Explanation of the author's statement: His saying: "And both of them [al-Bukhari and Muslim] have it in the hadith of 'Utbah: (Indeed, Allah has forbidden the Fire to the one who says: There is no god but Allah)

The Shaykh : He said "And both of them [al-Bukhari and Muslim] have it in the hadith of 'Utbah:

Indeed, Allah has forbidden the Fire to the one who says: There is no god but Allah, seeking thereby the Face of Allah

فإن الله حرم على النار من قال لا إله إلا الله يبتغي بذلك وجه الله

Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 3:173

" 'Utbah ibn Malik was one of the Ansar (may Allah be pleased with him) and he forbade them from saying he is a hypocrite, while they do not know what is in his heart, because he testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Here, the Messenger said, "Do not say it this way," and he did not declare the man innocent; rather, he used a general expression. And he forbade us from letting our tongues run loose about the servants of Allah whose outward appearance is righteousness, saying, "This one is a show-off" or "a hypocrite" or the like, because if we acted on our suspicions, the world and the Hereafter would be ruined. Yes, many people we suspect of evil, but there are those who say such things while their outward appearance is righteous. For this reason, the scholars said that it is forbidden to suspect a Muslim whose outward appearance is of integrity. Yes, yes, that is right.
His saying means preventing the Fire; prohibition in this context means prevention. And who is prevented? The one who says, "There is no god but Allah," but with the condition of sincerity. Yes, he acts, because one who seeks a thing strives to attain it. The Messenger did not say, "The one who says 'There is no god but Allah' and is silent"; he said, "seeking." So it is necessary that the intention in this statement be sincere. And there is no doubt that everyone who seeks must act and strive to attain it. If you say, "I seek to have a lot of money," and you just sleep and do not strive for it, and you say, "By Allah, I am sincere, I really want a lot of money," and you are sitting there without moving, what would you say now? Are you sincere or not? You are not sincere. One must seek. Everyone who says, "There is no god but Allah," as we mentioned before, whoever testifies, everyone who says, "There is no god but Allah," must have this God, to whom no other object of worship is due, sought after. He must be the delight of his eye and the joy of his heart, and attaining Him must be more beloved to him than anything else. And if that is the case, he must act; he must act. And in that case, we do not need the statement of al-Zuhri, because al-Zuhri (may Allah have mercy on him), when he narrated the hadith as in Sahih Muslim, said: "Then certain things became obligatory and certain things became forbidden, so let no one be deceived by this." ... We say we do not need al-Zuhri's comment on this hadith; rather, we say the hadith is clear. But yes, perhaps an ordinary person, for example, an ordinary person ... I say, "There is no god but Allah, seeking thereby the Face of Allah." We say: Is seeking the Face of Allah sufficient with just this statement or not? No ... to this. And for this reason, when the Messenger said , some of the Salaf said, "Yes, the key to Paradise is 'There is no god but Allah,' but it comes with a key that has no teeth. Does it open or not? Obviously it does not open. If you sit all the time, it does not open. In any case, the hadith, praise be to Allah, is clear: seeking thereby the Face of Allah.
A man commits zina, steals, drinks intoxicants, and kills the soul that Allah has forbidden except by right, and he says, "There is no god but Allah," every time he commits zina he says, "There is no god but Allah, seeking thereby the Face of Allah."
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Is he sincere or not?
The student: Liar.

The Shaykh : Liar. How can you seek the Face of Allah while you are committing zina? And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says , which prevents him from being a seeker. He said, "And he is a believer," let alone being a seeker of the Face of Allah. So it is necessary that this statement be with this intention: seeking thereby the Face of Allah. That is right. The Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said, and his saying is true: "The seeker must perfect the means of seeking, and if he perfects them, the Fire is absolutely forbidden to him." Is this correct or not?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : It is known that if he comes with good deeds in the most perfect manner, they are absolutely forbidden to him; he will never enter it. If he comes with a deficiency, something incomplete, then the seeking in it is deficient, is it not? It is deficient. So the prohibition in it is deficient, a partial prohibition, meaning he is exposed to entering the Fire, but what he has of faith and tawhid (the oneness of Allah) prevents him from abiding in it, though it is deficient. You find the entire Shari'ah is precise. A recompense in kind. It is all precise, praise be to Allah; none of it contradicts another. In this is a refutation of which of the sects of innovation? A refutation of the Murji'ah, the Khawarij, and the Mu'tazilah. Because the Murji'ah say that saying "There is no god but Allah" is sufficient without seeking. The one who says "There is no god but Allah" enters Paradise and is forbidden from the Fire ... How is this ...? He said, "Yes, that is right." The hypocrites say, "There is no god but Allah." They said, "They did not say it with intention; they did not say it with intention; they said it only out of fear of the sword." Yes, that is right. And there is also a refutation of the Khawarij and the Mu'tazilah, because the apparent meaning of the hadith is that if he commits forbidden acts, he will not abide in the Fire, is it not? As long as he has the statement "There is no god but Allah" seeking thereby the Face of Allah, it must have an effect, even if the seeking is slight; it must have an effect. And those people say that the doer of a major sin abides in the Fire and cannot enter Paradise at all, may Allah protect us. And they are at opposite extremes with whom? With the Murji'ah. Yes, that is right. Then he said