A statement regarding the issue of declaring someone a disbeliever and mentioning the conditions for declaring a specific individual a disbeliever.

The Shaykh : Regarding declaring as a disbeliever one whom Allah has declared a disbeliever... some people, meaning, when these recordings in front of us first came out, the one who owns a recorder was called a disbeliever. Glory be to Allah! I said: Why? He said: This is sorcery, and possessing sorcery is disbelief. Is this correct? Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his tafsir that when the clock first appeared, they said it was sorcery. A clock. In the time of Ibn Kathir, these had not developed... these. If these clocks had appeared in their time, they would have said this is sorcery, sorcery. But in any case, a person should fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in declaring people disbelievers, especially. Declaring someone an open sinner is easier, but the issue of declaring someone a disbeliever is not light. If one is declared a disbeliever, his blood becomes permissible, his wealth becomes permissible, it is permissible to kill him. The issue is not light. Therefore, his deeds are not accepted, he is not prayed over, he is not buried with the Muslims, his wife is divorced from him. The rulings of disbelief are known to everyone. For this reason, it is obligatory for us to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in declaring people disbelievers. And just as it is obligatory for us not to be cowardly in declaring as disbelievers those whom Allah and His Messenger have declared disbelievers, it is also obligatory for us to distinguish between a specific individual and a non-specific one. For a specific individual, we need two things to rule on his being a disbeliever: First, it must be established that the characteristic he performed is one that necessitates disbelief. Second, the conditions of declaring someone a disbeliever must apply to him. Among the most important of these is knowledge that this is a cause for being declared a disbeliever. If he is ignorant, we do not declare him a disbeliever. For this reason, the scholars mentioned in the establishment of hudud (fixed punishments) that one of the conditions for establishing a hudud punishment is that the person must know the prohibition. And establishing a hudud is a ruling that is not a ruling of disbelief. If a person commits zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) while he thinks that it is not forbidden, is the hudud established against him? The hudud is not established against him. And even if he is a married man, the hudud is not established against him, neither by flogging nor by stoning. If this is the case for a hudud, which is a form of disciplining this person, we do not rule with it except after he knows the prohibition. So likewise is the ruling of disbelief. A person may come and do what causes him to be declared a disbeliever, but he is ignorant and does not know. If you inform him, he says, "May Allah reward you with good," and he retracts his disbelief. Do we declare him a disbeliever? We do not declare him a disbeliever. Likewise, a person may be in a state where he does not know what he is saying. Someone angers him and he goes... he curses the religion and the like. But at that moment, his blood may have boiled, and he became unaware of what he was saying. Is he ruled to be a disbeliever? He is not ruled to be a disbeliever, just as we do not rule that his divorce is valid if he pronounces a divorce, for example. Issues have conditions and they have preventers. Not every word is said to be a word of disbelief, or every action is said to be an action of disbelief, such that everyone who is characterized by it is declared a disbeliever, until the proof is established against him. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: and the like of these clear and obvious verses. And we ask Allah for safety. Yes.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : I think we cannot read...

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Yes.