Chapter Twenty-One

A Crucial Matter: The Distinction Between a Disbeliever and One Who Commits Disbelief While Attributed to Islam

Know, my beloved brother, that the matter of (the distinction between a disbeliever and one who commits disbelief while attributed to Islam) must be clarified in accordance with Sharia. Otherwise, you will fall into the error of declaring Muslims to be disbelievers without any Sharia evidence.

What is the connection between this distinction and refuting the extremists in takfir (declaring someone a disbeliever)?

The answer to this is that the extremists, when they did not differentiate between a disbeliever and one who commits disbelief while attributed to Islam, erred in applying the rule: "(Whoever does not declare a disbeliever to be a disbeliever is himself a disbeliever)." They made everyone who committed an act of disbelief a disbeliever, and based on that, they made anyone who did not declare them a disbeliever to be a disbeliever like them. If they had known the distinction between a disbeliever and one who commits disbelief while attributed to Islam, they would not have gone astray in this matter and innovated in the religion of Allah.

A disbeliever is one for whom Islam has not been established in the first place, and he is called an "original disbeliever." Or, he is one for whom Islam was established, then he committed disbelief, and the conditions and pillars of apostasy were fulfilled for him, and its impediments were removed. He is called an "apostate disbeliever."

As for one who commits disbelief while attributed to Islam: he is anyone for whom Islam was established, then he committed disbelief. This is either because the conditions and pillars of apostasy were fulfilled for him and its impediments were removed, in which case he becomes an apostate disbeliever. Or, the conditions and pillars of apostasy were not fulfilled for him, or its impediments were not removed. In this case, the Sharia ruling of apostasy is not applied to him, and the ruling of Islam remains with him.