Some questions regarding kufr and takfir

innama'l a'amalu bin-niyyat.

there are some things which are explicitly kufr. one does not refer to a qadi or a mufti.
bowing down in front of an idol is kufr. insulting prophets is kufr. disbelieving in faraid like prayer and fasting in ramadan is kufr.

but there are other things which common people or even scholars with basic knowledge may not know. they are advised to refer to more knowledgeable scholars or muftis or qadis.

---

even if you teach it as a subject in school - you clarify that this is how it is taught, and you do not believe it. in fact, i advised my kids to either skip the questions or write: "according to scientists," in their exams.

 

no one did takfir on this issue.

waHy here does not mean waHy of nubuwwat. is this talking about ONE specific bee - or bees in general? if so, then is the waHy on every bee?

actually, naHl here refers to the species. and waHy means taught them how to extract material from the flowers and convert it into sweet honey. so waHy here means ilhaam - meaning knowledge that is innate (i.e. bestowed by Allah without any intermediary).

for example:

وإذْ أوْحَيْتُ إلى الحَوارِيِّينَ
and when I gave inspiration to the companions [of yisa alayhis salam]​

hawariyyun: the companions or disciples of sayyiduna yisa alayhis salam;
here, their hearts were inspired to accept the message and they believed in the messengers. no one can say that they were prophets.

یَوۡمَىِٕذࣲ تُحَدِّثُ أَخۡبَارَهَا ۝٤ بِأَنَّ رَبَّكَ أَوۡحَىٰ لَهَا
on that day, it [the earth] will report its news; because your Lord-Creator commanded it [to do so].
​

here waHy is used to mean 'command': the Lord Almighty will command the earth to report about all that happened on it.

---

this and the 1001 tafri'aat - all lead back to the basic principles i have mentioned in the beginning of the thread. you can keep asking another thousand such examples.

here also if the person hesitates fearing he may be making a mistake in doing takfir - and refers to a mufti, it is not "doubting". rather, it is "waiting for clarification"

when it is clarified that it is an 'explicit insult' - and that it was said about sayyiduna Rasulillah, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, but still doubts that the person did not become kafir, then it incurs the takfir of "man shakka fi kufrihi..."

 

If one takes such a shadh position they are simply mistaken.

In Umdah al-Murīd, the commentary to Jawharah al-Tawhīd by the author himself, he mentions the ikhtilāf regarding the Nubuwwah of 4 women, and he says that Imam Qurtubi in his Sharh Sahih Muslim chose the position of Sayyidah Maryam having Nubuwwah.

Secondly, the answer can somewhat be found within what you have stated. Imam Subki wouldn't do tawaqquf if the issue was one of complete consensus amongst ahlus sunnah, plus why would it be good for Imam Qurtubi to transmit the position of his teacher if it was a position entailing fisq? He took the position himself.

That being said, the overwhelming majority of Ahlus sunnah take the position that there were only male Prophets, and there is no need to take a minority position as such when the evidences for all Prophets being male are far stronger.

 

this is not blasphemy or kufr. of c it could be avoided and this is why people should stick to alahazrat's school.

though we criticise karam shah, here the words are not taken literal. sitam-e-zarifi is an idiom used here to mean "irony".

sitam-e-zarifi can have two meanings:

hansi-hansi mein sataana: causing trouble or pain playfully or in jest. or causing hurt, but all the while laughing - i.e. to hide one's causing trouble by outwardly being jovial.​

satanay mein hansi ka pahlu: when one is causing trouble or hurting, there is an aspect of humour. dark humour.​

i do not know which context he is talking about in this quoted passage - but it appears he is talking about the wonders of nature and the nature of man: (purely based on the few lines cited; please give additional context)

- the natural scenery is so beautiful that one is attracted towards it
- secondly, the secret which makes this so beautiful and attractive is unknow
- on top of this: (sitam e zarifi) - he put inside man an insatiable thirst to know and to investigate.​

so yes, sitam-e-zarifi could be avoided and said instead: "is par lutf ki baat yeh hai.."
but since it is an idiom, he escapes the hukm. Allah ta'ala knows best.
----
ghazab kia teray wa'aday pay iytibar kia
does not mean that the poet went ballistic and became extremely angry after accepting the promise.

here ghazab, means 'a blunder' - i did a mistake relying upon your promise.

