Some even argue that it is never permitted to
label a person as a disbeliever, regardless of the actions they may do, and
they base this on a series of misconceptions.
The pinnacle of which are twofold:
Firstly, they argue that anybody who declares
the testimony of faith (La ila Ila Allaah) is promised and will definitely
enter Jannah. This is similar to the statement of the Prophet [Peace and
Blessings of Allaah be upon him] who said, "Whoever bears witness that
there is no god but Allaah and bears witness that I am the Messenger of Allaah,
does not meet Allaah except that he declares these two testimony verbally and
has no doubt in them, except that he will enter Jannah[1]."
He also said, "There is no slave who
declares, 'There is no god except' and then dies upon this except that he will
enter Jannah.[2]"
Both of these Ahaadeeth have no evidence in
them for them. Mainly because they have specified these two Ahadeeth to draw
their conclusion without looking into the texts comprehensively. By looking at the texts holistically, one is
able to derive conditions and place a ruling impediments of various acts of
worship. If the conditions are fulfilled and the impediments removed, then the
act of worship will not be considered as being correct and one will not benefit
with the virtues mentioned in the aforementioned Ahadeeth.
A further example, it is a condition that one
is sincere in their heart to Allaah, as the first Hadeeth mentioned above comes
with the wording, "and has no doubt in them". Despite not explicitly
mentioning the word 'sincerity' in the second Hadeeth, we can take the general
wording of the first Hadeeth which dictates the condition of sincerity and
apply it to meaning of the second Hadeeth. This is a process in Usool al-Fiqh
known as applying the Muqayyid (restrictions) to the Mutlaq (unrestricted).
Likewise, after understanding the texts wholly without
there existing any impediments, one can only benefit from the virtues mentioned
in these narrations until the impediments are removed.
For example, if a person declares the testimony
of faith (لا إله إلا الله) but despite this, directs his worship towards other than
Allaah, and this is an action, then they are declared to be disbelievers. Based
on the Statement of Allaah, the Most High:
“And whoever
invokes (or worships), besides Allah, any other ilah (god), of whom he has no proof,
then his reckoning is only with his Lord. Surely! Al-Kafirun (the disbelievers in Allah and in
the Oneness of Allah, polytheists, pagans, idolaters, etc.) will not be
successful.” [al-Mu'minoon 23:117]
Moreover, there exists scholarly consensus that
a person who declares the two testimonies of faith but denies the Resurrection,
could never be classed as being a believer.
So if the scholars have specified
this particular issue of belief, i.e. the belief of Resurrection on the Last
Day, and made it a condition to believe in it. Therefore, in order to
understand these two Ahadeeth mentioned above correctly and all the other
evidences which stipulate conditions on belief, we must look at them holistically.
In the case of our topic, actions or statements can nullify al-Emaan.
The second argument they present are the
numerous Ahadeeth which explain that people will enter into Jannah without doing
a single act of goodness. An example of this is the Hadeeth which narrates a
story of a man who ordered his relatives to cremate his body after his demise and scatter his ashes into the wind. This was his bequeath because he ever
failed to preform any good deeds and feared his summoning in front of Allaah[3].
There is another Hadeeth which relates a man
who assassinated a hundred people and the Angels described this man as,
"Never performing any good deed"[4],
and there are other examples from the texts of people entering into Jannah
without performing any good deeds.
However, two specific examples are types of
people who differed in their circumstances. The first hadeeth is an example of
a person who was ignorant and presumed that merely uttering the testimonies of
faith classes him as a believer, without there existing any obligation upon
him. The second Hadeeth is in relation to a person who committed many sins but
then repented shortly before his passing away. In which case, this person did
not have the opportunity to do any good deeds. Both examples prove the lack of accountability based on either their ignorance or inability to perform deeds.
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