The Ruling on Classifying People into Sects and Schools of Thought Based on Suspicion
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
What is your opinion regarding one who classifies people into sects and schools of thought based merely on suspicion? We ask your Eminence to advise these people (may Allah guide them).
Answer:
It is obligatory for the servant to fear Allah, and one should not classify people except with certainty, in the manner in which Allah classified them: whoever fears Allah is with the believers, whoever disbelieves in Allah is with the disbelievers, and whoever engages in sins is in between, with those who are unjust to themselves. It is said of him: he is an open sinner, and it is said of him: he is a believer whose faith is deficient.
These are the categories of people: the believer, the disbeliever, and the one who mixes [faith and disbelief], who is the one who is unjust to himself. These are the categories of people. Whoever fears Allah is with the believers, whoever disbelieves in Allah is with the disbelievers, and whoever engages in sins and does not repent from them is with those who mix [faith and disbelief], with those who are unjust to themselves. They are under the will of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) as He the Exalted said: [Al-Nisa: 48] And He the Exalted said: [Fatir: 32] So the one who is unjust to himself is the one who commits sins.
What is your opinion regarding one who classifies people into sects and schools of thought based merely on suspicion? We ask your Eminence to advise these people (may Allah guide them).
Answer:
It is obligatory for the servant to fear Allah, and one should not classify people except with certainty, in the manner in which Allah classified them: whoever fears Allah is with the believers, whoever disbelieves in Allah is with the disbelievers, and whoever engages in sins is in between, with those who are unjust to themselves. It is said of him: he is an open sinner, and it is said of him: he is a believer whose faith is deficient.
These are the categories of people: the believer, the disbeliever, and the one who mixes [faith and disbelief], who is the one who is unjust to himself. These are the categories of people. Whoever fears Allah is with the believers, whoever disbelieves in Allah is with the disbelievers, and whoever engages in sins and does not repent from them is with those who mix [faith and disbelief], with those who are unjust to themselves. They are under the will of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) as He the Exalted said:
Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُThen we caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen of Our servants; and among them is he who wrongs himself, and among them is he who is moderate, and among them is he who is foremost in good deeds
ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.