Qāʿidah fī Qitāl al-Kuffār - Ibn Taimiya - (210)

Likewise, the Bedouins who declared, “We have believed,” were told, “Say rather, ‘We have submitted, for faith has not yet entered your hearts’” (Q 49:14). They are not unbelievers whose blood is lawful to shed, yet neither are they believers entitled to reward. In this world they may stand on the same footing as the Muslims, while in the Hereafter the hypocrites will be grouped with the unbelievers. Whoever fails to uphold the pillars resembles such people.

As for anyone who abandons the pillars—whether all of them or some of them—he may be a hypocrite who will be gathered with the hypocrites, and he must inevitably be punished. If he persists until he is executed, then he is an unbeliever: either a hypocrite, an apostate, or a zindīq whose hypocrisy and heresy have become manifest. (1)

(1) Shaykh al-Islam states, as recorded in Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 20/95: “Although neglecting the five prescribed pillars of Islam—mabani al-Islam al-khams—harms no one but the person himself, the majority of scholars hold that, in general, such a person is liable to execution, and many of them—indeed most of the early generation (salaf)—also deem him an unbeliever. By contrast, committing a forbidden act whose harm remains limited to its perpetrator entails no death penalty according to any of the leading jurists, and it is not deemed disbelief unless it completely negates faith, thereby rendering the person an apostate or a zindiq (heretic)."

وَكَذَلِكَ الأَعْرَابُ الَّذيْنَ قَالُوْا آمَنَّا، فَقِيْلَ لَهُمْ: ﴿وَلَكِنْ قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ﴾ لَيْسُوْا كُفَّارًا مُبَاحِيِّ الدِّمَاء، وَلَيْسُوْا - أَيْضًا - مُؤْمِنِيْنَ مُسْتَحِقِيْنَ لِلثَّوَاب، بَلْ قَدْ يَسْتَوُون مَعَ المُسْلِمينَ فِي الدُّنْيَا، وَالمُنَافِقُونَ يَكُوْنُونَ فِي الآخِرَةِ مَعَ الكُفَّار، فَمَنْ لَمْ يَأْتِ بِالمَبَانِي يُشْبِهُ هَؤُلَاءِ. أَمَّا مَنْ تركَ المَبَانِي أَوْ بَعْضَهَا: فَهَذَا قَدْ يَكُوْنُ مُنَافِقًا يُحْشَرُ مَعَ المُنَافِقِيْنَ، وَلَابُدَّ مِنْ عُقُوْبَتِه، فَإِنْ أَصَرَّ حَتَّى قُتِلَ، فَهَذَا كَافِرٌ، إِمَّا مُنَافِقٌ، وَإِمَّا مُرْتَدٌّ، وَإِمَّا زِنْدِيْقٌ ظَهَرَ نِفَاقُهُ وَزَنْدَقَتُهُ (١).

(١) قال شيخ الإسلام كما في الفتاوى (٢٠/ ٩٥): (مباني الإسلام الخمس المأمور بها وإن كان ضرر تركها لا يتعدى صاحبها، فإنه يقتل بتركها في الجملة عند جماهير العلماء، ويكفر أيضا عند كثير منهم أو أكثر السلف، وأما فعل المنهي عنه الذي لا يتعدى ضرره صاحبه، فإنه لا يقتل به عند أحد من الأئمة، ولا يكفر به إلا إذا ناقض الإيمان لفوات الإيمان، وكونه مرتدًا أو زنديقًا).