What is the correct interpretation of His saying, the Exalted: “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed”?

Al-Halabi : He saysThe questioner : What is the correct interpretation of the saying of our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He: ?

The Shaykh : The correct interpretation is what is found in the Tafsir of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari and the Tafsir of Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, which states that the intended meaning of "disbelievers" here is those who do not believe in the Shari'ah of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), meaning they do not judge by what Allah has revealed, because they do not view what Allah has revealed as a sound law for judgment in every time and place. Therefore, anyone who holds this belief, such as the Jews regarding whom this noble verse was revealed, becomes a disbeliever who has apostatized from his religion. However, there is a point that must be mentioned: if a person believes in the Shari'ah of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and that it is sound for every time and place, but he does not actually judge by it, whether in whole or in part, then he has a share of this verse; he has a share of this verse, but this share does not cause him to exit the circle of Islam. We must know that there is faith (iman) and there is Islam. Faith is what settles in the heart, and Islam is the effect of this faith that appears on the body and limbs. According to the strength of the faith in the believer's heart, the rectitude of this person's outward appearance and the uprightness of his limbs and body are determined, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) indicated this reality in his saying in the hadith of al-Nu'man ibn Bashir, the beginning of which is until he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Thus, the rectitude of the outward is connected to the rectitude of the inward, as attested by this hadith and some other hadiths mentioned at the beginning of this session. But if the degree of rectitude in the body is according to the strength of the faith, as we mentioned, this outward rectitude is Islam. So if a Muslim neglects something of the Islamic rulings, this neglect does not take him out of the circle of Islam; it may take him out of the circle of absolute, or complete, faith. Some scholars interpret his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying in the authentic hadith, "The fornicator is not a believer while he is fornicating": . Does the fornicator, when he fornicates, become a disbeliever and apostatize from his religion? The answer is that no one among the Muslims who are upon the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community says that fornication, or other sins, and even major sins, take a Muslim out of the circle of Islam. So what is the meaning of his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: ? It means he is not a believer with complete faith, but by that, he does not exit the circle of Islam. Some likened faith to a circle, and around this circle is another circle that surrounds the first circle. So when the fornicator fornicated, he exited the first circle, which is complete faith, but he did not exit the other circle, which is the circle of Islam; so he remains a Muslim. Likewise, anyone who disobeys Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in any disobedience, it is not permissible to take him out of the other, greater circle, which is the circle of Islam, unless he denies something related to the first circle, which is the circle of faith. If he denies what came in the Shari'ah, and this denial is related to faith, then at that time he exits the circle of faith and the circle of Islam. So the previous verse : if the one who does not judge denies the soundness of the Shari'ah to be judged by in every time and place, then he has exited both circles, the circle of faith and the circle of Islam, meaning he has become an apostate from the religion of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). But if he believes in what is in the first circle, which is the obligation to judge by what Allah has revealed, but he actually, as we said earlier, does not judge by what Allah has revealed, whether in whole or in part, then at that time he has exited the circle of complete faith, but he remains within the other circle, which is the circle of Islam. Therefore, the interpreter of the Qur'an, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father), said regarding the interpretation of this verse: , "not as they say," meaning not as the extremists used to say, and some of them say today, that it is disbelief itself. He said, "No, Ibn 'Abbas says: 'No, it is only a disbelief less than disbelief.'" It is only a disbelief less than disbelief. And this phrase spoken by the interpreter of the Qur'an, by which he interpreted that noble verse, has many very strong corroborations from the Sunnah, and even from the noble Qur'an, in the authentic hadith whose authenticity is agreed upon betweenThe Shaykh : them, that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . The cursing of a Muslim is open sinfulness, and fighting him is disbelief. So when a Muslim fights his Muslim brother, it is disbelief by the text of this hadith: “disbelief.” But remember well the words of 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas: “a disbelief less than disbelief.” What is the evidence for that? Many evidences, as I said earlier, among them is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: . So here, two groups of believers fought, one of them being the transgressing party, one of them being the aggressing party. The party of Muslims who are in the right were commanded to fight the transgressing party. But we see here in the text of the verse that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, did not remove from them the name of faith, which is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: . So these transgressors who are fighting the people of the truth are believers in one aspect, but they have fallen into disbelief in another aspect. That is the meaning of the saying of Ibn 'Abbas: “a disbelief less than disbelief.” So the verse in question means only a disbelief of denial or a disbelief of action. So whoever denies the legitimacy of acting upon the Qur'an is a disbeliever who has apostatized from his religion. And whoever acknowledges and affirms that is a believer, but his faith is deficient because he does not act upon what he believes in. From here, the scholars said that faith increases and decreases, its increase being obedience and its decrease being disobedience. Yes.