He heard Ibn ʿAbbās say:
“Three (1) practices are remnants of the Age of Ignorance: defaming lineage and wailing, and I have forgotten the third.” Sufyān (2) added, “They say it is seeking rain (3) by the stars.” (4)
Muslim relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Two matters found among people are acts of disbelief: impugning lineage and wailing over the deceased.” (5)
His words “are acts of disbelief found among people” (6) mean that these two traits themselves constitute a form of disbelief, for they are practices of the unbelievers (7) and still exist among people. Yet not everyone in whom a single branch of disbelief appears becomes an outright unbeliever (8) until the reality of disbelief is fully established in him, just as not everyone in whom a single branch of faith appears becomes a believer (9) until the foundation of faith is firmly established in him. (10)
One must also distinguish between kufr preceded by the definite article, as in his ﷺ statement, “Nothing stands between a servant and al-kufr—or al-shirk—except abandoning the prayer,” (12) and kufr mentioned without the article in an affirmative statement.
(1) The word “thalath” (three) is omitted in manuscript A.
(2) The narrator is Sufyan ibn Uyayna; his biography has appeared earlier—see the biographical index.
(3) Manuscript Ṭ reads: “and they say it is al-anwa (the star-induced rains).”
(4) Reported by al-Bukhari, Book of the Virtues of the Ansar, chapter “Qasama in the Jahiliyya,” Fath al-Bari, hadith no. 3850 (7/156).
(5) See Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith, chapter “Calling lineage defamation and wailing kufr,” hadith no. 67 (1/82).
(6) The word kufr has been supplied from manuscript B; it is absent from the other copies.
(7) The particle haythu (“when/where”) is missing in manuscript A.
(8) The printed edition reads: “among the acts of kufr.”
(9) The printed edition reads: “by which he becomes a disbeliever.”
(10) The printed edition reads: “by which he becomes a believer.”
(11) The printed edition adds: “and its reality.”
(12) The hadith is narrated by Muslim, Book of Faith, chapter “Labelling as kufr the one who abandons prayer” (1/88), hadith no. 82, through two chains with the wording: “Between a man and shirk and kufr stands abandoning the prayer.” The second chain has the same wording except that it begins “Between the man….” It is also recorded by Abu Dawud, Book of the Sunnah, chapter “Refuting the Murji’a,” hadith no. 4678 (5/58–59), with the wording: “Between the servant and kufr is abandoning the prayer.” Al-Tirmidhi transmits it in the Book of Faith, chapter “What is reported about abandoning prayer,” hadith nos. 2618–2620, with wordings matching those in Muslim and Abu Dawud; al-Tirmidhi graded the hadith “hasan sahih” (5/13).