 

salam, another question
regarding this passage of peer karam shah. I have heard ulama criticise this a lot but have been aware recently that when the word sitam zareefi is used as an idafa to qudrah then it means something other than zulm in urdu adab. Is this correct and what is the hukm on this pasage

 

But here, mufti sahab is giving a dars on al mutaqad and quotes it and says that imam razi and qadi baydawi quote ijma on hazrat maryam radi Allahu anha not being a prophet. (at around 50:00)

Furthermore the alim e deen who said it was misguidance also gave more references. He said:
"It's mentioned in al bahr al muhīt that imām qādhī iyādh stated that the majority are not on this opinion that sayyidah maryam is a prophet. Likewise, allāma nawawī in his al adhkār from imām al haramain that he transmitted a consensus upon the fact that sayyidah maryam is not a prophet and imām hassan al basrī also stated the same and some scholars perform tawaquff (توقف) on this masa'lah such as imām subkī.

As for your question, the ibārat which I quoted in my original answer on Islamic Queries mentioning imām al qurtubīs ibārat:
والصحيح أنها نبية -
this isn't imām al qurtubīs original ibārat, rather he transmitted this from his teacher, shaykh abul abbās al qurtubī from his sharh of sahīh muslim, namely 'al mufhim' & a student copying the ibārat of his teacher is a good thing, doesn't necessarily mean that allāma qurtubī al malikī also held the same position."

In the light of the above, ijma on a point of creed means ijma of the mutakallimeen, and if the opinion of a non mutakallim goes against ijma then that doesn't remove the ijma and is considered shadh. So what would this mean for the hukm on an individual who holds this position?

 

وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته
It is well known - and you can refer to the commentaries on texts such as Jawharah al-Tawhīd - that Sayyidah Maryam (amongst others) is considered a prophetess by some of the scholars, but the jumhūr ahl al-sunnah maintain that being male is a condition for prophethood and thus, do not consider Sayyidah Maryam a Prophet.

To believe she is a Prophetess is neither kufr nor bid'ah. Will hopefully provide some references soon.

 

السلام علیکم
what is the hukm on someone who considers sayyiduna maryam to be a prophetess? In the ask-mufti group chat of dawat e islami, they said he is kafir. But I had heard that there was a minority position within the asha'irah so asked another reliable scholar who said:
"The hukum of kufr being applied is very strict, lest there is definitive source proving so. Nonetheless, it is stated in al Qur'ān al Karīm sūrah yūsuf 109, sūrah nahl 43 & sūrah anbiya 7 that Allāh has only sent down revelation upon men but the aspect of revelation (wahī) is also proven upon ذوى العقول and غير ذوى العقول.

Allāh also stated that we have sent wahī upon the mother of mūsā (عليه السلام) and wahī is also linked towards the نحل (bee) aswell. Hence, there is a distinction between wahī & nubuwwat. The position of the ma'turidiyah is that only men are nabīs and majority of the ashā'irah also hold this very position. However, there were some weak positions that state otherwise but no one in Islamic history placed hukum of kufr on such a person, he will be misguided (i believe Ibn hazam also apdoted this position of nubuwwat for women)"
That scholar also said that "As for reliability then you may also check with a scholar/muftī on this issue aswell confirming the above response". So I thought to ask it here.

 

Salam
1) What is the ruling on tutoring people english language and literature or science. I did gcses in england. The books taught in english there are filled with kufr and shirk and non islamic ideologies: shakespeare's plays (especially macbeth which is what I was taught), a christmas carol etc. I asked ulama about quoting kufr and quite a few of them said that it is in not permissible to quote kufr even with attribution and instead you must only quote with refutation. Such as: Evolutionists believe that such and such, but this is incorrect and the correct belief is that humans were created by Allah." or after quoting, you can say that "I don't agree with this". But how does one teach people this whilst tutoring and the person he is tutoring is a non muslim since he doesn't believe in Islam?


2) I also wanted to ask that I had another conversation with the azhari teacher I mentioned earlier (you might remember regarding allama saeedi sahab's tafsir). We had a conversation regarding takfir. "He said that he would never do takfir since takfir is only the job of a qadi. A layperson, and even a mufti, can't make takfir. i would consider the statement to be kufr but not do takfir". A few months later, I asked him a particular person from pakistan who believes that imam ali is greater than all prophets except prophet sallallahu alaihi wa alihi wasallam. He said that "As for any specific case or person that has said this or is accused of saying it then they should be referred to the ulama Qadhi who will investigate and if need be declare a verdict that the person is a Kafir". Is he correct in saying this? Does he mean that a normal person can't call that person a kafir? How can someone say kufr sareeh mata'ayyan, become a kafir and your not do takfir of him?
BTW all of our conversations took place on whatsapp.

 

السلام علیکم۔
1) If someone hears a phrase which he doubts might be kufr but he is unsure due to lack of knowledge so he asks a mufti sahab to find out and turns out that the statement which he inquired about is kufr sareeh muta'ayyan. Would this make him a kafir for doubting it before asking the mufti sahab.
For example, regarding the kufr of the deobandis. If a laymen read those for the first time and found them to be wrong but thought that perhaps there is a way that they might be saved from takfir so I should I ask a mufti sahab about whether this is kufr sareeh or not. Then he asks the mufti sahab and he tells him that this is kufr sareeh and now he considers them a kafir.

