What is the difference between practical disbelief and creedal disbelief?

The Shaykh : Here comes a topic and subject that we have frequently addressed in our lectures and in many of our recordings, which is distinguishing between practical disbelief and creedal disbelief. This is a very necessary matter, and one who does not distinguish between one type of disbelief and another is to be feared lest he falls into disbelief without realizing it, or while realizing it. For this reason, it is authentically narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), who is truly the interpreter of the Qur'an, that he interpreted the statement of the Exalted: He said: It is not as they think; rather, it is a disbelief less than disbelief. So whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed—here is the crux of the answer to your question regarding the mentioned verse: does it apply to those who have neglected jihad? My answer is: it may apply to some of them and not to others. How is that? By the evidence of the athar of Ibn 'Abbas mentioned above, that it is a disbelief less than disbelief. So whoever denies the legitimacy of jihad in his creed, that is the disbeliever, and that is the one to whom the verse and others apply. As for whoever acknowledges the obligation of jihad, whether he is a ruler or a subject, but he does not fight out of following his desires, following his greed for the world, or the like, then his disbelief is practical disbelief, not creedal disbelief. There is no difference between the one who leaves jihad and the one who leaves lawful earnings and only earns through usury or selling intoxicants or the like. All of these are sins without a doubt, and what is true of every ruler who does not judge by what Allah has revealed is true of them: either he has made these matters lawful in his heart and in his actions, or he has made them lawful in his actions but not in his heart, meaning he has made them lawful practically but not creedally. So whoever commits a forbidden act in Islam while believing that it is forbidden, then his disbelief is less than disbelief. And whoever makes a forbidden act lawful while believing that there is nothing wrong with making it lawful, like many of the young people today, for example, who were raised with a purely European upbringing. If they are asked, "Why do you not pray?" he will say to you, "My brother, prayer, purity, the ghusl from janabah, and wudu, etc., were for the time of the filthy, dirty pre-Islamic age of ignorance. But today, there is no longer a need for such prayer and this." This is creedal disbelief. But as is the case with many of the Muslim youth, unfortunately, if he is asked, "Why do you not pray?" he says, "May Allah accept our repentance, may Allah accept our repentance." So he acknowledges the obligation but does not perform what Allah has made obligatory. Similarly, any ruler in the world, if he is asked, "Why do you not fight in the path of Allah?" and he says, "There is no jihad now, there is freedom and the like of these interpretations by which Allah has not given authority, then this one who denies jihad as a law is the disbeliever. But the one who believes that, by Allah, we must fight, but Allah will help us, and we are not prepared as we should be, and until we prepare, etc., and he is able to prepare, then he is a sinner. But if he is unable, like many of the Muslim individuals who spoke just now, they are unable to fight.
In the common proverb, "Even if you resist, you cannot resist the awl." "Even if you resist, you cannot resist the awl." And this is the truth. Therefore, to sum up, jihad is an individual obligation, and it is most obligatory in this time, because the nations have gathered as came in the previous hadith, in a gathering like nothing seen in Islamic history at all.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: Yes.