Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother Burhan,

Is it permissable to make qafir fatwa to any one whether he is a muslim or non muslim. If someone tells a person as qafir and the person is not qafir what will be the receiprocation for the person who said qafir to his muslim brother. Why muslims different sects are giving qafir fatwa for others sects why we are not allowing others sects muslims to preach their religions as per their will. Why forcefully we want to change them where in quran it is mentioned La iqra fi din (there should not be compulsion on the religion). Please explain these are quite disturbing.

May Allah give you his noor to give us true guideance. 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

No Compulsion in religion

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: Is it permissable to make qafir fatwa to any one whether he is a muslim or non muslim.

Unless and until one himself verbally declares unbelief in the Absolute Oneness of Allah Subhanah or the appointment of Prophet Mohamed (saws) as Allah’s Last and Final Messenger…he should never be termed a disbeliever or ‘kaafir’!

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 2526 Narrated by Anas ibn Malik

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘Three things are (amongst) the roots of faith:

1. to refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah", and
2. not to declare him an unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and
3. not to excommunicate him from Islam for his any actions.’

A non-muslim on the other hand is an obvious disbeliever, and one does not require to issue a ‘fatwa’ or decree to announce something which is obvious!

Your Question: If someone tells a person as qafir and the person is not qafir what will be the receiprocation for the person who said qafir to his muslim brother.
If one calls a believer who has professed and declared belief in the Absolute Oneness of Allah Subhanah and the appointment of Prophet Mohamed (saws) as the Last and Final Messenger as a ‘kaafir’ or disbeliever….he can be sued for ‘slander’ in a Court of Shariah Law in the life of this world……and unless the person repents and seeks forgiveness from his believing brother whom he slandered and from Allah Subhanah, his reckoning and accounting in the Presence of the Majestic Lord on the Day of Judgment will be very severe indeed!

Your Question: Why muslims different sects are giving qafir fatwa for others sects why we are not allowing others sects muslims to preach their religions as per their will. Why forcefully we want to change them where in quran it is mentioned La iqra fi din (there should not be compulsion on the religion). Please explain these are quite disturbing.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 256 (part):

256 Let there be no compulsion in religion.

Dear and beloved brother in Islam, first and foremost we wish to clarify that this command of Allah Subhanah: ‘Let there be no compulsion in religion’ is valid only for the non-believers….The believers are commanded to respect their right to choose between guidance and misguidance, and it is absolutely forbidden and impermissible in Islam to force or coerce anyone who does not wish to accept Islam as their way of life to become ‘muslims’!

But when one declares the testification of faith or ‘shahaadah’, he becomes a legal muslim in the Sight of the Shariah and the believers, and it becomes absolutely incumbent upon him to obey the Laws of Allah and His Messenger (saws). For example in a proper and righteous Islamic State, if one who has professed belief absolutely refuses to offer his prayers, or pay his ‘zakah’, or refuses to join the muslim army when called upon by the State without a valid reason, the Islamic State has a right to impose these duties upon him…and if the person refuses, the Islamic State is well within its rights to inflict due punishment upon such people. In a proper and righteous Islamic government, a person who has professed belief, will be compelled to obey the Laws of Allah and His Messenger (saws) and one cannot relieve himself from his obligatory duties by stating the verse: Let there be no compulsion in religion!

But in the absence of a proper and righteous Islamic Government and State, no sect or organization or group of people have a right to impose their will and their interpretation of the deen on anyone else, and without an iota of a doubt, none has a right to release a fatwa or ruling of ‘kufr’ on any individual who has professed belief in Islam! The ones who do so without right do wrong, and shall be brought forth to give a full accounting of their slander in the Just and Supreme Court of Allah Subhanah on the Inevitable Day of Judgment.

Islam guides that every person who declares belief in the Absolute Oneness of Allah Subhanah and the appointment of Prophet Mohamed (saws) as Allah’s Last and Final Messenger will be regarded as a ‘muslim’, and all the rights that are due to a believer will be accorded to them in full.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verse 52-54:

And you all belong to one and the same Ummah, and I(Allah) am your Lord; so fear Me Alone! Yet afterwards the people divided themselves into different sects, and each sect rejoicing in what it has. Well, leave them deeply involved in their heedlessness up to an appointed time.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 45 Surah Al-Jathiyah aayat 17

Then they differed amongst themselves after the knowledge (of Islam) had come to them, only because they wanted to wrong one another. Your Lord will Judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning the matters in which they have been differing.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 171 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Amr

Allah's Messenger (saws) said: ‘There will befall my Ummah exactly (all those) evils which befell the people of Isra'il, so much so that if there was one amongst them who openly committed fornication with his mother there will be among my Ummah one who will do that, and if the people of Isra'il were fragmented into seventy-two sects, my Ummah will be fragmented into seventy-three sects! All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect. They (the Companions) said: ‘O Allah's Messenger (saws), which one is that?’ Whereupon he (saws) replied: ‘It is one to which I and my companions belong.’

Although each sect in Islam claims that they are on the Right Path, it is Allah Subhanah Alone Who on the Day of Judgment will Decide who amongst the believers followed the Right Path as followed by Prophet Mohamed (saws) and his noble companions, and who amongst them went astray. None except the All-Knowing, All-Just Lord has a Right to make that Decision!

My dear and beloved brother, leave alone those ignorant ones who strive to deliver ‘kufr’ fatwas on the believers….and be with those believers who strive their utmost to unite this divided Ummah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 77-78:

O you who have believed, do ‘rukooh’ (bow down) and do ‘sajdah’ (prostration), and worship your Lord Allah Alone, and do righteous deeds: it may be that you attain true success! Exert your utmost for the Cause of Allah, as one should. He has chosen you for His service, and has not laid on you any hardship in your religion. Therefore, be steadfast in the religion of your father Abraham. Allah had named you ‘muslims’ before this, and has named you (muslims) in this Quran also, so that the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you, and you may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind.

If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of being led astray.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan