Part 1
Dr. Hammam Sultani
Takfir of a Muslim in the Light of the Quran, Sunnah and Statements of the Salaf
Declaring a Muslim to be a disbeliever (takfir) is one of the most sensitive and heaviest matters in sharia. It touches directly on a person’s faith, their life, their property, their honor, and the rulings that follow them into this world and the Hereafter. That’s exactly why sharia commands the greatest caution and care on this question.
The agreed-upon position of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah is this: once someone’s Islam has been established with certainty, they don’t leave Islam merely through doubt, a mistaken interpretation, a sin, or an error in ijtihad. Declaring them a disbeliever requires clear, decisive sharia evidence, all the conditions for takfir being fulfilled, and every sharia impediment being removed.
Guidance from the Holy Quran:
Allah (SWT) says:
“يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَتَبَيَّنُوا وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَنْ أَلْقَىٰ إِلَيْكُمُ السَّلَامَ لَسْتَ مُؤْمِنًا…” (سورۃ النساء: 94)
“O you who have believed, when you go forth [to fight] in the cause of Allah, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace ‘You are not a believer,…”‘
This blessed verse plainly shows that rejecting a Muslim’s faith and casting him out of Islam on nothing but suspicion, doubt, and baseless guesswork is not permitted.
Allah (SWT) says:
وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ (سورۃ الإسراء: 36)
“And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge.”
This divine guidance teaches the Muslim that in matters of belief, judgment, and decision, one must rely only on knowledge, evidence, and certainty, not on suspicion, rumor, or baseless claims.
Prophetic Hadith:
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:
“إذا قال الرجل لأخيه: يا كافر، فقد باء بها أحدهما.” (صحیح البخاري: 6104)
“If a man says to his brother: ‘O kafir!’ then it will return upon one of them.”
This hadith plainly shows that declaring a Muslim a disbeliever is an extremely grave and dangerous act. If that person isn’t actually a disbeliever, the sin of this wrongful takfir falls back on the one who made it.
In another hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:
من دعا رجلاً بالكفر أو قال: عدو الله، وليس كذلك إلا حار عليه. ( صحیح البخاری: 6045)
“If somebody accuses another of disbelief or calls him the enemy of Allah, such an accusation will revert to him (the accuser) if the accused is innocent.”
On this same subject, the famous account of Usama ibn Zayd (ra) is also deeply important and worth reflecting on. During a battle, he killed a man despite the man having said the kalima (there is no god but Allah.) The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) was deeply upset and displeased by this, and said to him: “Did you kill him after he said ‘there is no god but Allah’?”
Usama (ra) said: “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, he professed it only to save his life.'”
The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said again: “Did you kill him after he said ‘there is no god but Allah’?”
Usama (ra) said: “He kept repeating this to me, until I wished I had not embraced Islam before that day (so that I would have not committed this sin).” (Sahih al-Bukhari: 4269)
The Path of the Righteous Salaf (Salaf al-Salihin)
“لا نكفّر أحدًا من أهل القبلة بذنب ما لم يستحله.”
“We do not declare anyone from the people of the Qiblah to be Unbelievers because of a sin, so long as he doesn’t consider it lawful.”
Imam Abu Hanifah (rh), his two great students, Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad (may Allah have mercy on them), Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rh), Imam Ibn Abd al-Barr al-Maliki (rh), and all the imams of Ahl al-Sunnah agree on this: we do not consider any person among the people of the qibla a disbeliever merely for committing a sin, unless he holds that sin to be lawful and permissible.
Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya (rh) writes:
”وليس لأحد أن يكفر أحدا من المسلمين، وإن أخطأ وغلط؛ حتى تقام عليه الحجة، وتبين له المحجة، ومن ثبت إسلامه بيقين لم يزل ذلك عنه بشك؛ بل لا يزول إلا بعد إقامة الحجة، وإزالة الشبهة”. (مجموع الفتاوى، ۱۲/۴۶۶)
“No one has the right to declare a Muslim a disbeliever, even if he errs and makes a mistake, until the proof is established against him and the path of truth has been made clear to him. And whoever’s Islam has been established with certainty does not leave it through doubt, rather it doesn’t leave him except after the proof is established and every doubt removed.”
The Principles of Ahl al-Sunnah on Takfir
According to Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah:
Declaring a particular statement or action to be disbelief is one matter. Declaring a particular, named individual a disbeliever is a separate matter, and far more sensitive.
