Takfīr Is a Very Serious Issue

Another thing that happens is that there are followers of certain groups, and people like to consider the entire group to be kāfir, and that is very wrong. With some groups, like the Qādiyānīs, that is primarily the case. But when it comes to other groups that are beyond them… some Shias, for example, are not kāfir at all. There are some Shias, the Zaydiyyah, who would just consider ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) to be superior, but do not criticize or condemn or swear at Abū Bakr and ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them). They are very close to the Sunnis in that regard. So a blanket statement cannot be given, especially when it is just some random follower.

There is an entire section about takfīr in al-Fiqh al-Akbar, for anyone who gets a copy. They said that takfīr is not to be done of anybody, even if some things are heard about them, unless they are brought over and asked: Is this what you mean? Is this what you mean? And if they blatantly say what they are saying, explicitly, then only can that be passed. Because it is a very serious problem; it is a very serious issue.

The hadith mentions that when takfīr is made of somebody, this title, kāfir, has a physical form. It takes off; it goes to the person to whom it is addressed. If it finds that that person is worthy of this title, then it settles on them; then it is all fine. But if that person is not kāfir according to Allah, then it comes back and tries to find somewhere to settle. It finally comes back and settles on the person that sent it. So they get the sin of it.^*** It is a very, very serious issue.

The ʿulamāʾ mentioned that 99 interpretations should be tried before finally declaring somebody to be kāfir. Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī mentions that lāzim al-madhhab laysa bi-madhhab, which basically means that the implication of somebody's ideology, the implication of somebody's ideology, is not necessarily their belief. So someone may say something, and it insinuates something, it implies something; about that thing, they have to be asked: Do you actually believe this? So one has to be extremely careful about this.

And that is why the ʿulamāʾ never called them kāfir just right off the bat. And that is actually the standard of any group which is on the ḥaqq: that they are very careful about calling others kāfir, very careful. That is why there are extremes: there are some Salafis who call some Sufis kāfir, and there are some Sufis who call some Salafis kāfir; and those are actually two extremes, and one needs to be in between. So it is a deviance, and it is punishable by Allah (swt).