Takfir

PROHIBITION OF CALLING MUSLIMS KAFIR!
Collected by Onomat Al-Sufi Al-Shafie

Takfir or the practice of calling another person who truly testifies the shahadah a kafir(rejecter, concealer, unbeliever)is strictly prohibited in the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the writings of many eminent ulama'.

The Qur'an
According to the Qur'an in Surah An-Nisa' verse 94, if someone gives you the salam we CANNOT say that he is an unbeliever. When someone gives you the salam or he gives others the salam that is sufficient proof that he is Muslim. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w incidents occured whereby sometimes people would suspect that such people who give salam were not sincere. In response to these the prophet s.a.w. would say to them "Did you tear open his heart to see what was in it?"
Also, the Qur'an says
"O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former; nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former, nor defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. How bad is it, to insult one's brother after having Faith [i.e. to call your Muslim brother (a faithful believer) as: "O sinner", or "O wicked", etc.]. And whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed Zâlimûn (wrong-doers, etc.)." (Surah Al-Hujurat, ayah 11)

The Ahadith
The fastest way to leave Islam is perhaps to call another brother a kafir...NA'UZUBILLAH!!!
1732. Ibn `Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) said: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "When a person calls his brother (in Islam) a disbeliever, one of them will certainly deserve the title. If the addressee is so as he has asserted, the disbelief of the man is confirmed, but if it is untrue, then it will revert to him.''
[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
``Abu Zarr reported that the Holy Prophet said: No man accuses another man of being a sinner, or of being a kafir, but it reflects back on him if the other is not as he called him.'' (Bukhari, Book of Ethics; Book 78, ch. 44)
``Withhold [your tongues] from those who say `There is no god but Allah' --- do not call them kafir. Whoever calls a reciter of `There is no god but Allah' as a kafir, is nearer to being a kafir himself.'' (Tabarani, reported from Ibn Umar)
``Call not the people of your Qibla [i.e. those who face the Ka`ba in Makka for prayer] as kafir.''
(Al-Nihaya of Ibn Athir, vol. iv, p. 187)
``Three things are the basis of faith. [One is] to withhold from one who says `There is no god but Allah' --- do not call him kafir for any sin, nor expel him from Islam for any misconduct.''
(Abu Dawud, Book of Jihad, 15:33)
``Whoever attributes kufr [unbelief] to a believer, he is like his murderer.''
(Tirmizi, ch. Iman)

Views of Ulama' of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah

``And among the doctrines of the Ahl as-Sunna is that none of the people of the Qibla can be called kafir.''
(Sharh `Aqa'id Nasfi, p. 121)

Imam Abu Hanifa's stance
``He did not call as kafir anyone from among the people of the Qibla.''(Sharh Mawaqif, fifth part)
``It is extremely serious to expel a Muslim from the faith.'' (Sharh Shifa, vol. ii, p. 500)

Allama Sayyid Jalaluddin
``The takfir of people of the Qibla is itself an act of unbelief.''(Dala'il al-Masa'il)

Husain Ahmad Madani
``All great scholars are unanimous in holding that if, out of hundred ingredients of the belief of some Muslim, ninety-nine are those of unbelief, and merely one of true Islamic faith, it is not allowed to call him kafir, nor does his life or property become violable. In fact, Hazrat Gangohi [a founder of Deoband religious school] clearly states in his Anwar al-Qulub that the saying of the jurists about ninety-nine grounds does not set a limit, and that if 999 out of a thousand points in the belief of a Muslim are unbelief (kufr) and only one is true belief, even then he cannot be called kafir.''(Naqsh-i Hayat, Bait-ut-Tauhid, Karachi, 1953, vol. i. p. 126)

Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi
``The aim of these injunctions is that there should be as much caution in calling a Muslim kafir as there is in pronouncing a death sentence against someone. In fact, this matter is even more serious because by killing a person there is no risk of one becoming a kafir, but this risk does exist if one calls a Muslim kafir if that man is not really a kafir. Should there even be an iota of Islamic belief in that man's heart, the slander of kufr shall reflect back upon the accuser. Hence, he who has fear of God in his heart, and has some realisation of the great danger of being involved in kufr, shall never dare call a Muslim kafir until he has carried out a thorough enquiry and fully ascertained that such a person was a kafir. There is so much caution in this regard that if there is a man whose conduct clearly shows insincerity, and whose condition is openly showing that he is not a Muslim at heart, if even he recites the Kalima with his tongue, it is not allowed to call him kafir and treat him as a kafir.''
(Tarjuman al-Quran, issue for month of Jumadi al-Awwal, 1355 A.H., circa 1936, vol. viii, p. 5)

My dear brothers and sisters, calling fellow brethren kuffar risks being kuffar ourselves. Thus let us abstain from such a path lest we damn ourselves for it.