Please. The questioner: A continuation of the question is the statement of some scholars today in many lectures and sermons that whoever says "disbelief without disbelief" or "shirk without shirk" or

The Shaykh : Please proceed.

The questioner : A continuation of the question is the statement of some scholars today in many lectures and sermons that whoever says "disbelief without disbelief" or "shirk without shirk" or that there is minor shirk and major shirk, and shirk that expels one from the religion and disbelief that does not expel one from the religion, has innovated in the religion of Allah what has not been sent down with authority, and disbelief is only one. Minor shirk and major shirk, its name is shirk. Major disbelief and minor disbelief, all of it is disbelief. Does this statement have any share of truth? And can we say that it is a refutation of the methodology of the pious predecessors in their interpretation and division of disbelief into two types?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that this is a rejection of the methodology of the pious predecessors. But in reality, to clarify exactly what these people are aiming at, we must ask them: when they say "do not distinguish between major shirk and minor shirk" or "between doctrinal shirk and practical shirk," do they mean that as soon as a person says... that he has apostatized from his religion? This is... Therefore, it is my habit to be careful, although I am discussing with them, I want to understand from them what he means behind his words. 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 it leads to applying the rulings of apostasy to those who say it, and how many Muslims today say it during their speech, especially in Syria, in Palestine, in Egypt, among you, they swear by their honor, by their father's head, by their grandfather, and so on. Has this person apostatized from his religion, and do we apply the rulings of apostasy to him? I do not think a sane Muslim would say that what comes out of his mouth means this! If they do not mean this, then this denial remains formal and has no value. And I have not actually heard this from anyone. It might be said that it is good writing, but 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 the mere fact that one of these common people, and there are many of them in this time, says "by my honor" mean he has committed disbelief and apostatized from his religion? Do you imagine he says this?

The questioner : I do not imagine it, but they said so... It was said that they have an argument for it, which is that when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Sa'd ibn Ubadah or to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab when he swore by his father or by the Ka'bah or by al-Lat, approximately, he said to him, "Say: There is no god but Allah." They said that "There is no god but Allah" here is a return to Islam after he had apostatized from his religion, because he had apostatized, and "There is no god but Allah" is the entry to Islam...?

The Shaykh : This compels me to a new research and a peculiar detail. We divided disbelief earlier into two parts, or shirk: doctrinal disbelief and practical disbelief. Now, we must clarify the facts for the people with another division. We say: Disbelief is two types: disbelief of the heart and verbal disbelief. What causes a Muslim to apostatize from the religion is disbelief of the heart, whereas verbal disbelief does not cause one to apostatize from his religion. And I mentioned earlier the hadith of 'Umar in the two Sahihs, when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) heard him swear by his father, he said to him He did not order him to say "There is no god but 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 that the one who uttered the word of disbelief did not intend disbelief with his heart. The greatest proof of this is what came in the tafsir in the books of tafsir in the interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted It was revealed when the polytheists took 'Ammar ibn Yasir and tortured him with severe torture, as they did with Bilal al-Habashi (may Allah be pleased with him). Then they offered him that if he wanted to escape their torture, he should speak ill of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), insult him, and curse him, as if they sensed weakness in him. So they said to him, "Say: Muhammad is a liar, a sorcerer, a poet, and we will release you." He said that, and indeed they released him. But he could hardly feel some relief before his mind returned to him... and he began to think about what he had done to himself by insulting his Prophet, by whom Allah the Exalted had saved him from disbelief and misguidance. So he hastened to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and narrated the story to him in detail. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him He said, "I find him at peace with faith." He said If they return to torturing you with this severe torture that you cannot bear, then you should seek escape from it by insulting me verbally, as long as your heart is filled with faith. From this hadith and others like it, some of which preceded it, the scholars derived that not everyone who speaks the word of disbelief is a disbeliever of apostasy, because he may say the word of disbelief without knowing what it is, or he may know what it is but he is forced, as 'Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) did. And so today, the common Muslims, especially in other than this land which Allah the Exalted has filled with tawhid (the oneness of Allah), the common Muslims, there is no preacher among them who tells them: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said They do not hear this reminder at all except in a few lands... So they swear by their fathers, their sons, and their honor, and they have no honor, and so on. Can it be said that these people have committed doctrinal disbelief? And I say, in detail regarding the issue of swearing by other than Allah: does anyone who swears by other than Allah apostatize from his religion? I say to him, it is one of two states. If he swears by other than Allah, by his father or by his leader or by his king, while he exalts him thereby as he exalts his Lord, then he has apostatized from his religion. Why...