Not every act that appears to be disbelief indicates disbelief in the heart

The student : Now, Shaykh, let us not talk about the issue of what a person displays versus what he believes, but rather about the nullifiers of Islam. A person commits an act that is a nullifier of Islam, such as prostrating to an idol while saying, "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," or slaughtering for other than Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). We are discussing this topic: practical disbelief or creedal disbelief. As I understood it, what is displayed is Islam, so he is not declared a disbeliever, but the one who prostrates to an idol is [different].

The Shaykh : I did not say that every act that contradicts Islam is, in its entirety, practical disbelief or creedal disbelief. For example, the one who takes the word of Allah and places it under his feet—is that not an act?
The student : It is an act, yes.

The Shaykh : But I do not say that this act does not indicate to me that he is not a disbeliever. No, rather, this act indicates to me that what is settled in his heart is that he does not believe in the word of his Lord, because if he believed in the word of his Lord, he would not have humiliated it with this humiliation. Therefore, you should not base your understanding on my previous statement that I am saying that every act is not what?
The student : Is not disbelief.

The Shaykh : That is it. However, whatever is settled in the heart, which Allah knows, that he believes in contradiction to what was revealed in His Book, this is without doubt apostasy in the sight of Allah, and he will be eternally in the Fire. Now, as human beings, or in our capacity as human beings, when we want to judge a person regarding the type of his disbelief, we must look at what is apparent from him. For example, speech—I think you know that this is an act. This is an act. So if someone says, "I do not believe in such and such a verse," is there anyone who would be scrupulous about declaring him a disbeliever?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Did we open his heart? No.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : Be patient. We did not open his heart. We judged his disbelief based on what he expressed with his tongue. It may be that this expression with the tongue is accompanied by other acts, but here is the very sensitive point: not every act indicates disbelief in the heart. And this is a point that I think is very important. If it is clear to you, then we agree up to this point. Do you see that? That not every act that comes from one who testifies with his tongue that there is no god but Allah indicates that he believes in his heart or that he is a disbeliever in his heart, correct?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Do we agree on this?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The student : I am, if Allah wills, in agreement on this, as the Shaykh presented it. But there is a detail in the matter. You mentioned, Shaykh, that there is practical disbelief, and you gave the example of a Muslim killing a Muslim.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : And this is known to be one of the sins.

The Shaykh : It is known.
The student : If he does not consider it permissible, it is one of the sins if he does not consider it permissible.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : This is the statement of all the scholars.

The Shaykh: All right.
The student : As for the issue where a person displays an act of disbelief, we take the apparent as the basis. We take the apparent, as I said, if he steps on the mushaf, may Allah protect us, or says, "I do not believe in Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)," likewise, I am with you on this. I am completely with you on this. If a person displays an act that indicates his disbelief, with the establishment of the proof upon him, then he is a disbeliever.

The Shaykh : Good, but I want the other side. I want the points where there might be a perceived disagreement.
The student : Like what?

The Shaykh : The opposite, meaning, that there are acts where the person does not display that he is a disbeliever in a creedal sense.
The student : Which is more dangerous: the creedal one, for which he is judged as a disbeliever, or the practical one?

The Shaykh : How?
The student : Now, as I understood it, creedal disbelief is not judged as disbelief because he did not display disbelief, but he believed it. Whereas practical disbelief, he can be judged as a disbeliever.

The Shaykh : That is not my research, that is not my question. We agreed on a common word that not every act that comes from one who testifies that there is no god but Allah is judged as disbelief, whether creedal disbelief or practical disbelief. We do not have a general rule here, correct?
The student : There is an observation. You are now...

The Shaykh : How is there an observation? Tell me no, tell me no, tell me I didn't understand, correct?
The student : The statement is correct.

The Shaykh : What is correct?
The student : What is correct is as follows: You said that it is not necessary for every act that comes from a person to be creedal, but according to what comes from the person, the matter is not general.

The Shaykh : I remember the counterpart. This is half of my statement.
The student : The counterpart.

The Shaykh : And that it is not practical disbelief.
The student : That it is not creedal disbelief and it is not practical disbelief.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: All right.

The Shaykh : So you just now agreed with me on the first part of the statement and adopted some of the examples I gave.