Chapter Eight The Difference Between Not Declaring an Apostate an Apostate, and Supporting Him in His Apostasy Know, my beloved brother, that it is necessary to clarify the difference between not declaring an apostate an apostate, and supporting him in his apostasy, in accordance with Islamic law. Otherwise, you will fall into declaring Muslims apostates without any legal evidence. This is because the extremists, when they did not differentiate between the two, began to declare apostates everyone who was ignorant of the legal ruling on declaring an apostate an apostate, who attributed himself to Islam. They claimed that not declaring him an apostate necessitates supporting him in his apostasy, and that whoever does not declare this person an apostate has supported him in his apostasy, and has thus renounced Islam, and we seek refuge in Allah.

We clarify the invalidity of this by saying: Not declaring an apostate an apostate (due to ignorance or interpretation) means not applying the ruling of apostasy to him due to ignorance of the rulings of apostasy (in terms of fulfilling the conditions and pillars, and the absence of impediments). So, in reality, he did not declare him an apostate out of fear of hastening to declare someone an apostate without verification or certainty of his apostasy. However, this does not at all mean not hating, denouncing, and disassociating from the apostasy that the perpetrator is upon.

So, refraining from declaring an apostate an apostate is one thing, and supporting a disbeliever in his disbelief by acknowledging it, supporting it, aiding it, and assisting him in his disbelief is another thing. For it is not possible for a servant to be a believer in Allah and His Messenger with the saving faith, loving the believers and what they are upon, and hating the disbelievers and what they are upon.