The Shaykh's clarification of the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community regarding declaring someone a disbeliever, on the occasion of hearing some preachers who accused the Shaykh of declaring those who follow the schools of jurisprudence to be disbelievers

The Shaykh : It was supposed that I would listen to you to some hadiths according to the regular lesson we have been following for years, selecting them from what is authentic in the book *Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib*. That was the plan, but I saw fit to deliver a word to you on the occasion of news. It is not actually new, but it is a reminder. A person I trust told me that one of the preachers of the mosques gave a long sermon and stated in it, as the narrator conveyed to me—and he is, as I mentioned to you, trustworthy in my estimation—that the head of the Salafis in this town, or he said the country, he heard with his own ears stating explicitly that whoever follows one of the four schools of jurisprudence is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). He did not say he is a kafir (disbeliever), but rather a mushrik. I say he did not say this because they distinguish between kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), even though that is not the case with us, because every kufr is shirk, and every shirk is kufr. If he had said he is a kafir, his expression would have been milder, even if he is in error. But when he said he is a mushrik, he added another layer of error to the error. I think you are not, or at least the majority of you are not, in need of the detail that we believe and hold, but I believe there are some brothers who accompany us closely, or nearly so, who perhaps have not previously known our view clearly on this issue, or they did know it but the idea did not take hold in their hearts. So perhaps if they heard that unjust sermon, they might be affected by it. I am speaking this word first for these brothers, whom we think desire the truth and love to be among those who listen to the statement and then follow the best of it. As for those who do not fear Allah, do not revere Him, and do not give weight to the Day of Reckoning, that will not benefit them, even if I came to them with every verse. I say, O brothers, it is from our call that it is not permissible to declare a Muslim a disbeliever. Rather, we go further and say that even if he actually committed kufr, even if he actually committed kufr, we do not declare him a disbeliever, because it is possible that he has an excuse with Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says in His Book: The purpose of the sending of the Messenger is not that the Messenger is sent and then this call does not reach some of them. As for this group, the call of the Messenger has not reached them, and consequently the argument has not been established against them. And among the clear, evident proofs is that we are today fourteen centuries after the sending of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and yet we are certain that there are people in the North Pole and the South Pole, at least, who have never heard of the religion of Islam by its name, and have never heard the name of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), which would necessitate their eternal abode in the Fire on the Day of Resurrection, because the condition of being held accountable and obligated has not been fulfilled in them, which is the reaching of the call. And the purpose of the reaching of the call is not the reaching of its name or its wording. We know another picture: many Europeans have heard the name of Islam and the name of the Prophet of Islam, but they did not know the reality of Islam or the perfection of the Prophet of Islam. This has many reasons, and we are not addressing them now. All of these are disbelievers without doubt, because whoever says "La ilaha illa Allah" enters Paradise, and whoever dies while associating partners with Allah enters the Fire. But this is not absolute; it is restricted to those whom the call has reached. Those whom the call has not reached have a special reckoning on the Day of Resurrection; they have a special treatment from Allah, the Wise, the Merciful, the Compassionate, as came explicitly in some authentic hadiths that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sends to these people whom the call has not reached an old man who has reached extreme old age and does not understand what is said to him, or a small child who has not reached the age of obligation, or a man from the period of ignorance (ahl al-fatra) whom the call has not reached, or the like of these. So our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, on the Day of Resurrection sends to them a messenger. Whoever obeys this messenger enters Paradise, and whoever disobeys him enters the Fire. This is so that the argument of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is established against all His servants, even in that gathering on the plains of the Day of Resurrection. If this type of disbeliever, the Europeans today, heard the name of Islam and the name of the Prophet of Islam, but the call of Islam did not reach them—and when I say the call of Islam did not reach them, I mean the call of Islam in its true reality, for perhaps the call reached one of them by name as the call of Islam. Let us give a clear example that the masses of those who belong to the Sunnah or to the people of the Sunnah believe in. That example is the Islam of the Qadiyyan. The Qadiyyan have a lot of activity in Europe, in America, and in many lands of the world. And we know for certain that many Christians became Qadiyyan, and I do not want to say they became Muslims, but they became Qadiyyan thinking that they had become Muslims, because those who called them to Qadiyyanism did not actually, in deed or in word, on the correct view, call them to Qadiyyanism, but rather called them to Islam. The Qadiyyan themselves in all lands of the world, including this land, and especially Damascus, have been afflicted with them for many years. And I have debated some of them a lot, and a lot. They call Muslims