 

answers to these questions depend on understanding the definitions of luzūm and iltizām—when a statement or action falls under the category of luzūm, and when it is considered iltizām.

i would prefer to leave this for side aH to answer, as the best explanation will certainly come from him.

also, there are very fine details involved—subtleties that many people either overlook or have become confused about in our time. i would rather stay on the learning side, as i am still a beginner on the path of knowledge.

 

not necessarily. a person is considered sinful only when the fatwa is issued without proper knowledge or when it contradicts a well-established ruling (ḥukm) of the shariah, especially within the same madhhab. otherwise, it is common for followers of one madhhab to regard certain rulings of other madhāhib as mistaken. for example, according to the hanafī school, eating crab is makrūh taḥrīman, and abandoning witr prayer is considered sinful. however, in the shāfiʿī school, these actions are not regarded as sinful. also, a difference of opinion within the same madhhab, when based on taḥqīq rather than ignorance, is not sinful.

 

salam.
I have another question please. Hazrat you said "mistaken". I wanted to know that, generally when ulama say that a particular fatwa is mistaken, do they mean that the person following that verdict is sinful. For example, when the ulama some ulama say that in our opinion iman e abu talib is not established and the other position is mistaken, or the fatwa about machine slaughter. Does this mean that the mufti who gave those fatawa are sinful according to the ulama who consider them mistaken. I had heard that if a mufti does his best and then even if he is mistaken, he is rewarded.

 

When scholars say one must acknowledge kufr to be kufr in order to do tawbah, what does this mean?
If somebody is unsure of if something is kufr, (not because he has been informed of the ruling but doubts it, rather he simply doesn't know the ruling) and he repents, is this an exception?

 

Yes, it is necessary. Otherwise, the person remains a kafir (disbeliever), and ignorance cannot be used as an excuse.

 

mistaken and takes the burden (sin) of issuing incorrect fatwa;

مَنْ أُفْتِيَ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ كَانَ إِثْمُهُ عَلَى مَنْ أَفْتَاهُ (سنن ابی داؤد 3659)

Whoever gives a fatwa without knowledge, the sin is upon the one who gave the fatwa.

 

it is the correct belief. that is, kazib is jaiz aqlan and mustahil shar'an for prophets; there is no luzum or litizam of kufr.

 

jazakAllahu khayran @Noori and @abu Hasan

learnt some very surprising and important things today.

Thanks to the brother who started the thread. This brings out so vividly the thrust of our Sunni manhaj - which is to avoid takfir as much as possible - and not to hand out a judgement of kufr until all possibilities of Islam have been exhausted.

Compare this to the heretics who takfir people left, right and center.

 

no.

else, a very big chunk of the muslim population in today's world would fall under this axe for omitting one sunnah or the other. nas'alu Allah al-aafiyah.

 

noori bhai has already answered this; however, the key point requires a little elaboration though obvious to the knowledgeable.

the love of the Prophet sallALlahu alayhi wa sallam and respecting him is from necessities of faith. denigrating him, disparaging him, insulting his honoured person is violation of that necessary precept.

therefore, one who insults the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam becomes a kafir; and so also the one who does not deem him a kafir. because the first becomes a kafir on account of a violation; the second because he does not deem the violation - a necessary precept - as kufr.

and it is in this context that it is said: "one who doubts in his kufr and [that it entails] punishment is also a kafir".

---
for your question was answered by noori: if it is due to personal preference, that it is his not agreeablet to his nature, that he abstains from a sunnah - he will not be ruled kafir so long as he does not dislike it because the Prophet sallALlahu alayhi wa sallam liked it. but this is the lenient opinion.

however, to curb carefree "i don't like this" brashness from the jahil awam or ghafil scholars - fuqaha listed a number of things as kufr under 'denigrating sunnah' or 'rejecting the sunnah'. it is in this regard the anecdote of imam abu yusuf is mentioned that he warned the governor to repent or else...

---
every muslim must be aware of the sahih hadith and repeat it to self and others often, and make it one's second nature - Allahumma aameen:

لا يُؤمِنُ أحدُكُم حتَّى يكونَ هواهُ تَبَعًا لما جئتُ بهِ
none of you has [truly] believed until his desire is subservient to that with which i was sent forth.
---
​

suppose one is has been doing an action or likes something - or otherwise; (he detest something or has been omitting an action)
assume it is against the sunnah, and the person has been unaware hitherto. when he is reminded, the true believer will immediately like it or loath it (in accordance with the sunnah) - immediately. this is true faith.

we ask Allah ta'ala to grant us such a zeal for the sunnah of the nabiy sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam.