Documents of the Right Word

statues (idols and icons) they themselves have made. They believe
that these idols will intercede for them with Allah. Most
Christians believe in Trinity, which means belief in three gods.
Many of them divinize Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. On the other hand, a
group of Jews say that “Uzeyr is the son of God.” All these people
become mushriks. However, they believe that the book they
possess is heavenly. Communists, freemasons, and the nescient
atheists of the modern era are disbelievers without a holy book. A
person who is not a Muslim though he is borne from Muslim
parents is called a Murtad (renegade). A person who does not
believe in the prophethood of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ and yet
who pretends to be a Muslim among Muslims for worldly
interests, is called a Munâfiq. A munâfiq may belong to another
religion. Yet when he is among Muslims he worships like
Muslims, always utters the name of Allah, and conceals his wrong
belief. A person who is not a Muslim and yet who pretends to be
a Muslim, tries to change Islam and to spread irreligiousness in
the name of Islam, is called a Zindiq. A zindiq says that he
believes in the existence of Allah and in the prophethood of
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ and that he agrees with the Qur’ân
and hadîths. Yet he interprets Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-isherîfs
in accordance with his ignorant mentality and short sight.
He tries to spread his erroneous interpretations in the name of
Islam. He dislikes the correct statements made by scholars of Ahl
as-sunna. He calls the Islamic scholars ignoramuses. Today's
people call these zindiqs ‘enlightened men of religion’,
‘mujaddids’ and ‘religion reformers’. We should not believe these
ignorant zindiqs, these fake men of religion, and we should never
read their books and magazines.
A person who says that he is a Muslim and utters the statement
called Kalima-i-shahâdat can not be stigmatized as a disbeliever
only on suspicion. As the book Ibni Âbidîn explains in its
discourse on renegades in the third volume, it is written in Hulâsa
and other books that “If a person says that he is a Muslim and yet
one of his actions or words shows numerous signs of disbelief with
only one element that signifies belief or which is at least not
certainly disbelief, this person should not be called a disbeliever.
For we have to have a good opinion of a Muslim.” The book of
fatwâ called Bezzâziyya adds that “If it is understood clearly that
this person does or says that thing which causes disbelief
intentionally, he becomes a disbeliever. It would be futile for us to
interpret his action or statement otherwise.”
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