to say: "La ilaha illa Allah," and I do not mean by this that the hadith I mentioned is not authentic; it is authentic, and I will answer it in light of this detail.
Disbelief is two types; disbelief of the heart and verbal disbelief, what is meant by verbal disbelief? It means the one who uttered the word of disbelief did not intend disbelief with his heart, and the greatest proof of that is what came in the books of tafsir in the interpretation of His saying - Exalted is He - : that it was revealed when the polytheists took 'Ammar ibn Yasir and tortured him with severe torture, like Bilal al-Habashi - may Allah be pleased with them both - , then they offered him that if he wanted to be saved from their torture, he should speak ill of the Prophet - may peace and blessings be upon him and his family - ; that he should curse him and insult him, and as if they sensed weakness from him, so they said to him: Say: Muhammad is a liar, a sorcerer, a poet, and we will release you. So he said that, and indeed they released him, but he hardly felt some relief until his breath and composure returned to him, and he began to think what he had done to himself by cursing his Prophet by whom Allah - Mighty and Majestic - saved him from disbelief and misguidance; so he hastened to the Prophet - may peace and blessings be upon him - , and he related the story to him in detail, so the Prophet - may peace and blessings be upon him - said to him: . He said: I find it settled with faith. He said: .
If they return to torturing you with this severe torture that you have no strength to bear, then you return to being saved from it by cursing me verbally, as long as your heart is filled with faith; so from this hadith and its like - some of which has preceded - the scholars took that not everyone who speaks the word of disbelief is a disbeliever with the disbelief of apostasy; because he may say the word of disbelief and not know what it is, or he may know what it is, but he says it under compulsion, as 'Ammar - may Allah be pleased with him - did, and so today, the common Muslims, especially in other than this land which Allah - Mighty and Majestic - has filled with tawhid (the oneness of Allah); the common Muslims, there is no preacher among them who says to them: The Messenger of Allah - may peace and blessings be upon him - said: , they do not hear this reminder at all, except in a few lands... so they swear by their fathers and their sons and their honor, and they have no honor, and... and so on; is it said: these people disbelieved with creedal disbelief? And I am now saying a detail in the issue of swearing by other than Allah; does the one who swears by other than Allah apostatize from his religion? I say: he has one of two states; if he swears by other than Allah, he swears by his father - for example - or by his chief or by his king, magnifying him thereby as he magnifies his Lord, then he has apostatized from his religion; why? ... .