the explicit wording of the text itself—and, a fortiori, one must never say, “He is a disbeliever whose blood may be shed.”

He—may Allah have mercy on him—then said, after citing the sound ḥadith: “Reviling a Muslim is sinfulness, and fighting him is kufr.”

It is well known that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ meant practical kufr, not doctrinal kufr; this sort of kufr does not remove a person altogether from the circle of Islam, just as adultery and theft do not expel one from the religion, even though the designation of faith is lifted from him. This fine distinction is the view of the Companions, who were the most knowledgeable of the ummah concerning the Book of Allah, Islam and kufr, and the implications of each.

He next cited the well-known report from Ibn ʿAbbās in his commentary on the verse, “Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed—those are the disbelievers” (5:44): “It is not the kind of kufr they have in mind.”

I add: al-Ḥākim appended the wording, “It is not a kufr that expels one from the religion—rather, it is a lesser kufr,” and he declared it authentic (2/313), as did al-Dhahabī. This breaks the back of the takfīr groups and the other extremists of their stripe.

Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—also said: “What is intended is that stripping the neglecter of the prayer of the name of faith is more warranted than stripping it from… ⦗39⦘