Some Advise Regarding Takfeer

By Shaykh Usmah bin Ladin

I say to my brothers that the method of Ahlus Sunnah is that if a person enters Islam with certainty he will not exit Islam except with certainty. So the origin of the Muslims is that they are Muslims, so it is not allowed for the people to make takfeer on them, rather that is of the beliefs of the Khawarij and There is no Power nor Might except with Allah.

In the authentic hadeeth of our Messenger salallahu alayhi wa salam he said:

“If a person says to his brother “Oh disbeliever” then one of them has drawn it upon himself”

If the one who has been called a disbeliever is a disbeliever then that’s done with, he is a disbeliever. if he wasn’t a disbeliever then it returns to the one who said it (ie the takfeer). So this is a big, great, great, great warning of falling into those issues and especially making takfeer of the individual.

So fear Allah and know that for the victory that we are waiting for from Allah we have to show to Allah patience and taqwa. But if you remain patient and have taqwah, not the least harm will their plotting do to you.

So be cautious and again be cautions because making takfeer on the people is from the very dangerous greatest sins so guard your tongues.

And in the authentic hadeeth of our Messenger salallahu alayhi wa salam he said:

“Allah is please with three things from you, that you worship Him and join none with Him in worship and that you hold fast all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided amongst yourselves”

So the first pillar cannot be established without this foundation. And what is this foundation? It is the foundation of staying with the group, “you hold fast all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided amongst yourselves”

Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah says that this hadeeth is the comprehension of the essentials of Islam:

“that you worship Him and join none with Him in worship that you hold fast all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and be not divided amongst yourselves and that you give advises to those who Allah had given authority over you”

So you have to give advices amongst yourselves and to your leaders.

“And He hates for you three things, Qeela wa Qaala (ie so and so said) and asking too much and wasting wealth”

So focus well on these three (good) things and those three (bad) things. Because the first three things are from the essentials of the religion and the other three things are from the destruction of the religion. So keep away from “so and so said” and asking too much and wasting wealth.

When we are speaking and the person who speaks is from the people of knowledge and he knows the standards of takfeer, then there is nothing wrong with him speaking and giving explanations to his brothers.

But to those who ignore takfeer, for example even rulers who commit kufr forty times a day, they abstain from making takfeer on them and say nobody can make takfeer on them, this is the other (extreme), the method of thought of the Tawagheet, they disclose and exaggerate this so even if the rulers commit clear open kufr no body can make takfeer of them.

So those who the Quran and Sunnah make takfeer on, we make takfeer on them if those rules can be applied on them, but those who they (ie The Quran and Sunnah) have made takfeer on with their names mentioned, like Firawn and Abu Jahl, then those who don’t make takfeer of them cannot be considered believers.

But as for the other people, if they do the nullifier of Islam this is a very precise sensitive issue. A person can sometimes do an act of disbelief and not become a disbeliever because of being ignorant of because of some compulsion. These are very precise issues that not all the brothers are able to learn and specialise in.

But now we are speaking about general things, those regimes are accountable, they have done nullifiers of Islam and it has been made clear to them time after time, but they insist in that and they fight against Allah and His Messenger salallahu alayhi wa salam.

So we say about those regimes that they have become apostates from the religion of Allah. But some brothers go further than that and they say “such and such… eulogising them” Some people are ignorant so you cannot suddenly implement the ruling on them.

In the time of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab he used to do takfeer on the leaders of some of the areas because they ruled by other than what Allah revealed and there were some people whom it was claimed that they possessed knowledge, defending these leaders yet the biggest response he gave to them was that those (ie the ones favourable to and defending the leaders) who didn’t rule by what Allah has revealed was that he said they where fasiqs (rebellious).

And between rebelliousness to Allah and disbelief there is a big distance, so fear Allah and keep away from this and spend your time with a lot of dhikr and dua and realising the blessings and thank Allah for these blessings so that we will meet Allah and He is Pleased with us.

Before you speak think what will be accomplish by what you will say. You have to strive with obedience to Allah and waging Jihad in the cause of Allah. And regarding issues you don’t have knowledge about, you need to fear Allah. And from the Taqwa is not to randomly give fatwa and there is no Power nor Might except with Allah.