to the correct Islam, to the purified Islam, as they claim. Likewise, when they call non-Muslims, such as Christians, as they claim, they call them to Islam. So many of those Europeans became Muslims with this Islam of theirs. But when we apply to the Qadiyyan, let alone those who were entangled with them and deceived by their call, when we apply to all of them the Sunnah of Islam, which is based on the Book and the authentic Sunnah on one hand, and based on the understanding of these two sources on the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih, as we always and forever emphasize, when we apply this principle, on which a Muslim cannot be a true Muslim except on its basis, when we apply it to the Qadiyyan, we find that they are not Muslims. How can one rule that they are Muslims when they have not stated that there are prophets to whom revelation comes from Allah after the Seal of the Prophets? And I do not want to lengthen the speech about the Qadiyyan, especially since I have spoken about them a lot, and a lot. I am only giving this as one example. Did the call of Islam truly reach these Europeans through the Qadiyyan, and did they become Qadiyyan as I said earlier? The call of Islam did not reach them. Therefore, I cannot say that these Christians who used to believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so they were disbelievers, and that was their right, then they believed in Allah, the One, the Unique, but they disbelieved from another angle, because the Qadiyyan taught them what is contrary to the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Ummah, which is the coming of many prophets, and other disbelieving beliefs they hold. These Christians, the call did not reach them. Therefore, we do not say that these are disbelievers in the sight of Allah, because the disbeliever in the sight of Allah is the one against whom the argument has been established. This is a long discussion, and I have delved into it more than once, so I do not want to lengthen the discussion in detail. But I am now entering what I am addressing. Many of the Muslims today, from the people of the Sunnah and the community, live among the people of the Sunnah and the community, and yet they have not understood tawhid (the oneness of Allah), which is the head of Islam, and without which nothing of the beliefs and deeds of one who claims Islam benefits him, and no good he presents before the meeting with his Lord, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: Many of the masses of Muslims today live among Muslims, they fast and pray, and yet they have not understood tawhid, which is the head of Islam, as we mentioned. Did the call reach them? I say that those who are supposed to reach them with the call are their shaykhs (scholars) from whom they receive knowledge. But I do not say that these people fit the saying: "He who lacks a thing cannot give it" . Who presents tawhid to one who needs to know it? It is the one who knows and is a scholar and believes in tawhid. These shaykhs are of two types, and I say this frankly. One type knows tawhid in its reality, but he is content with himself and leaves the people and what they believe, either out of fear, or out of greed for the world, or fame, or position, or job, or the like of that. And among them are those to whom the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, applies: . So it is said of them: "He who lacks a thing cannot give it" . So the common Muslims today, from whom we hear shirk, and he enters the mosque that was built for the worship of Allah alone, as He said: . He enters the mosque, his foot slips, and he says, "O Baz," and you are going to the mosque of Baz, you worship Baz, or you worship the Lord of Baz. And he said... Baz is poor; he does not know, he does not know, like the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): This authentic hadith is the most truthful place where it is applied: the kufr that is uttered by one who comes to the mosque to worship Allah alone. And he begins entering the mosque with a supplication to other than Allah. But he says, "I am sorry," but he is ignorant, and the one who taught him is ignorant that saying "O Baz, help me" is worship of Baz besides Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. All of them are ignorant of this reality, and they do not know that supplicating to Allah is worship of Him, and consequently they do not know that supplicating to other than Allah is also worship of Him and shirk with Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. These are realities that the masses of people do not know, because the call of tawhid has been around for a long time, and much shirk and idolatry has entered it, until... it covered tawhid and veiled it, until most people became sick with a sickness that is true death. For what is the benefit of a person's life in this world while he worships other than Allah and is ignorant that he worships other than Allah? And it is not only this; he enters the mosque, and there is a grave in the mosque, and he comes to it and asks from it what he asks from Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. He asks from the buried dead, and perhaps he has become dust. If this dead person were alive, he would not have been able to help him or provide him with what he hopes for and asks for. I say, with all these misguidances, we cannot declare these Muslims disbelievers, because the argument has not been established against them, because there are not many callers who have controlled the atmosphere of Syria, for example, let alone other lands, and reached these masses with the call of pure tawhid, free of shirk. There is not a large number; rather, there are very few individuals, and their voices are lost, having no effect except on individuals who connect with them on special or general occasions, but it is not comprehensive. This is our belief. If an individual from these who pray with us and fast with us falls into kufr, we do not declare him a disbeliever. But if we know that, we clarify to him that this is kufr and this is shirk with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. So beware of it.