What is the standard for declaring an innovator a disbeliever?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah:
I convey to you, O Shaykh, the greetings of the youth of Riyadh, specifically the youth of al-Nasim and al-Nazim district. The question, O Shaykh, is: What is the standard for declaring an innovator a disbeliever?
The Shaykh : I say: Peace be upon you and upon them.
The issue of declaring someone a disbeliever, my brothers, is a great and serious matter, more severe than declaring something lawful or forbidden. This is because declaring something lawful or forbidden does not lead to the permissibility of taking blood or wealth, whereas declaring someone a disbeliever leads to the permissibility of taking blood and wealth. Because if you say, "This person is a disbeliever," it means he is an apostate. So either he returns to Islam, or he is killed and his wealth is taken. Therefore, the matter is serious. For this reason, a person must fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic regarding himself, and he must guard his tongue from saying, "So-and-so is a disbeliever" or "So-and-so is a disbeliever," or the like of that.
And declaring someone a disbeliever requires two conditions:
The first condition is that we verify from the Book and the Sunnah that this matter is disbelief. If we do not verify this, it is absolutely not permissible for us to say that it is disbelief. We must verify that it is disbelief. Because who is it that declares people disbelievers and does not declare them disbelievers? Who?
Who is it that declares people disbelievers and does not declare them disbelievers?
It is Allah the Mighty and Majestic who judges His servants as disbelievers or not disbelievers. So it is not permissible for us to say that this act is disbelief or that this man is a disbeliever until we are certain from the Qur'an and the Sunnah that this is disbelief. This is the first rank.
The second is that we verify that this description, to which the Shari'ah has attached the ruling of disbelief, has been attributed to this man such that the proof has been established against him and he understood it, but he refused, became arrogant, and said:[Az-Zukhruf 43:22]. So if we find a man who is an innovator, whether he is from the general following masses or from those above them, but he is not a scholar who independently derives rulings in his innovation and calls to it, then we do not declare him a disbeliever until the proof is established against him and the matter becomes clear to him. So if the matter is made clear to him, then at that time we judge according to what the indication of the Book and the Sunnah requires, regarding whether this innovation is one that entails disbelief or not.
So the matter is serious. And know that perhaps the statement is disbelief or the action is disbelief, but the one who speaks or the one who acts is not a disbeliever. Perhaps the story of the man who lost his mount in a desert has reached you. It was lost from him and he was unable to find it, and his food and drink were on it. So he was left with nothing but to die, so he lay down under a tree.
Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah:
I convey to you, O Shaykh, the greetings of the youth of Riyadh, specifically the youth of al-Nasim and al-Nazim district. The question, O Shaykh, is: What is the standard for declaring an innovator a disbeliever?
The Shaykh : I say: Peace be upon you and upon them.
The issue of declaring someone a disbeliever, my brothers, is a great and serious matter, more severe than declaring something lawful or forbidden. This is because declaring something lawful or forbidden does not lead to the permissibility of taking blood or wealth, whereas declaring someone a disbeliever leads to the permissibility of taking blood and wealth. Because if you say, "This person is a disbeliever," it means he is an apostate. So either he returns to Islam, or he is killed and his wealth is taken. Therefore, the matter is serious. For this reason, a person must fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic regarding himself, and he must guard his tongue from saying, "So-and-so is a disbeliever" or "So-and-so is a disbeliever," or the like of that.
And declaring someone a disbeliever requires two conditions:
The first condition is that we verify from the Book and the Sunnah that this matter is disbelief. If we do not verify this, it is absolutely not permissible for us to say that it is disbelief. We must verify that it is disbelief. Because who is it that declares people disbelievers and does not declare them disbelievers? Who?
Who is it that declares people disbelievers and does not declare them disbelievers?
It is Allah the Mighty and Majestic who judges His servants as disbelievers or not disbelievers. So it is not permissible for us to say that this act is disbelief or that this man is a disbeliever until we are certain from the Qur'an and the Sunnah that this is disbelief. This is the first rank.
The second is that we verify that this description, to which the Shari'ah has attached the ruling of disbelief, has been attributed to this man such that the proof has been established against him and he understood it, but he refused, became arrogant, and said:
Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and we are in their footsteps [rightly] guided."
إِنَّا وَجَدْنَا آبَاءَنَا عَلَى أُمَّةٍ وَإِنَّا عَلَى آثَارِهِمْ مُقْتَدُونَSo the matter is serious. And know that perhaps the statement is disbelief or the action is disbelief, but the one who speaks or the one who acts is not a disbeliever. Perhaps the story of the man who lost his mount in a desert has reached you. It was lost from him and he was unable to find it, and his food and drink were on it. So he was left with nothing but to die, so he lay down under a tree.