The Shaykh’s clarification of an issue and a principle regarding declaring someone a disbeliever.

The Shaykh : I want to say a final word regarding the statement of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). There is a principle among the scholars, specifically the later ones, when they began to use the term of declaring someone a disbeliever for the slightest reason. Some of the cautious ones among them said: If there are many opinions, indeed ninety-nine opinions, declaring a Muslim man a disbeliever for a statement or action he committed, and there is another opinion that this does not make him a disbeliever, then one should adopt that opinion which is opposed by ninety-nine opinions. Because the opinion that a Muslim has become a disbeliever, even if later, is one in which we have excused him due to its severity. So, the statement of Aisha; why did I direct the question to you asking whether it is a text indicating that she declared [someone] a disbeliever out of ignorance? It is not a text that allows for this interpretation, and it allows for what we mentioned earlier. If the matter revolves around interpreting the statement of a Muslim, and especially the wife of the Messenger and the one promised Paradise, in the safest meaning, then this interpretation is the safest, and we do not interpret it in the most repugnant meaning. This is the least that can be said on the subject. And yet, when we hear this phrase from Aisha, it does not indicate that she previously did not believe that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows everything. And is this matter hidden from a common man now, by way of reminder? What does this mean?

The questioner : It is a rhetorical question of denial.

The Shaykh : This is a question. How is it in the Qur'an? This is a Qur'anic style. This does not mean affirming divinity for other than Allah, but rather it means complete denial. So, the point is that the Arabic language is broad. If the statement of a Muslim can be interpreted in a sound meaning and an unsound meaning, it is obligatory to interpret it in the sound meaning, not the unsound one. And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Welcome, Abu 'Abdillah.