that is not for me to rule upon. it will be between him and Allah. not my business. not yours either. as for me, i am bound to consider him a kafir - and all fiqhi rulings will be in accordance with that. --- a woman becomes halal because of uttering the acceptance: "i accept her in my nikah" - merely saying "alHamdulillah" in the heart will not make her halal. a woman become haram by uttering the divorce; merely 'saying it in the heart' will not effect a divorce. an animal becomes halal to eat, ONLY if you utter the name of Allah. merely saying it in your heart will not make it permissible to eat. your salat is valid only if you articulate the prayers and recite it with your tongue - merely thinking about surah fatihah will not render it as having been recited. one becomes profane only if he utters dirty words - mere knowledge of dirty words will not be held against them. one becomes a kafir only by uttering 'words of kufr' - mere knowledge of those words will not lead us to rule them kafir. === when you are praying - unless one is a waliy-e-kamil - a thousand thoughts come to mind. if your father or mother calls you from another room, the thought: "i am praying" as an answer occurs spontaneously. but will that nullify your prayer? certainly not. unless you utter it with your tongue. what is in the heart - whether charles is a muslim and sufi or will he REALLY go to jannah - is not our business. he is a kafir on the outside and we continue to consider him thus unless he professes islam AND shuns kufr publicly. how can you say he is not a muslim near Allah? just as i cannot say whether YOU are REALLY a muslim near Allah. Allah knows best.
it is concealed from you - and you cannot know what is in his heart unless he expresses it. from babarti's sh. on wasiyyah of imam al-azam. what hinders him from uttering it? if he has to withhold under coercion - like the terrorist hindus in india force muslims to utter kufr - or fearing for one's life the person says he is not a muslim. i.e. a case of ikrah. surah al-nahl, 16:106
he is a muslim. a sinful muslim, but a muslim. actions are not part of iyman. --- he is not a muslim - because of the hadith that clearly specifies utterance of the shahadah before anything else. the utterance is not just repeating the words - but to understand those words and believe in it. 'utter by the tongue, and affirm that belief in one's heart' - iqraru'n bi'l lisan, wa taSdiqun bi'l janan as said by our imam. see sh. al-wasiyyah of babarti, p.50: I bear witness that there is no God except Allah, and that Muhammad ﷺ is the Messenger of Allah. wAllahu a'alam.
1) What is the fate of the individual who believes in everything that Islām requires one to believe in and says the Shahādah but does not do any action of Islām? 2) What is the fate of the individual who believes in everything that Islām requires one to believe in but does not utter the Shahādah or perform the actions of Islām?
