Is it true that some people say that if a man performs the five pillars, he becomes a Muslim, and if he does not apply the Prophetic Sunnah, such as trimming the mustache and letting the beard hang down,

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. The honorable Shaykh, some of the brothers say that whoever performs the five pillars of Islam becomes a Muslim, but if he does not apply the Prophetic Sunnah, such as shaving the mustache, letting the beard hang down, and shortening the garment, he does not become a believer or a straight one. Please inform us. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : This is correct. If a person performs the five pillars of Islam, he is a Muslim, even if he shaves his beard or lets his garment hang below the ankles; he is a Muslim. In fact, he is a believer, but his faith is deficient because he commits this sin and persists in it. If you say he is not a Muslim, you have expelled him from Islam. Expelling someone from Islam is not a light matter. It is not permissible for us to expel a person from Islam except with evidence from the Book and the Sunnah or the consensus of the Ummah, because expelling someone from Islam is a ruling among the rulings of Allah, and it entails great issues. If we are not allowed to say something is forbidden except with evidence, or that something is obligatory except with evidence, then we are not allowed to say that something is disbelief except with evidence, nor to say that someone is a disbeliever except with evidence. The Islamic Ummah was divided only by such statements based on delusion. Why did the Khawarij rebel against the Imams and corrupt much of the Ummah? It was because they declared major sins to be disbelief, saying that whoever commits a major sin is a disbeliever who will remain in the Fire forever and must be fought. Whoever reads history knows the great harms that resulted from their emergence. The conclusion is that disbelief is not a light matter. A person may commit many sins but remain a believer, though his faith is deficient. If I asked you what is the greatest act of aggression among the children of Adam, the answer would be killing. Killing is greater than taking wealth, and yet Allah the Exalted made the killer a brother to the victim. He said: Who is meant by "his brother"? The victim. "Whoever is pardoned by his brother" means that something is pardoned from his brother's blood, "then let it be followed by what is right." And Allah the Exalted said regarding the two warring factions of the believers: until He said: So you see now that the killer does not exit from faith, and the one who fights the believers does not exit from faith. So how can we say that if he shaves his beard or lets his garment hang down, he is not a Muslim? No, we say he is a Muslim, but his faith is deficient due to the sins he has. Yes.