He spoke about the doubt in which the people of declaring others disbelievers fell, regarding the verse (And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed . . . . . ).

The Shaykh : The root of the takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever) that has spread in this era is the verse they constantly circle around, namely the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: We all know that this verse concludes with three terms: Those who are ignorant of the people who argue with this verse using its first term, have not been blamed by at least some of the texts in which the term "disbelief" (kufr) is mentioned. They took the term "disbelief" in the verse to mean exiting the religion, and that there is no difference between this one who has fallen into disbelief and those polytheists among the Jews and Christians and the followers of other religions that are outside the religion of Islam. Meanwhile, "disbelief" in the language of the Book and the Sunnah does not mean what they are constantly circling around, and they apply this incorrect understanding to many Muslims who are innocent of that takfir which they apply to these Muslims. The term "takfir" is such that it does not indicate a single meaning, which is apostasy and exiting the religion, just as this term is like the other two terms mentioned in the other two verses, "the wrongdoers" (fasiqin) and "the oppressors" (zallimin). Just as not everyone who is described as having committed "disbelief" means that he has apostatized from his religion, so it does not mean that everyone who is described as an "oppressor" or a "wrongdoer" has apostatized from his religion. This variation in meaning for a single word is what the language indicates, and then the Shari'ah, which came in the language of the Arabs, the language of the Noble Qur'an, as is well known. For this reason, it is obligatory for everyone who undertakes to judge by what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has commanded—I do not mean the rulers now, but I mean those who issue rulings on Muslims, whether they are rulers or the ruled—it is obligatory for these people to have knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Salaf al-Salih (the earliest generations). The Book cannot be understood, nor what is included with it, except through a special knowledge of the Arabic language. A person may not have strong or complete knowledge of the Arabic language, so he is helped in making up for this deficiency that he may feel within himself when he turns to the scholars who came before him, especially if they are from the people of the three centuries attested to as being the best. His turning to them at that time will help him make up for what he may miss in knowledge of the Arabic language and its etiquette. We return now to this verse: Is it necessary that this term, "those are the disbelievers," means a disbelief that is an exit from the religion? Or does it mean this, and it may also mean something less than that? Here lies the precision in understanding this verse. This noble verse, may mean those who have exited the religion, and it may mean that they have practically exited from some of what the religion, the Islamic religion, brought.