Clarification that disagreement in matters of creed has extended to matters of branches, and an example thereof

The Shaykh : ... From this second disagreement, a third disagreement arose, which, as they call it, has no relation to creed. Look at what you are about to hear; perhaps it is more dangerous than the first and second disagreements, because it is a consequence of those two disagreements. One of their scholars asked: Is it permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i woman? This is recorded to this day in books of jurisprudence, in books of rulings, not creed. The answer that was practiced for many years was: It is not permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i woman. Why? They said: Because the Shafi'i school holds that faith increases and decreases. Consequently, if one of them is asked, "Are you a believer?" he says, "I am a believer, if Allah wills." Those who say that faith does not increase or decrease say: Whoever says "I am a believer, if Allah wills" has doubted his faith, and whoever doubts his faith is a disbeliever. So the Shafi'i woman, if she is a disbeliever, is worse than a Jew or a Christian, because a Jew is from the People of the Book, whereas she has exited Islam, according to the claim of those who contradicted the Qur'an and the Sunnah in their statement that faith does not increase or decrease. Consequently, if one of them is asked, "Are you a believer?" he says, "I am truly a believer," because he says, "My faith is like the faith of Jibril." But the one who says that faith increases and decreases says "if Allah wills," because faith has no limits. Therefore, one of them says, if asked, "Are you a believer?" [he answers affirmatively] because faith is capable of increase. But those who mistakenly understood that faith does not increase or decrease built upon this very serious matters, resulting in the ruling that it is not permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i woman because she doubts her faith according to her school. If she is asked, "Are you a believer?" she says, "I am a believer, if Allah wills," and whoever doubts his faith has committed disbelief. You note that the Asha'irah and the people of hadith, along with them, such as Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) and others from the people of the Sunnah, when they say that faith increases and decreases, they do not mean what is in the heart, but rather they mean what follows from the effects of faith, namely righteous deeds, which Allah the Exalted always associates with faith. So when the Hanafis say about the Shafi'is that they doubt their faith, this is a fallacy. They doubt their faith, meaning the effects of their faith, meaning their righteous deeds. As for what is in the heart, they never doubt it. I said earlier that the fatwa continued for many years that a Hanafi does not marry a Shafi'i woman, until a man from the distinguished scholars of the Hanafis came, known as Abu al-Sa'ud, the author of the famous tafsir named after him. He is nicknamed "the Mufti of the Two Groups" because they said he used to issue fatwas for the jinn as well as the humans. This question was asked of him: Is it permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i woman? Listen now to the answer that satisfies the rational mind in its beginning and angers it in its end, and this is one of the wonders of fatwas. He said: It is permissible for a Hanafi to marry a Shafi'i woman. This is good because it contradicted the previous fatwa which said it is not permissible. But listen to the reasoning: He said it is permissible by placing her in the position of the People of the Book, meaning her price is the price of a Jew or a Christian. This, my brothers, we do not intend to revive the buried, because these issues are not studied by the jurists of the present age. They do not delve into the study of the old schools; they are at ease from them, because Islam in the general sense is what concerns them. We do not want from this except to clarify to them that their statement that the disagreement is in the branches and not in the fundamentals is a lie that contradicts reality...