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Fatwa CenterSpecific and general Takfeer
Question
What is meant by specific Takfeer? What is the difference between it and general Takfeer?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It is important to note that accusing a Muslim of disbelief is one of the major sins that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade us from doing. It is impermissible for any person to dare to do such a thing unless he has valid evidence. The only person who can be judged as a disbeliever is the person whom Allaah The Almighty and His Messenger judged to be so.
There is a difference between declaring a specific individual to be a disbeliever for doing a certain deed and labeling the deed itself as an act of disbelief. Labeling a deed as an act of disbelief does not entail declaring the one who does the deed to be a disbeliever. This is so because he may have a valid excuse that negates his guilt. For example, sitting on the Mus-haf (written copy of the Quran) is, in principle, an act of disbelief under Sharee‘ah (Islamic law); however, is the person who is doing this a disbeliever? The answer is that we have to investigate the situation: If he is aware of what he is doing and he knows that it is impermissible, in this case we judge this specific person to be a disbeliever; but if the situation is unknown to us, then we cannot judge him to be a disbeliever, even though the act itself is an act of disbelief.
Allaah Knows best.
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