For this, it is necessary that:
1. It’s genuinely established that the person made such a statement or committed such an act, the kind that carries the ruling of disbelief.
2. The sharia ruling on that statement or action is clearly known and established.
3. The sharia proof has been established against that person.
4. His doubts and misunderstandings have been removed.
5. There are no sharia impediments present, such as coercion, ignorance, mistaken interpretation, or other excuses that block the ruling from applying.
The Deviation of the Khawarij
In Islamic history, the Khawarij were the first group to go to excess on the question of takfir, declaring Muslims disbelievers over major sins or political disagreements. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said of them:
يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهم من الرمية. (صحیح البخاری: 6930)
“They will pass out of the religion the way an arrow passes through its prey.”
Summary:
Islam is a religion of caution, justice, and careful investigation, not of hasty judgment, excess, or negligence. Ruling that a Muslim has become a disbeliever carries heavy religious and social consequences, and this question should never be weighed on the basis of emotion, political disagreement, or factional bias, it must be decided only according to the Quran and Sunnah, the consensus of the ummah, and the principles laid down by the ulema.
First Doubt
Because of doubts spread by people under the influence of extremist and takfiri thinking, many simple-hearted young people ask this question: does the Islamic Emirate’s establishment of diplomatic relations with certain non-Muslim countries, or praising and thanking the leaders of certain non-Muslim, secular countries that provide aid and cooperation to Afghanistan, make a person guilty of disbelief?
This doubt rests on a major intellectual confusion. One of the great mistakes in the question of declaring a Muslim a disbeliever is treating anyone who acknowledges some good in a non-Muslim, praises some positive action of theirs, or deals with them in a lawful, permitted way, as a disbeliever, all without any sharia basis, simply calling these things causes of disbelief. But the grounds for a person becoming a disbeliever are established only through the clear, decisive texts of the Quran and Sunnah, not on the basis of personal desires, factional biases, personal enmities, or emotional reactions.
So if a non-Muslim, or their government, does some good deed or offers help to a Muslim or an Islamic state, thanking them for that kindness or praising their positive conduct is neither disbelief nor forbidden in sharia.
A clear example of this exists in the Messenger of Allah’s own life (PBUH). The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) never forgot the kindness of Mut’im ibn Adi. He played an important role in ending the social boycott against Banu Hashim, and when the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) returned from Ta’if, Mut’im ibn Adi gave him his protection. In acknowledgment of this kindness, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) spoke well of him.
When the Muslims took seventy prisoners from the disbelievers at the Battle of Badr, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
لو كان الْمُطْعِمُ بنُ عَديٍّ حيًّا ، ثم كلَّمَنى في هؤلاءِ النَّتْنَى لترکتُهم له – يعنى أسارَى بدرٍ –(صحیح البخاری: 3139)
“Were Mut’im ibn Adi alive and interceded with me for these filthy people, I would definitely forgive them for his sake.”
In one narration it reads: “I would definitely have set them free for him.”
Hafiz Ibn Hajar (rh) writes in explaining this hadith in Fath al-Bari:
وَأَنَّ الْمُرَادَ بِالْيَدِ الْمَذْكُورَةِ، مَا وَقَعَ مِنْهُ حِينَ رَجَعَ النَّبِيُّ صلی الله علیه وسلم مِنَ الطَّائِفِ، وَدَخَلَ فِي جِوَارِ الْمُطْعِمِ بْنِ عَدِيٍّ. وَقِيلَ: الْمُرَادُ بِالْيَدِ الْمَذْكُورَةِ أَنَّهُ كَانَ مِنْ أَشَدِّ مَنْ قَامَ فِي نَقْضِ الصَّحِيفَةِ الَّتِي كَتَبَتْهَا قُرَيْشٌ عَلَى بَنِي هَاشِمٍ وَمَنْ مَعَهُمْ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ حِينَ حَصَرُوهُمْ فِي الشِّعْبِ. (فتح الباري ج:12 ح: 3139، المکتبة الوحیدیة، پشاور)
“What is meant by the hand mentioned here is what he did when the Prophet (PBUH) returned from Ta’if and entered under Mut’im ibn Adi’s protection. And it is also said that what’s meant by this hand is that he was among the most forceful in working to tear up the document that Quraysh had written against Banu Hashim and the Muslims with them, when they besieged them in the mountain pass.”
For this reason, if Mut’im ibn Adi had been alive, and the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) had released the prisoners of Badr at his request, it would have been a clear example of valuing his kindness, thanking him for it, and speaking well of him. To be continued…
