fatwas from the great Islamic scholar of India, Ahmad Rida Khan Barilawi

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Question 1: "The British spies in India, who call themselves 'Nayashira'. They believe that Jabrail ('alaihi 's-salam), angels, genies, the Satan, heavens, the mujiza of Miraj, Hell and Paradise exist and that bodies will get alive again as Muslims believe. Yet they give false meanings to the ayats that deal with these subjects, as some of the people called Batiniyya do. They say that these things are not made of matter but they are conceptual and imaginative. They say that nothing can exist outside customs and physical laws. Thus they deny that Allahu ta'ala can create many things outside the laws of nature. They do not believe in mujizat, and they explain them away according to what they see and learn in nature. They say that it is haram and cruelty to use as slaves the captives taken from among non-Muslims in the jihad performed for spreading Allah's religion and that it is a thing done by the savage. Though it was defined in all heavenly religions, they claim that Allah has not commanded it. They do not believe any of the tafsir and hadith books. They claim that all their contents have been invented by 'ulama. They say, 'The Qur'an remains the sole truth in our hands. We interpret the Qur'an according to our new information. We do not believe what the early Muslims understood from it or what has reached us from them.' Can those who say so be called 'Muslims' or 'Ahl al-Qibla' even if they say that they are Muslim, utter kalimat ash-shahada and perform salat towards the qibla? Moreover, these spies claim that they themselves are the real Muslims and that what they tell is the pure Islamic religion. Shall we call them 'Muslim' or 'non-Muslim'? Shall we consider their words as wrong and falsified?"
Answer 1: They are not sincere at all. I swear by Allah, they have no connection with Islam. They are enemies of Islam fed by the British. They are the worst of non-Muslims and murtads, because they deny the things that are known to be indispensable in religion. Their saying kalimat ash-shahada and professing that the Kaba is the qibla do not show their being believers or Ahl al-qibla. None of the 'ulama' and books of itiqad and fiqh has permitted alteration of the indispensable, apparent and open religious teachings.

 

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Question 2: "It is understood that they are British spies. What would you say about those who, after understanding their teachings and heresy, call them Muslims, or even regard them as 'ulama' of Islam and authorities on religion, or praise them with the terms that have not been used for the superiors of Islam yet, and, by mentioning their names, say, 'They are the elect of our time. Their books are invaluable for the youth. Their writings prove their quality of perfection. They are the pillars of our religion and the guards of Islam?' What would you say about those who praise them as such, write, publish and advertise their books as the 'books of superiors of religion'?"
Answer 2: One who does not believe in one of the things indispensable in Islam becomes a kafir. One who has suspicion of such a person's not being a kafir and in that he will not be punished in Hell eternally is a kafir, too. That the latter, too, is a kafir is openly written in the books Bazaziyya, Durr al-mukhtar, Qadi Iyad's Shifa, Imam an-Nawawi's Rawda and Ibn Hajar al-Makki's Al-alam. It has been unanimously declared by the 'ulama' of Islam that it also makes one kafir to have doubt that it is infidelity (kufr) if somebody does not regard a Christian, a Jew or a dissenter from Islam as a kafir. This unanimity is written in the above-mentioned books. While one become a kafir out of doubting in the other's being a kafir, it should be pondered well how the one who regards him as a Muslim or, even, praises him with the terms reserved for the 'ulama' of Islam will be. From these words of ours, we should understand well the situation of those who consider such people as 'ulama' of Islam and praise and spread their speeches and writings filled with kufr. Praise or effort to disseminate or to advertise shows consent and love. Consent to kufr causes kufr. Consent to kufr does not mean to want the kafir to remain in kufr but to love his kufr.