And my suspension of judgment regarding them is that I am not the one who *** describes them as disbelievers or as believers (Ibn al-Qayyim's view on the first category of the people of ignorance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : Then he said:
"And my suspension of judgment regarding them is that I am not the one who *** describes them as disbelievers or as believers"
This means that he, may Allah have mercy on him, holds the view of suspending judgment: are they open sinners or are they disbelievers? If we say they are open sinners, they are among the believing open sinners; and if we say they are disbelievers, they have exited the circle of Islam. He holds the view of suspending judgment.
"I am not the one who *** describes them as disbelievers or as believers"
I do not say they are disbelievers, and I do not say they are believers. Is suspension of judgment a statement? Is suspension of judgment a statement or is it considered ignorance? There is scholarly disagreement on this. Some scholars say that suspending judgment is not a statement, but rather ignorance. And some scholars say it is a statement, meaning that he has stated what the evidence contradicts. They distinguish between the one who says "I do not know," who is a layperson, and the one who researched but neither of the two matters became clear to him from the evidence, so he says, "I am suspending judgment." For this reason, the scholars of Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, transmit from Imam Ahmad a statement of suspending judgment in this issue. They say, "And from him, meaning from Imam Ahmad, is the suspension of judgment." This indicates that it is a statement, and upon reflection, it is indeed so. Because if a scholar qualified to derive rulings suspends judgment, it means that the evidence has contradicted each other for him, so he has knowledge, unlike the layperson whom you ask, "Is this forbidden?" and he says, "By Allah, I do not know." This person is suspending judgment due to ignorance, while the scholar qualified to derive rulings is suspending judgment due to knowledge. So Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, is suspending judgment out of knowledge or out of ignorance? Out of knowledge, because among their descriptions are some that necessitate their disbelief, and among their descriptions are some that necessitate that they are open sinners and not disbelievers.
"And my suspension of judgment regarding them is that I am not the one who *** describes them as disbelievers or as believers"
This means that he, may Allah have mercy on him, holds the view of suspending judgment: are they open sinners or are they disbelievers? If we say they are open sinners, they are among the believing open sinners; and if we say they are disbelievers, they have exited the circle of Islam. He holds the view of suspending judgment.
"I am not the one who *** describes them as disbelievers or as believers"
I do not say they are disbelievers, and I do not say they are believers. Is suspension of judgment a statement? Is suspension of judgment a statement or is it considered ignorance? There is scholarly disagreement on this. Some scholars say that suspending judgment is not a statement, but rather ignorance. And some scholars say it is a statement, meaning that he has stated what the evidence contradicts. They distinguish between the one who says "I do not know," who is a layperson, and the one who researched but neither of the two matters became clear to him from the evidence, so he says, "I am suspending judgment." For this reason, the scholars of Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, transmit from Imam Ahmad a statement of suspending judgment in this issue. They say, "And from him, meaning from Imam Ahmad, is the suspension of judgment." This indicates that it is a statement, and upon reflection, it is indeed so. Because if a scholar qualified to derive rulings suspends judgment, it means that the evidence has contradicted each other for him, so he has knowledge, unlike the layperson whom you ask, "Is this forbidden?" and he says, "By Allah, I do not know." This person is suspending judgment due to ignorance, while the scholar qualified to derive rulings is suspending judgment due to knowledge. So Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, is suspending judgment out of knowledge or out of ignorance? Out of knowledge, because among their descriptions are some that necessitate their disbelief, and among their descriptions are some that necessitate that they are open sinners and not disbelievers.